Cole Sprouse Describes Riverdale's Jughead

With Riverdale finally, officially on the schedule and about a month to go before Archie, Jughead, and the rest of the gang make their way to your TV, ComicBook.com is ready to start digging through our interviews from Comic Con International: San Diego back in July to tease some of what audiences can expect from the Twin Peaks-inspired take on America's favorite small town.

First up: The Suite Life of Zack and Cody's Cole Sprouse, who returns to acting in a big way as Forsythe "Jughead" Jones, the solemn and sometimes noir-inspired voice of Riverdale and, at least in the early going, a little bit of a nagging voice at the back of Archie Andrews's conscience.

"I was given a scene to rehearse in which it was like three or four pages of just dialogue on Jughead's behalf," Sprouse recalled. "It was really challenging and I thought that would be something I wanted to try my hand at. Jughead is the narrator in this, so he's got a lot of dialogue -- [voiceover], really. But he's also a strange, weird, observer-like character who stands behind the scenes. He's a young sleuth, and that just looked like a bunch of fun."

Sprouse also praised showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, the chief creative officer at Archie Comics, whom he called one of the biggest Archie fans in the world.

In some ways, a show like Riverdale takes a fan's mindset to put together, as it centers not around the familiar dynamics (although they're mostly present) but on the town itself.

"I am the point of view character, but [calling the show] Riverdale is a very intentional thing," he added."This is very much a story about all the lives, written from an outsider's point of view. It's not like I'm from a different town; I am the outsider just philosophically. Jughead has always been a non-conformist, anti-authority-type character, and he still carries that same sardonic, sarcastic attitude in this."

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The series kicks off at the start of a new school year, where the introduction of Veronica to the school might be the thing that has everyone talking -- if not for the mysterious death of Jason Blossom, the twin brother of Cheryl. While Cheryl tries not to let the cracks in her armor show, other characters -- particularly Archie and his teacher Mrs. Grundy -- have their own secrets to keep, which may cause big problems for everyone down the line.

Riverdale stars Apa as Archie, Sprouse as Jughead, Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper, Camilla Mendes as Veronica Lodge, and Luke Perry as Archie's father Fred Andrews, among others. The series' showrunner is Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Archie Entertainment's Chief Creative Officer and the writer of Afterlife With Archie, the publisher's wildly popular zombie series.

Riverdale will premiere on The CW on January 26, 2017. You can check out our review of the pilot here.

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