Riverdale's Ashleigh Murray Wants Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid, and Rosario Dawson to Cameo
What if the Pussycats from 2001's Josie and the Pussycats movie could find their way to Riverdale, [...]
What if the Pussycats from 2001's Josie and the Pussycats movie could find their way to Riverdale, The CW's acclaimed Archie Comics adaptation? Well, Riverdale's Josie McCoy, Ashleigh Murray, told ComicBook.com that she'd love to see it happen.
During our chat with Murray on the carpet at last week's CW upfronts, we asked the actress and musician who she would like to bring in, if she could cherry pick one name from throughout all of Josie and the Pussycats's screen history.
"I can only pick one?" She pleaded. "Can't it just be all? It would be amazing if somehow all of the Pussycats from the movie made just like a cameo appearance in three different ways in three different situations. That would make me very happy. I don't know if there's any way that could happen, but maybe!"
It sounds like a long shot -- especially with Rosario Dawson doing comics TV for Marvel and Netflix already -- but it's not outside of the realm of possibility. Rachael Leigh Cook, who played Josie McCoy in the 2001 movie, is married to Daniel Gillies of The Originals, so there's already a CW connection there.
Another show that Cook herself was on, Psych, played that "one cameo at a time" pattern and managed to get nearly every member of The Breakfast Club on the series over the life if its 8-year run. The show never managed to woo Emilio Estevez, who is largely out of acting at this point, but Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald (a Riverdale alum!), Ally Sheedy, and Anthony Michael Hall all had guest appearances or featured roles on the long-running USA Network series.
Murray isn't the first Pussycat to go down this road, either: During an interview with Archie Digest: A Riverdale Podcast, series star Hayley Law (Valerie Brown) said that she'd love to see Cook appear on the series, as well.
"I know it wasn't a big hit when it came out, but I love the movie," Law said. "I think it's great,a nd I think the way that they played those characters was really funny and I'd love to see a little bit of that in season 2."
"It would be cool to have Rachael Leigh Cook be involved with the music -- like an A&R or something," she added.
Artists and repertoire (A&R) is the division of a record label or music publishing company that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists and songwriters -- so essentially Cook in this scenario would be playing the role X2: X-Men United star Alan Cumming played in the feature film.
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 Two, the shooting of Fred Andrews threatens to plunge the entire town into utter darkness.
Based on the characters from Archie Comics, Riverdale is from Warner Bros. Television and CBS Television Studios, in association with Berlanti Productions, with executive producers Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa ("Supergirl," "Glee"), Greg Berlanti ("Arrow," "The Flash," "Supergirl," "DC's Legends of Tomorrow"), Sarah Schechter ("Arrow," "The Flash," "Supergirl," "DC's Legends of Tomorrow") and Jon Goldwater (Archie Comics).
More Riverdale news:
- Riverdale Soundtrack Features a Previously-Unheard Josie and the Pussycats Song
- Riverdale Season 2 Premiere Title Revealed
- Riverdale Comes to DVD and Blu-Ray in August
- Riverdale Showrunner Compares Season 2 Cheryl Blossom to Mad Max: Fury Road's Furiosa
