Katy Keene Showrunner Explains That Season Finale Riverdale Crossover

Thursday night's season finale for The CW's Katy Keene was packed with twists and turns that ultimately delivered each of its core characters to new major life crossroads as the season looks hopefully toward a potential second season, but there's one major turn that wasn't exactly a surprise, but still packed quite a punch. Riverdale villain Hiram Lodge (Mark Consuelos) made an appearance in "Chapter Thirteen: Come Together" to menace Jorge Lopez's (Jonny Beauchamp) family, potentially setting up major drama should the show be renewed. While having Hiram show up to be the source of the all the Lopez family's real estate woes was exciting for fans it also left a lot of questions in its wake, but according to Katy Keene showrunner Michael Grassi, Katy Keene isn't going to become more like Riverdale, despite the shared villain.

"Katy Keene will always remain Katy Keene,' Grassi told TVLine. "When Hiram enters the picture, he's coming into our world, the New York of our imagination. He'll be a delicious, fun antagonist, but no one is getting murdered... yet."

Grassi further explained that they wanted to bring a villain onto the series to shake things up and Consuelos' Hiram Lodge perfectly fit the bill.

"We wanted to bring a villain in, and there's no villain we adore more than Mark Consuelos," Grassi continued. "He's always shaking things up and keeping everyone on their toes."

How Hiram will get to shake things up -- and if he'll get to do so -- remains a question mark. Katy Keene has not yet been officially picked up for a second season by The CW, something that may end up depending upon the show's streaming numbers.

"We are incredibly pleased with the creative [direction] of this show," network president Mark Pedowitz said. "The producers and the talented cast have done a terrific job. The linear ratings have been soft, but we have seen some good streaming viewership. We've gone to the studio and the producers and we're extending the option of when we can pick it up so we could see how it's performing once the full season is up, which will happen tonight, with the finale. And also, we are counting on that it will appear alongside the launch of HBO Max, and we're hoping that that, too, will help it. And we'll make a decision in a few weeks after that. We believe that the show will work streaming-wise. We'd like to see it perform a little bit better, but we have no creative issues on the show."

There's also the matter of Riverdale's upcoming time-jump, one that will hopefully answer some questions as to why Hiram Lodge -- who has been shown to be ill with a mysterious degenerative disease on Riverdale in its fourth season -- appears to be quite well and up to his old tricks just back in the Big Apple. Even if Katy Keene doesn't get a second season, Hiram's status will likely be confirmed with that Riverdale time jump (Riverdale has already been renewed for a fifth season) so there's that at least.

What did you think about Hiram Lodge's scheming on Katy Keene? Were you disappointed by the villain's appearance? Let us know in the comments below.