Cheryl Blossom Wasn't Doing What You Thought at Tonight's Riverdale Funeral

02/23/2017 09:45 pm EST

More or less everyone who saw the trailer for this week's episode of Riverdale had the same thought: of course drama queen Cheryl Blossom has to steal the show at her twin brother's funeral, right? That's just how she is!

Heck, even Chris Hayner on Archie Digest: A Riverdale Podcast joked about it on tonight's episode. But you know who disagrees with that take? Madelaine Petsch, who plays Cheryl on the show.

"For me, that wasn't an attention-seeking moment at all," Petsch said during a recent visit to the set of Riverdale. "That was a moment where she was finally standing up to her parents and kind of putting them in their place, in a way, and standing up for her brother and her relationship with him. It had nothing to do with finding attention."

And while it might seem like it on TV -- Petsch joked that she loves her character becuase of the Cheryl's propensity to be a catalyst, since something, good or bad, happens every time she's on screen -- Petsch says Cheryl isn't really the center of everyone's world, as much as she would like the rest of Riverdale to believe she is.

"Cheryl's never really the center of attention. Not on the show, but in the realm of Riverdale, Cheryl's never really the center of attention," Petsch said."She's always trying to put herself in situations that she doesn't necessarily belong in — like all the lunchroom scenes where all of the core gang are just hanging out and suddenly Cheryl just happens to appear there. She's always trying to just insert herself in situations that she doesn't belong in, so I don't think she ever really is the center of attention."

That moment -- where Cheryl just showed up out of nowhere -- happened on tonight's episode, early on when she came to hand-deliver invitations to Jason's funeral.

It's Jason, she explained, who was really the thing her parents loved most in the world.

"Jason was definitely the golden boy," Petsch explained. "Which is why we have the dynamic that we do, where there's so much love, because he sees how he's treated and how I was treated, and he wants to protect me since they don't."

More Riverdale: Ashleigh Murray on performing in the classic Josie costume | Riverdale teases Afterlife With Archie | Camila Mendes: Veronica wants to trust her parents, but can't | Lili Reinhart shoots down a popular fan theory

Disclosure: ComicBook is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of Paramount. Sign up for Paramount+ by clicking here.