WonderCon 2017: Riverdale
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Riverdale, the CW Twin Peaks-ish take on the Archie comics, proved to be so popular the CW renewed it really fast, as we all knew they would. The show returned from hiatus this past week and now the cast KJ Apa, Lili Reinhart, Camila Mendes, Cole Sprouse, Ashleigh Murray, Luke Perry,Mädchen Amick, and Marisol Nichols and producers Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Sarah Schechter, and Jon Goldwater descended on WonderCon to chat about the show and the craziness behind the scenes.
Actors Working with Actors and Singing
This Riverdale panel was pretty much a love fest between the actors, who seem to be really great friends in real life. It was fun to see the parents be a part of the panel with their on screen kids. Camila said she was especially proud of her and Marisol getting to play two Latinas. My favorite quote of the panel was Sarah saying that they chose actors who people have grown up with to play the parents so that we could more easily sympathize with them. The show is so musical and most of the cast has gotten to sing. Ashleigh, who plays Josie, said that when she was younger that she didn’t like the sound of her voice but by playing this character she has been able to overcome her fear and loves making music. K.J. Aha, who plays Archie, said he loved getting to sing, but that his character has a ways to go before being confident. One person who won’t be singing is Cole Spouse (Jughead) who said he survived a Disney career without having to sing so he’s not eager to start.
Social Media
The show has been a big hit on social media #riverdalestrong. For the younger cast members who have grown up with social media, it wasn’t daunting, but was a new avenue for the older cast members. Madchen Amick, of Twin Peaks fame, said she remembered when the discussion was called water cooler talk and that it’s awesome to get the direct interaction with the fans. Show runner Robert said he’s aware of what the fans are saying but that’s it’s a weird feeling because they shot most of the season before it started to air. He’s happy that they enjoyed choices like Betty and Jughead.
Jughead
Cole said its been challenging to play the character because there’s lots of incendiary dialogue in changing long standing characters like Jughead. You have to work with the creative team to form the strands to the link the new adaptation to the other ones.
ROMANCE
Riverdale is nothing without its romances and Roberto says one of the earliest things they decided when we pitched the show was a triangle with Betty, Jughead and Archie, with Archie being on the outside of his two friends. Archie hasn’t been down too long cause he basically makes out with all the Riverdale girls. Ashleigh said she would love to get a love interest for Josie but it has to be someone worthy of her, they have to come with it. The Beronica shippers also got some love as Lili and Camila said they’d be down for any romance with their characters and that their friendship is great as well. Not just the kids, the parents get in on the messy action. Luke Perry said that it was Marisol who helped him really get into the scenes by reminding him that these two characters have so much history and that they needed to bring that to the moment.
What message do you hope the show sends?
The final piece was everyone getting asked what they hope the show sends out into the world:
Sarah: stay weird
Lili: with betty, it’s showing the pressure, it’s ok to crack and break and people will still accept you, need to acknowledge and accept mental health issues.
Roberto: at the end of the day it’s a show about a group of friends who are there for each other, you’re not alone
Marisol: parents can be just as flawed as the kids
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