There are enough new mysteries in the third season of Riverdale to keep fans theorizing for days, but Wednesday night's new episode also reminded fans of an unsolved mystery from last season. The flashback episode focused on a teenaged Alice Smith (portrayed by Lili Reinhart) who has just found out that she is pregnant. And no, she's not pregnant with Betty or Polly — hardcore fans will remember that Alice's firstborn child was actually a son named Charles. But Charles is still a very mysterious character. So, who is Charles Smith on Riverdale, and can we expect him to ever resurface on the show? Let's go over everything we know about him and some of the theories fans have.
Spoiler alert: This post includes mild spoilers for Riverdale Season 3 Episode 4, "The Midnight Club." At the beginning of Wednesday night's new episode, we see a teenaged Alice Smith (this was pre-Cooper) realize that she is pregnant. Now, this is not exactly a surprise to Riverdale fans — we already knew that Alice and F.P. Jones had a secret baby together in high school, whom Alice quietly gave up for adoption without telling anybody. But the flashback could have been an indication that we may learn more about Charles Smith as this season progresses.
Charles Smith was at the center of one of Season 2's major mysteries. A boy named Chic claimed to be Charles Smith and began living with the Coopers, but in the end Chic revealed that he was lying about his identity. According to Chic, Charles was actually a close friend of his, and after Charles told Chic all about the Cooper family, he stole Charles' identity. Chic also claimed that Charles is dead now, killed by Chic during a fight.
But many fans are not so quick to believe Chic's story. After all, Chic was lying about pretty much everything, so there is definitely still a chance that the real Charles Smith is still alive somewhere. That is where all the theories come in.
Some fans think that the Gargoyle King that is terrorizing the town may be revealed to be Charles Smith, while another theory makes the case that Charles may be a not-yet-introduced character called the Gargoyle Knight, a supposed minion of the Gargoyle King. Then there are also theories that Charles may be involved with the strange new cult that appeared in town. Perhaps Charles reunited with his half-sister Polly Cooper at The Farm, and now he is finally seeing his mother again as well since she has joined the cult.
Really, anything is possible involving Charles Smith since we really do not know much about him at all, and the few details we do know came from a pathological liar. The only hard facts to go off of are that Charles would be about 25 years old and presumably look somewhat like Alice and F.P. The only time we've seen Charles is in an old photo from the Sisters of Quiet Mercy files, in which he had curly red hair, although that can obviously change.
As the new season of Riverdale continues on, be sure to keep an eye out for anyone who may be Charles Smith.
