'Riverdale' Star Nathalie Boltt Reveals Penelope Blossom's Villainous Drive

There is no shortage of great villains on The CW's hit series Riverdale, but few are as biting or as spiteful as Penelope Blossom.

But every good villain sees themselves as the hero of their story, and Penelope is no different despite the blatant bile for her daughter Cheryl. ComicBook.com caught up with actor Nathalie Boltt ahead of her prominent role in this evening's episode to find out what makes her tick.

"So much of what is wrong with Penelope and why she says things is in the very strong writing," said Boltt. "So when I get presented with a script those words have been very carefully considered already, and so I can kind of read into where they're coming from and the sort of writers' room discussions about bad parenting."

Boltt also looks taps into her own experiences with dysfunctional families, making use of the age-old adage that "you always hurt the ones you love."

"I mean I think most people have either come from some kind of dysfunction at some point or know of and so you look into the experience of families," she added. "The idea that you hurt the ones you love the most and you hurt them ... Like hurt people hurt people, and Penelope is about as hurtful as you can get."

The events of the first season have taken its toll on Penelope, who will go to extreme lengths to retain some of the things she's lost.

"Not only is she a particularly bad parent now that she lost Jason her beloved son who seemed to be the apple of her eye, she's lost her husband, she's lost her standing and her status, so she has nothing to lose and that makes her a very dangerous person, which makes for a very good villain, I think. So I lean into that as well.

"I think Penelope feels like at this point she can do whatever she likes to try and get back a life and she has no one to impress anymore. She doesn't have Clifford, who I think would have been a very cold and judgmental husband. So yeah she doesn't think she's wrong. I think Penelope feels completely justified in what she's doing," Boltt said.

She plays the role as if Penelope has suffered for years due to her relationships with the devious Blossom family, who are always conniving for a stake in the vast maple fortune.

"Penelope has dealt with Clifford and his family her whole life and it's been an extremely abusive and cold and judgmental time, Boltt added. "She had no idea about his drug dealing, and so she always assumed that they were genuinely rich. And so for her to now be poor is completely unfair in her mind and she's getting what's rightfully hers."

Fans can see the beginning of her plans come to fruition in tonight's episode of Riverdale, "There Will Be Blood," airing tonight at 8/7c on The CW.

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