Riverdale: Ashleigh Murray Returns as Josie McCoy in new "A Different Kind of Cat" Photos

With just a few episodes of Riverdale remaining, Ashleigh Murray is coming back to the fan favorite The CW series in this week's "Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Four:  Different Kind of Cat", and now, new photos are giving us our best look yet at the return of Josie McCoy. The CW has released a pair of photos from this week's upcoming episode and while they don't reveal much about the character's return, they do offer a taste of things with a glimpse of Josie performing at The Dark Room as, in a second photo, Clay, Veronica, and Kevin presumably watch. You can check the photos out for yourself below as well as the episode's official synopsis.

"TAKING THE TOWN BY STORM — Betty (Lili Reinhart) enlists help from Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) and Toni (Vanessa Morgan) after deciding she's going to publish her own book.  Veronica (Camila Mendes), Kevin (Casey Cott) and Clay (guest star Karl Walcott) host Hollywood movie star Josie McCoy (guest star Ashleigh Murray), who is in town to screen her latest film.  Finally, Archie's (KJ Apa) attempt to take his poetry to the next level doesn't go as planned.  Kevin Rodney Sullivan directed the episode written by Ariana Jackson & Evan Kyle."

Riverdale Won't Exactly Be Leaving the 1950s

Riverdale's seventh and final season has been set exclusively in the 1950s, which has in turn allowed for some fresh takes on its core characters as well as some of the other familiar faces in the series, but while fans have been hopeful they might see the gang make it back to the present and their rightful timeline before things end, that may not be the case. Series star Mädchen Amick previously cast doubt on a return to the present but did tease that fans would get some closure beyond the 1950s setting.

"I don't know if I should answer," Amick told Decider when asked about the setting. "No, we don't get out of the 1950s. So, I guess maybe that is a big spoiler. I will say you do experience the characters in different… dimensions, that you get to see a lot of closures that are outside of the 1950s. I can tease it that way. I think that's saying enough."

Why the 1950s is the Perfect Setting for Riverdale's Final Season

However, Riverdale ends up, Aguirre-Sacasa previously told ComicBook.com that the 1950s was the perfect setting for the fan-favorite series' final season, both for the nostalgia and for the society and cultural elements of that time period and how they lend themselves to the story.

"It is true, though the Archie started publishing much earlier than the 1950s, the decade that most people associate with Archie comics is the 1950s for whatever reason. The Archie comics, they're so nostalgic, and I think when people think of time periods, they think of the 1950. Through the lens of nostalgia. So that was one big thing," Aguirre-Sacasa said. "Absolutely. And even when we've done their iconic comic book costumes from the past, even though they were technically the 1940s, whenever anyone would write about it, they'd say, 'Oh my God, they're wearing their 1950s outfits.' So, it was sort of like, 'Okay, well, that is ... 'And even when we were pitching Riverdale, and this is true, when we were pitching Riverdale to try to do a TV show, the executives would say, 'Wait a minute, wait a minute. Is this a show set in the '50s?' And it's like, 'No, no, no, it's set in present day.'  So, there was that."

He continued, "The other big thing that felt really resonant is the 1950s were when the modern idea of the teenager was born. Teenagers really didn't ... Teenagers as we know them, and as consumers of popular culture, as consumers of movies and television and comic books and things like that, that really ... The birth of the American of the modern American teenager was the 1950s as well. So, it felt like, "Oh, well that's Archie." I mean, that is Archie. So, it felt like this is the time period, this is actually the time period. So those were also things that kind of resonated with us and why we landed on this time period. Also later ... and the world is roiling later in the '60s with counterculture, with the civil rights movement, with the sort of a gay liberation movement and things like that. And it felt like in terms of our thematic, which is the wholesome sweet innocent facade, and then the darker, more dangerous, more fraught themes and issues bubbling underneath, it felt like the '50s sort of suited that to a T."

Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on The CW. "Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Four: A Different Kind of Cat" airs August 2nd.