‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’ Star Chance Perdomo Originally Auditioned for ‘Riverdale’s Jughead

The “Archieverse” is continuing to make quite a presence on television, between Riverdale, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and the upcoming Katy Keene pilot. And while fans aren’t gearing up for a crossover anytime soon, the disparately-connected set of shows share a pretty interesting tie.

In a recent interview with Vulture, Chilling Adventures star Chance Perdomo spoke about his role as Ambrose Spellman, and how it was originally set in motion by him auditioning for Riverdale. As it turns out, Perdomo originally auditioned for the role of Jughead Jones, which prompted showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa to later write Ambrose for him.

“That is correct.” Perdomo revealed. “Crazy, huh? Apparently it was super, super close. And then he was like, ‘I’m going to keep this kid in mind.’ And he did, unbeknownst to me, even in the audition process when I was on the Warner lot in front of three sets of execs. He mentioned he remembered me from that audition, but I didn’t know that he’d written this character for me! So it’s mad, it’s mad.”

While the role of Jughead ultimately went to Cole Sprouse, Perdomo did get a chance to become familiar with the character’s unique sensibility during his audition.

“It was the initial narration when Riverdale opens up in the pilot.” Perdomo revealed. “It’s a moody, film noir narration on the kind of town Riverdale is and the people in it. When I watched the pilot, I was like, ‘Ah, I kind of know this!’”

Thankfully, Perdomo was given a chance to enter the Archie world with Chilling Adventures — and learning that he got the role ended up being pretty eventful.

“I did a screen test with Kieran [Shipka] and the monologue in front of the execs. And then two days later, just before I was about to fly out, I found out — ‘You got it, kid.’ There were no words for it! David Rappaport, the casting director, sent me a text with all-caps saying. ‘CONGRATS!’ And then my managers called me and said, ‘You’ve been here for, like, ten minutes!’ I was like, ‘Thank you guys so much, but I need to call you back because I have to call my mum!’ I called my mother and she was like, ‘What? OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! I’m driving! Wait, wait!’ And then she pulled over and I heard [mimics retching noises]. She was so overcome with emotion she had to pull over because she was heaving.”

The first two seasons of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina are now available on Netflix. Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.