‘Riverdale’ Season 3: Everything We Know So Far

Riverdale is certainly no stranger to pushing the envelope and surprising fans, and it sounds like Season 3 will be no exception.

As fans will remember, Season 2 ended with quite a bang, as the Black Hood was finally unmasked, and Archie Andrews (KJ Apa) was taken to prison after being framed for murder. And judging by what has already been teased about the newest season, there will be a lot more new relationships, plot twists, and murder sprees for fans to expect.

With a little less than a week until Riverdale returns to television screens, here’s everything you need to know about the newest batch of episodes.

Archie the Felon?

As we mentioned, Archie will be spending the start of the season with his future hanging in the balance, as his trial for the murder of Cassidy Bulloch is expected to occur in the season premiere episode.

“We see the results of that trial really quickly,” showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa  recently explained. “We’ll find out his fate in Episode 1.”

Some of his fate will be dependant on Ms. Wright (Penelope Ann Miller), a district attorney who is hell-bent on proving Archie’s guilt.  Described as savvy and eloquent, Ms. Wright is the prosecuting attorney in charge of handling Archie’s case. With a conviction in mind, she will weave together disparate moments of Archie’s young life, in an attempt to portray him as a dangerous, violent sociopath who was capable of committing murder.

And judging by previous comments from Apa, it sounds like Archie’s trial might not end on the best terms.

“I’m excited to see how he handles himself in prison.” Apa revealed in a recent interview. “I want him to get a whole lot of tats. I want him to join a gang. I want all that. Give it to me. I mean, you never know. Honestly, you never know.”

Jones Family Drama

Outside of Archie’s prison dilemma, some of Riverdale’s other ensemble will be undergoing new changes — including Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse), who recently succeeded his father as the leader of the Southside Serpents.

“I think Jughead’s going to try to lead the charge to break [Archie] out of prison.” Sprouse jokingly said earlier this summer. “Yeah, just break him out of prison. Storm in on a loud-ass motorcycle and throw a stick of dynamite at the wall. I was thinking like Raising Arizona, the biker who just throws grenades at bunny rabbits. That’s Jughead’s Season 3.”

In the meantime, F.P. Jones (Skeet Ulrich) will be rekindling his previous romantic relationship with Alice Cooper (Madchen Amick), as one squeal-worthy moment in the Season 3 trailer revealed. Of course, it’s safe to assume that that won’t go perfectly, with Jughead’s mom and sister expected to arrive later on.

“As far as I know, we’re still married.” Ulrich said of F.P. and Gladys’ relationship. “I mean I never wore a wedding ring in the show. I did wear a ring here (middle finger) for the first season and part of the second season and then I took it off, but we never really discussed it. My understanding is that they must still be married.”

The Farm

Alice and F.P.’s romance won’t be the only new thing for the Cooper family in Season 3, as the ominous, Wild Wild Country-esque cult dubbed “The Farm” is set to factor into things.

“Alice gets lured into the very mysterious and troublesome cult that’s been moving, and that Polly’s been involved in,” Amick said in a recent interview. “She’s going in deep because she’s looking to heal her wounds. And she thinks this is a way she can kind of make amends with what happened to the Cooper family.”

If the Season 3 trailer is any indication, the presence of “The Farm” will be pretty darn creepy, in part thanks to the group’s leader, Edgar Evernever. While the role has yet to be cast, earlier information has indicated that Edgar and his teenage daughter, Evelyn, will both play a major role in what’s next for the Coopers.

“We’re going to meet the farm’s leader, Edgar Evernever but, equally important, we’re going to meet his daughter, Evelyn Evernever, who is an Archie character that we’re sort of reinventing for this storyline,” Aguirre-Sacasa added. “There’s almost a banality to the cult and a sort of generic-ism that gets sinister pretty quickly.”

(Oh, and Chic Cooper (Hart Denton) is expected to return somehow, as if fans needed another reason to be worried about the Coopers.)

New Relationships

Season 2 brought a fair share of Riverdale characters into romantic relationships, which Season 3 will only further explore.

The Season 2 finale saw Kevin Keller (Casey Cott) and Moose Mason (Cody Kearsley) taking their romantic trysts to a next level, and an official still from Season 3 hints that that will continue in some way. The same can be said for Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch) and Toni Topaz (Vanessa Morgan), who went through quite a lot to get together towards the end of last season.

