“It’s probably, weirdly, our most grounded season,” showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa tells EW.
“It didn’t feel right,” showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa tells EW.
Cut to season 7, and suddenly, those sets are back in play in a major way.
Vanessa Morgan as Toni Topaz, Madelaine Petsch as Cheryl Blossom, Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper and Camila Mendes as Veronica Lodge in ‘Riverdale’.Bettina Strauss/The CW
So yeah, it’s a good thing they kept those sets.
“I’m so grateful we didn’t [tear them down],” Aguirre-Sacasa says.
“This conceit for season 7 feels both very unexpected and yet completely inevitable.”
Camila Mendes in ‘Riverdale’.Michael Courtney/The CW
For starters, Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes) is not a New Yorker.
“She grew up in 1950s Hollywood, so it’s similar but different from season 1.
She’s still an outsider and a socialite, very different from everyone else.”
Madelaine Petsch and KJ Apa in ‘Riverdale’.Michael Courtney/The CW
And Archie isn’t quite the same teenager who once went toe-to-toe with a bear.
“Archie feels much more innocent than we’ve ever depicted him onRiverdale,” Aguirre-Sacasa says.
“When we meet Archie here, he is a clean cut, 1950s teen.
Drew Ray Tanner in ‘Riverdale’.Bettina Strauss/The CW
We describe him a little bit as a Richie Cunningham-pop in fromHappy Daysand he’s on his own journey.
He’s a more innocent, romantic kind of character.”
“That’s been really fun,” Aguirre-Sacasa says.
Bettina Strauss/The CW
“There’s not so much history and fraught baggage.
There’s a lightness to the show.
But no matter what time periodRiverdaleexists in, viewers can expect there to be music.
And this time, Fangs (Drew Tanner) is the one on stage.
“Fangs is sort of our greaser rocker.
He’s a little bit like a Ritchie Valens character in our universe,” Aguirre-Sacasa says.
And then there’s Jughead, the only character aware that something has gone very, very wrong.
“The first episode is Jughead’s story,” Aguirre-Sacasa says.
And that gets resolved at the end of episode 1.
“Something very, very dark happens at the end of episode 2,” he teases.
And yet, the showrunner wouldn’t say the final season has a villain, per se.
Perhaps “tame” is the wrong word.
“It’s probably, weirdly, our most grounded season,” Aguirre-Sacasa says.
Riverdaleseason 7 premieres in spring 2023 on the CW.
