Executive producer Robert Aguirre-Sacasa dropped major details about Riverdale Season 4, teasing their tribute to Luke Perry, Jughead's (Cole Sprouse) fate, and some returning characters. The show once again filled the seats in Hall H at the recent 2019 San Diego Comic-Con as they gave everyone a glimpse of the new season.
The panel started with a tribute to the late Perry. The Beverly Hills, 90210 star had been a part of the show since it began in 2017, serving as the mentor of the cast members.
Aguirre-Sacasa said Perry's demise was a "huge, huge, huge loss" for the show, per TVInsider. His character and his role as Fred had a lot of similarities. In fact, when he was only auditioning, the late actor said Fred "was just like him."
To honor Perry's life, Aguirre-Sacasa revealed they would fulfill his one wish - to bring Shannen Doherty in the series. Hence, his fellow Beverly Hills star would be part of Riverdale Season 4, and she would be in in a "really emotional way."
Molly Ringwald will also return to Riverdale Season 4 to reprise her role as Mary Andrews. The 51-year-old star asked Aguirre-Sacasa to never deal with Archie's (K.J. Apa) loss by having his uncle come home. So, she would play as Archie's mom this season.
Come Season 4, the kids will be in their senior years. This time, they would be exploring the high school world after hunting serial killers in the previous seasons.
Talking about the mystery surrounding Jughead's fate, Aguirre-Sacasa also revealed the secrecy of what happened to him would be "big." "In the episodes leading up to it, we're going to flash-forward to events that will [help put] the pieces together," he said.
Riverdale Season 4 will also explore Jughead and Betty's (Lili Reinhart) relationship as they will take the test of time due to the distance that they will be sharing, Glamour noted. Their romance will be welcomed with some troubles as Jughead will not be attending Riverdale High School this time around.
Instead, Jughead will be making his way at a prep school for senior year. Jughead will only return in Riverdale on weekends, and his absence will cause a problem on their relationship.
Things will inevitably be intense between the two as the distance will bring in some stress in their romance. There is a possibility that they will fall out of love and turn away from each other, but they will still get back together, coming out stronger. Riverdale Season 4 is set to be out on Oct. 9 on The CW.
