On Riverdale, Archie Andrews (K.J. Apa) has a complicated relationship with Hiram Lodge (Mark Consuelos). The father of his ex-girlfriend, Hiram has been Archie’s greatest foe with the mob boss framing Archie for murder, having him sent to prison, and then attempting to have him killed on multiple occasions over the course of The CW series’ third season. But while there is no love lost between Archie and Hiram, in real-life Apa appears to have nothing but love for Consuelos.
In a post to Instagram, Apa sent birthday wishes to Consuelos — who turned 48 on Saturday — playfully referring to Consuelos as “wifey”.
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“Happy b day wifey.” Apa captioned the photo of the pair at an undated red carpet event. Consuelos appears to have appreciated the birthday wishes, too. He commented on the photo and referred to Apa as his “side piece” while Consuelos’ real-life wife Kelly Ripa definitely approved. She made her own comment: “I ship it?” accompanied with several laughing emojis.
All humorous birthday wishes aside, the cast of Riverdale is pretty well-known for being close and it’s that closeness that they have had to lean into following the tragic, unexpected death of their co-star Luke Perry last month. Perry, who played Archie’s father Fred Andrews on the series, died following a massive stroke. Following Perry’s sad passing, Apa updated his Instagram story with Third Eye Blind’s song “The Background,” a song whose lyrics include “Everything is quiet, since you’re not around, and I live in the numbness now, in the background” as well as “the plans I make still have you in them.”
For now Perry is still appearing as Fred on the series thanks to scenes that were filmed prior to his passing. However, Riverdale showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa said that the show will find the right way to honor Perry as well as handle Fred once they’ve had a bit of space to grieve.
“You know, honestly, we are I think all still in shock and are all still processing and grieving,” Aquirre-Sacasa explained. “We know that we have to address it in some way, but we’re giving ourselves a little bit of time and space before we figure out the best way to honor him.”
Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.