“I think Toni’s the first person, obviously Betty does, a couple of times, challenge her, but Toni really challenges her,” Morgan explained to ComicBook.com earlier this year. “I think it’s one of those things where her tough exterior, Toni sees right through that. I think Toni’s probably been there, done that. She knows when a person’s wall is up and is just trying to be strong. I think the fact that Cheryl’s bringing her wall down with her, I think that’s just like the biggest thing, and they’re so similar in that way. Toni kind of smiles whenever she’s trying to be tough like that. She’s from the Southside. She’s used to way more than that.”

A new character named Laurie Lake (played by Riverdale superfan Riley Keough) is also expected to appear in Season 3, an “all-American farm girl” who will turn the heads of both Archie and Jughead after she takes them in when they find themselves in need of shelter. Laurie will be flirtatious with both Jughead and Archie, but the boys may well find themselves in “More danger than they could have imagined.”

There’s also the nature of Sierra McCoy (Robin Givens) and Tom Keller (Martin Cummins), whose extra-marital affair is going to bleed over into their children’s lives in a unique way.

“I’ve heard a rumor that we might move in together this year,” Cott said of Kevin and Josie McCoy (Ashleigh Murray).

A New Mystery

Even after “Who killed Jason Blossom?” and “Who is the Black Hood?”, it sounds like Riverdale isn’t done with given fans major mysteries to solve.

This newest batch of episode is expected to take things to an even darker place, as the town is plagued with a ritualistic killing that has a weird history.

“One of my favorite things recently was the first season of True Detective, and we’re sort of telling a similar ritualistic crime that happens in Riverdale,” Aguirre-Sacasa explained. “We jokingly call it teen detectives meets True Detective, because we find Betty and Jughead investigating this really disturbing crime that seems to speak to the very twisted history of Riverdale.”

“The murder victims in the present were playing a game called Griffins & Gargoyles, which is, of course, the Riverdale version of Dungeons & Dragons,” Aguirre-Sacasa continued. “Our kids discover that when their parents were in high school they also were playing this game, and there was a similar murder that happened in the past.”

Also, something called “The Gargoyle King” is also expected to be involved. 

Flashback Episode

That connection between the current mystery and Riverdale’s past will manifest in a pretty unique way, with an episode of Season 3 called “The Midnight Club”.

The installment will follow younger versions of Riverdale’s parents, who will be portrayed by their onscreen children. As the title suggests, the episode is expected to be a dark homage to The Breakfast Club, complete with Anthony Michael Hall playing the principal of Riverdale High.

“Throughout the years, we’ve talked a little bit about backstory and we’ve been revealing backstory slowly,” Aguirre-Sacasa explained during the panel. “And periodically I will get a call phone call from Madchen, who’ll say, ‘Ok, I’m playing a scene and I know nothing of the context.’ So we talk about that stuff.”

“Young Alice is so different from the Alice that you see today,” Reinhart said of portraying her TV mother. “She’s not just this uptight, precocious, looks-down-upon-everyone teen; like, she was a Serpent.”

Another Musical Episode

Thankfully, “The Midnight Club” won’t be the only theme episode fans can expect in Season 3, as fans can expect yet another musical episode later this season.

Last season, viewers were treated to “A Night to Remember”, an episode where the ensemble put on a school production of Carrie: The Musical. The episode provided quite a lot of drama, plot twists, and quite a lot of musical numbers. Apparently, Season 3’s musical episode will have just as much in store, although it’s unclear what production it will be centered around.

“We have a lot of shows we’ve been talking about,” Aguirre-Sacasa  recently explained. “There are a couple musicals we’ve been circling.”

Season Premiere

The season premiere of Riverdale, which is titled “Chapter Thirty-Six: Labor Day”, will debut on Wednesday, October 10th, at 8/7c on The CW. You can check out the synopsis of the episode below.

AND THE VERDICT IS… — As the jury begins deliberations in his murder trial, Archie (KJ Apa) makes a surprising request about how he wants to spend his final days of summer. Betty (Lili Reinhart) is forced to deal with her problems head-on after a heated confrontation with Alice (Madchen Amick) and Polly (guest star Tiera Skovbye) brings up some dark secrets she’s kept hidden.

Veronica (Camila Mendes) pleads with Hiram (Mark Consuelos) to step in and help Archie before a verdict is announced. Finally, Jughead (Cole Sprouse) leads the Serpents against the Ghoulies latest attack.

Madelaine Petsch, Marisol Nichols, Luke Perry, Ashleigh Murray, Skeet Ulrich, Casey Cott, Charles Melton and Vanessa Morgan also star.

Kevin Sullivan directed the episode written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa.