Archie goes Live-Action with Riverdale! Meet the New Cast

I haven’t touched on the fact that they are now making a live-action version of Archie for TV called Riverdale and that there are several stars already attached to the project. Here’s the first wave of Riverdale casting news.

Here’s the initial Riverdale synopsis for the series from CW:

The live-action series offers a bold, subversive take on Archie, Betty, Veronica, and their friends, exploring small-town life and the darkness and weirdness bubbling beneath Riverdale’s wholesome facade. The show will focus on the eternal love triangle of Archie Andrews, girl-next-door Betty Cooper, and rich socialite Veronica Lodge, and will include the entire cast of characters from the comic books—including Archie’s rival, Reggie Mantle, and his slacker best friend, Jughead Jones.

The freshest casting news is for Veronica Lodge who will be played by Camila Mendes.

 

Her character is described as:

a silver-tongued high school sophomore who returns to Riverdale from New York, eager to reinvent herself after a scandal involving her father.

Veronica has also been known one of the three that makes up the love triangle between Betty and Archie. Even for the 2015 version of the series, this is also the case. The Riverdale version also states that she and Betty aren’t even the slightest friends. Also rather than a father, TV Ronnie will have a divorcee, socialite mother.

KJ Apa as Archie Andrews

His character is described as:

Archie Andrews is an intense, conflicted teen, a boyish high school sophomore who got pumped up over the summer working construction and is now juggling the interest of several girls, as well as trying to balance his passion for writing and performing music — against the wishes of his father and his football coach

Ashley Murray as Josie

Josie is a gorgeous, snooty and ambitious girl who is the lead singer for popular band Josie and the Pussycats. She has zero interest in recording any songs written by fellow teen Archie.

Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper

Reinhart (Surviving Jack) plays the other girl in Archie’s life and a frenemy to Veronica. Her character is described as:

sweet, studious, eager-to-please and wholesome with a huge crush on her longtime best friend, Archie. Tired of being the perfect daughter, student, sister, etc., she turns to her new friend, Veronica, for life advice — much to the consternation of her emotionally brittle mother.

Cole Sprouse as Jughead Jones

According to recently leaked pilot script Jughead is an emo heartthrob at Riverdale. He’s a coffee addict as opposed to being a hamburger addict. He’s also deaf, which is why we’ll be seeing him with a hearing aid all of the time. He’s also NO LONGER best bud to Archie. Official description goes:

Sprouse’s Jughead Jones is a heartthrob with a philosophical bent and former best friend of Archie Andrews. He is still smarting from the rift that took place between the two.

Luke Perry as Fred Andrews

Perry’s Fred Andrews is described as:

Usually easygoing, Fred Andrews is the owner of a construction firm who is hoping his son, who worked for him all summer, will someday take over the family business.

 

Madelaine Petsch as Cheryl Blossom

Petsch’s Cheryl Blossom is rich, entitled and never accountable. A manipulative mean girl who kills with kindness, she recently lost her twin brother in a mysterious accident.

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, chief creative officer of Archie Comics, wrote Riverdale and is executive producing with Berlanti Prods.’ Berlanti and Sarah Schechter as well as Archie Comics CEO Jon Goldwater for Warner Bros TV and studio-based Berlanti Productions.

Bleedingcool also has its own take on the pilot and interestingly enough it features homeless people, boarded up establishments, strip joints, sex, blackmail, twincest and cussing. That’s right. There’s all sorts of cussing in this series including s-bombs and f-bombs. Here’s a look at an actual line from the pilot…

I’m all for a real-world-ish take on Archie and the gang but there’s a looming sense that this could be another version of “One Tree Hill” or “Laguna Beach” or whatever crap they’ve recently aired on TV. But then again we’re talking about Archie Comics here and there’s really so much territory that needs to be covered, so much plots that could be addressed so there’s real promise here.