'Riverdale' Spinoff 'Katy Keene' Casts Alex and Alexandra Cabot

Two major Archie Comics figures have been cast in the forthcoming Riverdale spinoff, Katy Keene.

The series, which features Ashleigh Murray's Josie McCoy as part of its main ensemble, has recruited Camille Hyde and Lucien Laviscount to play the big-money twins Alexandra and Alexander Cabot.

In the comics and animated series, Alexander Cabot is the biggest booster and manager of Josie and the Pussycats. Alexandra, meanwhile, dislikes, antagonizes, and sabotages the band.

The pair were previously played in live action by Paul Costanzo (Alexander) and Missi Pyle (Alexandra) in Josie and the Pussycats back in 2001. Arguably the most memorable moment from either of them is when, after sniping at the band, Alexandra was asked why she was even here.

"I'm here because I was in the comic book," she said, puzzling all but the viewers of the film.

During a recent screening of the film in Brooklyn, former Josie and the Pussycats comic book co-writer Cameron DeOrdio told me that one draft of a comic book issue had included a similar line from comics-Alexandra -- "I'm here because I was in the movie" -- but that it was cut. In DeOrdio and co-writer Marguerite Bennett's interpretation of the character, she was somewhat more sympathetic, lashing out at Josie because of a childhood slight which, after some self-evaluation, Josie herself admitted was in fact her own fault.

Deadline, who first reported the casting, had these character descriptions for the twins:

Hyde will play Alexandra Cabot, a powerful, savvy and chic New York socialite who is an SVP at her father's company. Both respected and feared, Alexandra is competitive with her brother, who has a very different vision for the record label. Laviscount is set as her brother, Alexander, the CEO of his father's company who dreams of rebooting its dormant record label division, which attracts him to Josie. He's cut from a different cloth than his billionaire family, as he'd rather take the subway and listen to vinyl, and he secretly DJs at a dive club.

One has to wonder whether that dive club might be the same one at which Jorge/Ginger Lopez performs a drag routine.

The spinoff revolves around follows the lives and loves of four iconic Archie Comics characters — including fashion-legend-to-be Katy Keene — as they chase their twenty-something dreams in New York City. The musical dramedy chronicles the origins and struggles of four aspiring artists trying to make it on Broadway, on the runway and in the recording studio.

For the uninitiated, Katy Keene is an Archie Comics character who first debuted in 1945. Dubbed "America's Queen of Pin-Ups and Fashions", Katy was a model, actress, and singer who juggled her career with her personal life. The character fell out of print in the early 1960s, only to be revived in the 1980s. The character has only made a few appearances in recent years, including in 1994's Archie Meets the Punisher.

This is the second spinoff series that Riverdale has gotten thus far, after Netflix's Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. The series was initially commissioned for The CW before being brought to series by Netflix, and crossovers between the two shows have been pretty scarce in the time since.

In August of last year, The CW president Mark Pedowitz hinted that a Riverdale spinoff could be headed to the network, leading some fans to speculate about what that would entail.

Expect Katy Keene to hit The CW in the fall of 2019 or spring of 2020, assuming the pilot is ordered to series.