We are fast approaching season 3 of Riverdale and while you may have already read the latest news and gossip about the show (especially if you’re as much of a junkie as myself), thanks to our time at San Diego Comic-Con with the cast of Riverdale, here are all the things I’m personally looking forward to in season 3:
The Aftermath
In case you don’t remember all that went down in season 2, here are some highlights to refresh your memory:
- Archie Andrews was arrested at school for a crime we know he didn’t commit (Thanks, Hiram Lodge).
- Hal Cooper was caught and confessed to being the Black Hood. He’s now in jail and sounds like a raving lunatic.
- Veronica Lodge cut herself off from daddy Hiram’s cash by way of trading the Whyte Wyrm for Pop’s. Remember she bought it out from under him with the cash Hermione helped her get back? Clever girl.
- Jughead Jones is the new Serpent King.
- Hermione Lodge beat out Fred Andrews in the mayoral race.
- There’s another shooter running around, for now.
So, what does this mean for our favorite characters? A few things, actually, but note that we pick up three months after all that crazy went down.
BETTY: Betty Cooper and her mother, Alice Cooper, will cope with having a serial killer in the family in different ways. We know that Betty, “doesn’t want to talk about it, she doesn’t want to think about it, she is very laser-focused on an internship that she has at a law firm and she spent the summer kind of working really hard doing that and distracting herself from the situation at hand that she’s in.” according to Betty Cooper herself, Lili Reinhart. Also, from what we saw, Alice is getting into some weird stuff with her first-born Polly.
VERONICA: Veronica is now a business owner and a student who is solely responsible for herself. Not only is she running Pop’s, but she also made part of it a speakeasy so – needless to say – she’s going to be extremely busy. As Camila Mendes puts it, “She is wearing a lot of hats: she is also working at Pop’s while also, owning it, and kind of earning her own money for the first time, so she is being pulled in a lot of different directions.” We can also expect to see her fighting to help her beau, Jailbird Archie, get the best possible outcome. Perhaps this means calling his mother for help? She is a lawyer, after all.
HERMIONE: Yes, Hermione won the mayoral race, but does that mean she’s going to be Hiram’s rubber stamp gal? “No, I think that Hermione has made him think that she’s still his puppet now that she’s at the mayoral office but I think that she’s no dummy,” said Marisol Nichols. Additionally, “She’s had to be the character you saw in season 2 just to survive, you know?”
What else can we expect from Hermione? Well, now that she is in office, Hermoine is discovering she has power all her own and best of all, “I think we’ll absolutely see Hermione start to fight back and I think that’s what everyone’s wanted to see.” Nichols added. But of course, it has to be on the down low because…Hiram.
Family Dynamics
Family has always felt like a strong part of the show to me because we get to see many different iterations of what constitutes a family. We have a seemingly loving and complete household unit to the single parent struggle to the toxic home life of an unloving parent. We also see a mix up for a few characters this season.
CHERYL: We know Cheryl’s home life has been nothing short of a living hell and thankfully Cheryl took matters into her own hands and filed for emancipation. We know it was granted and now it’s just her and nana in the house but that doesn’t mean mother Penelope and uncle Claudius won’t be out of the picture, especially since they are aligned with Hiram. According to Madelaine Petsch, “The Blossom family drama will never end, that’s all I can tell you.”So, much for thinking Cheryl was free and clear.
KEVIN & JOSIE: Now that the cat’s out of the bag about former Mayor McCoy and former Sheriff Keller having relations, we can expect to see the two families come together. According to Ashleigh Murray, it’s now a “blended household” with a “joint family situation happening” and talk of a shared bathroom. Hopefully, this means we will be seeing more of Kevin and Josie throughout the season.
THE LODGES: We come to expect so much crazy and manipulation from the Lodge household and this season promises to be even tenser. As Mark Consuelos said, “The gloves are off.” We can also expect to see Veronica openly battling with her father while starting to repair her relationship with her mother. According to Camila Mendes, “… their relationship is going to start to heal a little bit. I think they’re finally finding a happy place with each other and they’re bonding over the tragedy of what Veronica’s father does and how bad he can be. And I think now they’re kind of going to team up a little bit, but in a very subtle way because I think Hermione is compromised.” It will definitely be interesting to see where this transactional family goes from here.
THE JONESES: The Jones family is soon to be expanding! Well, not in the sense of a new baby but in the sense of finally getting to meet Jughead’s mother and sister, Jellybean. We’ve only known Jughead’s relationship with his father and now we get to see how different he will be with his mother and sister. For Cole Sprouse, “I want to see Jughead’s relationship to his younger sister and what that means, how protective he is and introducing her to this shit show that is just going on around his life. And what it means for trying to protect her. I think that’s going to be a really interesting and fun dynamic to play.”
New Friendships
Because the show is basically about four friends hanging out and living life, friendship is the foundation of the Riverdale. What’s especially great about Riverdale as a show is seeing unlikely friendships form or women supporting others even if they aren’t the best of friends. It’s a breath of fresh air from women hurting each other and instead shows what the narrative should be: women supporting women.
So in season 3, we can expect to see some new friendships and alliances form. We saw the beginning of one last season between Cheryl and Betty when Betty for advice about her suspicions that her father was the Black Hood. Producer Sarah Schechter teases, “It’ll be fun to watch how Betty and Cheryl interact now. You know, they are cousins but also they’ve both been through this sort of, like, really traumatic experience of realizing that their fathers aren’t who they thought they were.” Does this mean new besties? Probably not, but I suspect a new appreciation for one another other and mutual respect will emerge.
Another unlikely but not super weird team up will be Veronica and Josie. It only makes sense considering that Veronica now runs a speakeasy and Josie is a singer. Will Josie also help with running it and booking talent other than herself? We don’t really know yet, but we can expect to see more of them working together instead of fighting each other.
One last little side note: Kevin has a boyfriend and we finally get to see him with a guy instead of cruising the woods for a hookup. Progress.
And finally, I’d like to leave you with this little gem about season 3 via Casey Cott (Kevin) and Ashleigh Murray (Josie):
Casey: “I’m much more excited for this season. I really like the first two episodes of this season.”
Ashleigh: “Yeah, they’re actually really…”
Casey: “Specifically the first one. It just kind of opens up, like, this magical box.”
Ashleigh: “It sets a wonderful tone.”
Casey: “Yeah, and it, it’s mysterious. Yeah, mystifying.”
Ashleigh: “Mystifying.”
Casey: “Mystifying. Dare to defy.”
Ashleigh: “Dare to defy, CW.”
Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.
