By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
After nearly five months off the air, Riverdale is finally back on The CW this week… but the gang’s problems haven’t gone anywhere.
Season 5 of the teen drama continues this Wednesday (8/7c) with the first of nine new episodes, and last we saw Jughead… well, we didn’t see him, actually. He vanished from the bunker after taking mind-bending psychedelic drugs, and we worried he might’ve been (gulp) abducted by aliens. Now we know from the Season 5B trailer that Jughead is alive and well and safely on planet Earth, but as showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa tells TVLine, he’s still facing some seriously tough times.
“I think we can say that this is pretty much rock bottom for him,” Aguirre-Sacasa hints, as Jughead starts to confront the untold inner demons that led him to leave New York City. “It’s Jughead as much of a lost soul as we’ve ever seen.” And Jughead’s journey inward will get a lot harder before it gets any easier, the EP warns: “We’ve only just begun to scratch the surface of Jughead’s trauma. There are a lot more darker things coming.”
The second half of Season 5 will see the return of another familiar face, too — or three of them, actually. Ashleigh Murray will reprise her role as Josie, with her fellow Pussycats Valerie (Hayley Law) and Melody (Asha Bromfield) making their first appearances since Season 2. “This is very much a triumphant return for the girls,” Aguirre-Sacasa raves. “The episode is all about them, and they are spectacular in it.” Their return is “a full-fledged musical episode, completely, and such a showcase for Ashleigh and Asha and Hayley and the girls. I love them. I cannot wait for fans to see that episode.”
But don’t worry: Season 5 will also feature a traditional high school musical episode as well, the EP promises. There’s no word yet on what show they’ll be doing, but Aguirre-Sacasa says it’ll put a big spotlight on Lili Reinhart’s Betty and Madchen Amick’s Alice. “It’s very different from the other ones we’ve done… it’s very emotional. It’s a tour de force, especially for Lili and Madchen.” And “before you ask, yes, Cole is singing in the musical episode, and he’s so swoony and dreamy when he sings. So even though he’s always a bit skeptical about it, he’s really up for it.”
Plus, Vanessa Morgan will be returning as Toni in an episode later in Season 5, where “we see a big resolution to the Toni pregnancy plot,” i.e. the identity of her baby’s father, Aguirre-Sacasa teases. “We get Toni back in all her glory. She’s a mother, she’s leading the Serpents, she’s fighting for the town with Archie.” And don’t lose hope, “Choni” ‘shippers: “She and Cheryl do enter each other’s orbit again.”
What are you most looking forward to seeing when Season 5 returns, Riverdale fans? Grab a booth in the comments and share your thoughts.
It’s so gross how bad they did Josie and the Pussycats. Half the time Veronica was part of the group and then they were just gone. It was clear they had no idea what they were doing with the characters…
This should be interesting considering on the spin off Katie keen Josie rebooted the pussycats with different people
I cant believe this big steaming pile.of NONSEMSE hasn’t been cancelled. The writers appear to have a 90 second attention span. The absurd crap they inflict on the viewers….
No one is forcing you to watch it.
Typical not even a mention of KevIn in the breakdown for the second half of the season And from the photo they are choosing to use of Tony things and the baby clearly Kevin is not the father
Casey Cott is doing his own promotion for Kevin. If you search for the actor, there’s a bunch of different interviews about the character :)
sad he has to do his own promotion because the show gives him the shaft
I just googled couldn’t find these interviews you speak of
Val and Melody are back? Wow!
Toni deserves better than to be anywhere near her psycho ex
Seconded.
Cancel this crap already! Horrible writing for brainless teenagers.
No one is forcing you to watch it.
I stopped watching during season 2 , but I’ll read the episode summaries 80% of the time. I’m interested in finding out toni’s baby daddy lol
Wish Betty and Veronica would get together, can u imagine !!
FIX FANG AND KEVIN!