‘Riverdale’s Flashback Episode Will Shed Light on ‘One of This Season’s Mysteries’ Says EP

Riverdale - Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Midnight Club
Preview
Dean Buscher/The CW

The soapy thriller’s younger cast pulls double duty tonight as stars KJ Apa (Archie), Lili Reinhart (Betty), Camila Mendes (Veronica) and others appear as their Riverdale folks’ teen selves. (That’s Apa as Archie’s dad, Fred, and Reinhart as Betty’s mom, Alice, above.)

“We learn how the parents all became friends at Riverdale High and how they became the people they are in the present,” explains showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa of the Breakfast Club-inspired hour, which also features a guest appearance by original Brat Packer Anthony Michael Hall as their former principal.

Aguirre-Sacasa says that the flashbacks will shed some light on what Alice (Mädchen Amick), Fred (Luke Perry), Veronica’s dad, Hiram (Mark Consuelos, whose real-life son Michael plays him in the episode), and some of their old classmates are hiding about their potential connection to one of this season’s mysteries.

(L-R): Camila Mendes as Teen Hermione Gomez, Major Curda as Teen Daryl Doiley, Cole Sprouse as Teen FP Jones, Michael Consuelos as Teen Hiram Lodge, KJ Apa as Teen Fred Andrews, Ashleigh Murray as Teen Sierra Samuels, Lili Reinhart as Teen Alice Smith, Casey Cott as Teen Tom Keller and Madelaine Petsch as Teen Penelope Blossom

So get ready for some ’80s tunes, a big twist and a lot of spot-on impersonations. Raves the executive producer, “The kids all did amazing.”

Riverdale, Wednesdays, 8/7c, The CW