When Riverdale comes to your television, ’90s heartthrob and TV icon Luke Perry will be back on the small screen — this time as the parent rather than the rebellious teen.
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As Fred Andrews, Perry plays the father to the iconic character of Archie, and at least from what fans saw in the pilot at Comic Con, it’s a complex and compelling relationship.
Perry joined ComicBook.com during a press event at Comic Con International: San Diego to discuss Riverdale, which will debut in early 2017. You can check it out here, or read on for the full interview below.
So they’ve compared the series to Twin Peaks. Does that make you Ray Wise?
Huh… [fake inhales a cigarette] Think I’m gonna get some coffee? Does that make me Ray Wise? No. It makes me…I’m the Log Lady. Yeah, that can be me.
But we actually have Mädchen [Amick] on the show, you know that? We have Mädchen on our show so she literally brings the Twin Peaks element.
You know, Twin Peaks is so phenomenal. And it worked because they struck the right tone, they brought intelligence to it, and the mystery itself was compelling. I think Roberto [Aguirre-Sacasa] has done the same thing here. It is a very compelling mystery and the nuance of the show and the feel and the tone of it, it’s really intelligent and compelling. That’s what you want.
Did you know Roberto before this, or no?
No, I did not.
So when they came to you and said, “We want you to be Archie’s dad,” what was your response?
Well, it didn’t go down like that but my agent said, “I want you to read this. They’re going to do Archie.” I was, like a lot of folks, a little skeptical. Wasn’t sure, said “I don’t know about that.” She says, “Read it!”
By page four, I knew I wanted to be in it. I knew I wanted to do it. I’m lucky that they would have me. I went in, we talked about it, I met with them.
I’ve got to tell you, Roberto — and here we are at Comic Con, right? Where many comic book properties are being adapted into other things, sometimes to great success, sometimes to lesser success. Whether this is successful or not, he is completely committed to it. 100% down for this thing, he has put in some blood, sweat and tears, his life into it. And I love seeing that kind of commitment. It makes me want to serve it, it makes me want to come in and work hard to give him the show he wants. I hope it does well.
So Roberto was teasing me with this crazy Halloween episode he’s working on…!
He won’t tell! He won’t tell us any of that. All I told him was, I wanted to dress as an Indian. Because I play a construction worker and I’ve played a cop, right? And an Indian? I will have in my career encapsulated the entirety of the Village People if that guy lets me do that. So we’ll see.
