Riverdale sounded like a silly idea when the CW announced it. Archie, Jughead and the gang rendered in live action but with all the drama of teen love and the small town’s seedy underbelly. It somehow took that silly idea and made a magnetically entertaining show that has stayed strong through two great seasons that are equal parts silly and serious, episodes that push at the bounds of believability while ringing weirdly close to home. The first tiny scenes from the third season came out at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con and we couldn’t be more excited.
Filming on the show is only a couple weeks in at this point, so we don’t have much to work with, but the show’s panel gave us a little more to chew on.
The season will revolve around a cult led by a charismatic leader named Edgar Evernever, which is an awesome name. The cult is the “farm” to which Polly referred to throughout season 2, the place where she took her twin children to keep them safe from the Blossom and Cooper families. Showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacassa says this cult has been planned since season 1, but notes that more recent news like Smallville actress Allison Mack’s alleged involvement in a cult and Netflix’s Wild, Wild Country will factor into how the cult plays out throughout the season.
The third season will make good on other developments as well, such as Betty’s involvement with the Serpents gang and the arrival of Jughead’s mother and his younger sister Jellybean. Meanwhile, Archie Andrews is being prosecuted by district attorney Ms. Wright, played by Penelope Ann Miller, on a charge trumped up by Veronica Lodge’s crime-lord father Hiram.
One of the things I want most for Riverdale is for it to embrace the weirdness the first season and small parts of the second hinted at. The cult seems to be one way for this to happen. The show gave a weird Twin Peaks, 90210 vibe that I couldn’t help but love. The show hasn’t fully paid off on that, but it’s still been a ride all the same.
It seems like a long way off right now, but Riverdale is right around the corner – season 3 premiers on Wednesday, October 10, and 8 P.M. EST, on The CW.
