Comic-Con 2017: Your ‘Riverdale’ Burning Questions Answered

The CW’s update of the squeaky-clean Archie Comics surprised fans with a sexier—and hot for teacher!—Archie, a townwide scandal (yep, that was heroin, not maple syrup, in those Blossom barrels), a shocking murder and then a shocking second death. According to Riverdale executive producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, all of this mayhem is just the beginning!

Is Fred really dead? It sure looks like it. In the season finale’s final, um, shot (too soon?), Archie’s dad (Luke Perry) seemed to be bleeding out big-time in his son’s arms after being gunned down by a masked man in a Serpents jacket at Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe. “This is a universe where the most awful things can happen,” Aguirre-Sacasa says. “A father can kill his son, and a stand-up guy like Fred can be shot in the middle of the day by a guy in a black hood in the very heart of Riverdale.”

Will we see Mary Andrews again? After her too-short visit as Archie’s mom, Molly Ringwald has earned an “open-door invitation to come play with us in Riverdale anytime,” Aguirre-Sacasa says. “Everyone loved her and, given the events of the finale, [she may be back] sooner rather than later.”

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What’s next for Cheryl? Cheryl’s (Madelaine Petsch) dad hanged himself after being exposed as her brother Jason’s killer, the family has been disgraced, and she’s torched the Blossom mansion. It’s time for the mean girl to get even tougher! “Her mom, Penelope [Nathalie Boltt], was really cruel to her and basically had Cheryl under her thumb,” Aguirre-Sacasa says. “Next season that won’t be the case anymore. Cheryl and Penelope are locked in this dance of death, in this power struggle, and it is very much Cheryl who has the upper hand.”

Is Jughead breaking bad? With Jughead’s (Cole Sprouse) father (Skeet Ulrich) in jail and gang buddies taking him in, “Betty [Lili Reinhart], of course, is worried that he is falling into this darker path toward the Serpents,” says Aguirre-Sacasa, who adds with a laugh that Miss Cooper’s determination to save her beau from the bikers may shock the surly crew. “I think what we’ve learned from Betty in Season 1 is that if she gets an idea in her head or she sets out to do something, she does it, and God help you if you stand in her way!”