Riverdale Season 2 starts shooting: What we know so far
James R | On 24, Jun 2017
Riverdale Season 2 has officially started shooting, and details are finally starting to come out about the second season, including episode titles and an official synopsis.
Warning: Spoilers for Season 1 below.
It’s only been a matter of weeks since Riverdale Season 1 finished, but it already feels like far too long since we were hanging with Archie, Betty, Jughead and Veronica. Fortunately, the cast and show creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa have been on hand on social media to give us our Riverdale fix, tweeting from the set as they reunite – including, in a moment that will delight fans of Archie Comics, Cole Sprouse’s Jughead eating a burger.
#Riverdale Season 2 begins filming tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/GpGx1vqgcB
— Archie Comics (@ArchieComics) June 21, 2017
First day of shooting #Riverdale Season 2! Hey, Ronnie… pic.twitter.com/13YGUaF8fB
— RobertoAguirreSacasa (@WriterRAS) June 22, 2017
Another BTS shot from the 1st day of Season 2 of #Riverdale! @kj_apa and @CamilaMendes meet their wonderful fans! pic.twitter.com/ZKak6S4gY8
— RobertoAguirreSacasa (@WriterRAS) June 22, 2017
Season 1, of course, closed with the shocking shooting of Archie’s dad, Fred (Luke Perry). Whether he will recover or not from his masked assault is not yet clear, but star KJ Apa told us in a recent interview that it will certainly leave Archie looking for vengeance, as he reveals his darker side for the first time. We also know that with Jughead embraced by the Southside Serpents, following his dad going to prison (Skeet Ulrich, who plays FP, has been upgraded to a series regular for Season 2), Riverdale will be divided into two, as people have to take sides.
The CW recently unveiled the official synopsis for Season 2, which gives us a clearer idea of the show’s sombre mood:
The first season of Riverdale found our characters reeling from the tragic death of high school golden boy Jason Blossom. For many who had seen their home as perfect, safe, and innocent, the investigation into Jason’s murder peeled back the layers of their hometown to reveal a place bubbling over with secrets, mysteries, and scandals. Archie Andrews (KJ Apa), for instance, grew from a sweet, all-American kid into a young man acutely aware of the darker side of life – he broke his best friend’s heart, had a forbidden relationship with his music teacher, and grappled with whether he wanted to follow in his dad’s salt-of-the-earth footsteps. On the positive side, Archie repaired his friendship with Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse), found some success as a musician – thanks in part to Josie McCoy (Ashleigh Murray) and her band, the Pussycats – and found a new romantic interest in femme fatale Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes). New to town, Veronica spent the season trying to atone for her ‘bad girl’ past, all the while wrestling with her beloved father’s criminal legacy – and contending with a mother, Hermione (Marisol Nichols), who might not be as innocent as she claimed. Veronica became fast-friends with Archie’s girl-next-door neighbor, Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart), who did some growing up of her own this season. After Archie’s rejection, Betty threw herself into running the school paper, ‘The Blue and Gold,’ where she discovered a better romantic match in sardonic outsider Jughead. Together, they tracked down Betty’s sister Polly (guest star Tiera Skovbye), who had been sent away by their overbearing mother Alice (Mädchen Amick). Under the guise of writing for the school paper, Betty and Jughead investigated Jason Blossom’s death, which led to them discover that Jughead’s father – FP Jones (guest star Skeet Ulrich) – was involved with covering up Jason’s murder. Meanwhile, Jason’s twin sister, Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch), ruled the school as Riverdale High’s venomous, merciless Red Queen – until she learned the true identity of Jason’s killer. As the town breathed a collective sigh of relief that Jason’s killer had been found out, another terrible crime occurred, in a space that had been considered one of the town’s safest, most innocent places. If Jason Blossom’s murder revealed the slimy underbelly beneath Riverdale’s surface, as we enter Season 2, the shooting of Fred Andrews threatens to plunge the entire town into utter darkness.
Indeed, it’s not just Jughead and Archie facing upheaval, with Veronica’s dad, Hiram, back in town for Season 2, disrupting both the town and her domestic life. And, judging by the scripts for the first three episodes, Kevin Keller may also be in danger.
The family has gathered ???? Here we go for #Riverdale season2!! Our table read of eps 1,2&3 were EPIC you guys ?????? @thecwriverdale pic.twitter.com/sncSMuLgfE
— Mädchen Amick (@madchenamick) June 21, 2017
While Madchen Amick posted a picture of the ensemble table read on Twitter, Aguirre-Sacasa was less cryptic, actually tweeting out the name of the opening episodes of the new season: A Kiss Before Dying, Nighthawks, and The Watcher in the Woods. The retro Archie Comics-style covers are reason enough to admire then, but Aguirre-Sacasa’s comments about the ominously-named third episode is another, as he tweeted cryptically… “if you see Kevin Keller, please tell him… DON’T GO IN THE WOODS”.
Episode 1: A Kiss Before Dying
Here we go. Season Two of #Riverdale is officially underway! Are you ready? pic.twitter.com/tPvMcRzv8t
— RobertoAguirreSacasa (@WriterRAS) May 23, 2017
Episode 2: Nighthawks
Come for the burgers, stay…for the rest of your life. Episode 2 of #Riverdale Season 2. It’s on. pic.twitter.com/1PuC8fi8Os
— RobertoAguirreSacasa (@WriterRAS) June 7, 2017
Episode 3: The Watcher in the Woods
#Riverdale fans, if you see Kevin Keller, please tell him…DON’T GO IN THE WOODS! #prayforkevin pic.twitter.com/ZQqwmPgnbR
— RobertoAguirreSacasa (@WriterRAS) June 13, 2017
Will Kevin be the next shock departure from Riverdale? Riverdale Season 2 will premiere in October, which means we won’t have too much longer to wait to find out.