Riverdale Actor Reveals Season 1 Finale Had A Different Ending

Who would have thought that a melodramatic teen drama with a murder mystery based on Archie Comics would be a hit?

Apparently the execs at The CW knew something everyone else didn’t when they picked up the pilot of Riverdale for a full season order. Those 13 episodes mixed elements of Twin Peaks with Pretty Little Liars for one of the best, most ridiculous shows on network television.

Fans will be eagerly tuning into its second season when it premieres this fall, especially after the shocking season finale that left one of the main characters bleeding out on the floor of Pop’s Chocklit Shoppe. But apparently, the show wasn’t always going to end like that.

Riverdale star KJ Apa, who plays Archie on the series, was speaking at MCM Comic Con in London last month when he revealed how the plan for the finale changed.

“We actually had a completely different ending while we were shooting,” Apa said. “Actually, only me and Luke [Perry] got sent the ending the night before we actually shot that scene. Me and Luke sat down, we had a chat about it and we spoke to the writers and kind of just got it done. No one else actually knew about it except us at that time.”

In the scene, Archie’s dad Fred Andrews, played by Perry, gets shot by a masked gunman who was attempting to rob Pop’s. The first season ends with Archie holding his dad on the ground while Fred bleeds out.

UP NEXT: Cheryl Will Be “Even Meaner” In Season 2

When asked what the other planned finale would have been, Apa had to play it coy.

“I’m not sure if I’m allowed to tell you that, so I’m just not going to say it.”

Further prodded for a clue, Apa would only say the scene had “something to do with the Blossoms,” but nothing else.


We might see the original plan come into play in a future episode of Riverdale, so it’s good that Apa didn’t reveal Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s plan. Riverdale has proven to be an interesting show and we’re most interested in finding out what twists and revelations will plague the once-sleepy town in the coming years.

Riverdale is now streaming on Netflix. Season 2 is expected to premiere in the fall.

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The first season of RIVERDALE found our characters reeling from the tragic death of high school golden boy Jason Blossom. For many who had seen their home as perfect, safe, and innocent, the investigation into Jason’s murder peeled back the layers of their hometown to reveal a place bubbling over with secrets, mysteries, and scandals. Archie Andrews (KJ Apa), for instance, grew from a sweet, all-American kid into a young man acutely aware of the darker side of life—he broke his best friend’s heart, had a forbidden relationship with his music teacher, and grappled with whether he wanted to follow in his dad’s salt-of-the-earth footsteps. On the positive side, Archie repaired his friendship with Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse), found some success as a musician—thanks in part to Josie McCoy (Ashleigh Murray) and her band, the Pussycats—and found a new romantic interest in femme fatale Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes). New to town, Veronica spent the season trying to atone for her “bad girl” past, all the while wrestling with her beloved father’s criminal legacy—and contending with a mother, Hermione (Marisol Nichols), who might not be as innocent as she claimed. Veronica became fast-friends with Archie’s girl-next-door neighbor, Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart), who did some growing up of her own this season. After Archie’s rejection, Betty threw herself into running the school paper, “The Blue and Gold,” where she discovered a better romantic match in sardonic outsider Jughead. Together, they tracked down Betty’s sister Polly (guest star Tiera Skovbye), who had been sent away by their overbearing mother Alice (Mädchen Amick). Under the guise of writing for the school paper, Betty and Jughead investigated Jason Blossom’s death—which led to them discover that Jughead’s father—FP Jones (guest star Skeet Ulrich)—was involved with covering up Jason’s murder. Meanwhile, Jason’s twin sister Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) ruled the school as Riverdale High’s venomous, merciless Red Queen—until she learned the true identity of Jason’s killer. As the town breathed a collective sigh of relief that Jason’s killer had been found out, another terrible crime occurred, in a space that had been considered one of the town’s safest, most innocent places. If Jason Blossom’s murder revealed the slimy underbelly beneath Riverdale‘s surface, as we enter Season Two, the shooting of Fred Andrews threatens to plunge the entire town into utter darkness.

Based on the characters from Archie Comics, RIVERDALE is from Warner Bros. Television and CBS Television Studios, in association with Berlanti Productions, with executive producers Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Supergirl, Glee), Greg Berlanti (Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow), Sarah Schechter (Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow) and Jon Goldwater (Archie Comics).