Chad Michael Murray Is Joining 'Riverdale' As A Character You'd Never Expect
Hello, all Riverdale fans, A Cinderella Story fans, and One Tree Hill fans alike. I have some exciting news for you — yes, all of you. Believe it or not, it's been announced that Chad Michael Murray is joining the cast of Riverdale. And rest assured, this is a role that 1) you'd likely never expect to see Murray in, and 2) we'll likely start seeing pretty often toward the latter half of this season.
As I touched on above, you probably recognize Murray as the ever-so-dreamy Lucas Scott in the TV series One Tree Hill, and in A Cinderella Story as the equally dreamy but freaking oblivious Austin Ames, who couldn't recognize Sam Montgomery (played by Hilary Duff) when she was only wearing a masquerade eye mask. Now, however, it seems Murray has moved on from playing charismatic high school boys to charismatic... evil cult leaders? That's right, Entertainment Weekly reports that Murray will appear on Riverdale as Edgar Evernever, leader of the elusive "farm" that most of the recent drama on the show revolves around.
If you're backed up on Riverdale episodes or unfamiliar with the farm, let me catch you up, because this show involves more twists than a goddamn ride at a carnival. Fans first heard of the farm when it was revealed that Polly was pregnant with Jason Blossom's twins, and we learned that she had planned to run away to the farm with Jason. However, Polly was instead shipped off to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy following Jason's death and when her parents found out she planned to run away.
Fast forward to Polly having escaped the Sisters, having briefly lived with the Blossoms, and the town of Riverdale being terrorized by the Black Hood. We then learn that Polly returned to the farm for safety and gave birth to her twins. Following the arrest of Hal Cooper for being a psycho murderer and one of the Black Hoods, Polly convinced her mother Alice to turn to the farm and to its leader, Edgar, for support and comfort, which Polly claims she had always received from the farm.
However, Betty uncovered that what Polly positioned as a supportive community of people that helped her heal is something much more sinister. She saw (or hallucinated, depending on whom you ask) members of the farm meeting in her backyard, appearing to hold two babies, which Betty thought were Polly's twins, over a fire as some sort of totally normal, not at all messed up sacrifice. Then, Betty began seizing. You know, all events of a very regular, healing meeting that is not a sacrificial ceremony of an evil cult. Silly Betty.
From then on, Betty understandably grew increasingly suspicious of the not-a-cult-but-definitely-a-cult farm and the mysterious Edgar Evernever, especially when she learned members of the farm convinced her mother to share her darkest secrets. The suspicion came to a head when Betty met Evelyn Evernever, the daughter of Edgar. As if the farm wasn't already suspicious enough for seemingly dangling two babies over a fire, literally everyone and their grandmother in Riverdale starts having a seizure when Evelyn is around. I'm not a medical professional, but I'm gonna say that mass seizures are not contagious, or a thing at all really. That said, Edgar and Evelyn are weird AF and are definitely up to something. And now, it's about to get even worse.
The news of Murray joining the cast as Edgar, and the news that this will supposedly be a recurring role, according to Entertainment Weekly, means we'll finally have a deeper look into the workings of the farm and just what Edgar, Evelyn, and the rest of the farm members are up to. I'd venture to say Edgar Evernever is no teen heartthrob, but given Murray's continued charismatic performances and the alluring nature of Edgar as a character, we should all be careful watching Riverdale to come. We may be tempted to join the farm ourselves.
