After seven seasons of drama and wild storylines, Riverdale came to an end Wednesday night on The CW. Last week’s episode, “The Golden Age of Television” largely wrapped up the season’s major storylines and saw Archie and the gang have the memories of the previous life in the present day restored along with the revelation that while Angel Tabitha had been able to fix things by tying everything into one timeline, she can’t restore them to 2023. They instead have to live out their lives from 1955 forward in this new timeline that they’ve already begun to make a much better place.
Knowing that the future is bright for the characters, all that was left for Riverdale to do was to give fans a glimpse of what those futures might be and that’s exactly what the series finale, “Goodbye, Riverdale” did. Between the broadcast version of the episode and a special, extended cut of the episode which will stream on cwtv.com beginning Thursday, August 24th, Riverdale’s finale offered closure for some of television’s most iconic characters. We’ve compiled a list of every character fate revealed in the series finale of Riverdale, as well as a roundup of characters whose outcomes were addressed earlier in Season 7 and the few whose fates are never really addressed. You can read on to find out for yourself what happens to Archie, Jughead, Betty, and Veronica but be warned: there are major spoilers for the series finale of Riverdale beyond this point.
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Mary Andrews
Mary bought a dress shop. A woman named Brooke came in one day and then moved into the Andrews house and they lived happily every after.
Alice, Hal, and Polly Cooper
Alice divorced Hal and became a flight attendant for a regional airline. One night, the pilot of the plane has a heart attack. She ended up flying it and landing it safely. One of the passengers asked her to dinner out of gratitude, they got married, and he showed her the world.
Polly is pregnant and has reconciled with Alice. Polly has twins (Juniper and Dagwood). Her life was happy and fulfilled.
Fangs and Midge
Fangs and Midge are together — Fangs had a single that charted which got Midge’s parents to relent and let them get married. Fangs is headed on a summer tour that’s supposed to make his name. Unfortunately, four weeks into a six week tour, his bus was headed over the Rocky Mountains when one of the tires blew and there were no survivors. However, Midge and their daughter were taken care of for the rest of their lives on the success of Fangs’ songs. Fangs’ gold record hangs in Riverdale’s music room and will as long as there is a Riverdale high.
Kevin and Clay
Clay goes to Columbia for literature, Kevin to NYU for musical theatre writing. They are going to be “roommates”. They end up having good lives in the heart of Harlem. Clay became a professor at Columbia. Kevin started an off Broadway theatre company. Kevin died in his sleep at 82, Clay died peacefully on a bench in Central Park a few weeks later while feeding pigeons.
Reggie Mantle
Reggie goes on to play basketball for Kansas State and goes pro with the Lakers. Worked his parent’s farm in the off season until they died and then sold it. He later became the coach at Riverdale High. Reggie had two sons, who still run Mantle Motors. He is buried in Duck Creek.
Veronica Lodge
Veronica tells Betty that she’s going to Los Angeles. She got a job with Peter Roth. Veronica wants to produce movies and run a studio. Veronica would indeed go on to run a studio and become a Hollywood legend. She won two Oscars for her work. When she died, she was buried in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Cheryl and Toni
At the Dark Room, Cheryl and Toni have an art show and it’s there that Jughead reveals their fates. The Black Athena is now an acclaimed literary magazine and it appears that it remains so even in the future. Cheryl became a famous painter. She and Toni stayed together and settled in the Oakland Hills. They had a son, Dale (named for Riverdale). They get a happily ever after and live long, sexy lives.
Julien Blossom and Nana Rose
For the remaining members of the Blossom family, it’s a mixed bag of outcomes. Julian ends up having a bit of a tragic fate and ends up joining the Army and is killed in Vietnam at age 28.
As for Nana Rose, Jughead says she is reincarnated a lot.
Principal Weatherbee and Ms. Thornton
Principal Weatherbee and Ms. Thornton get married.
Tom Keller and Frank Andrews
In the penultimate episode of Riverdale, it’s strongly implied that Tom Keller and Frank Andrews are lovers and that is seemingly confirmed in how they died. According to Jughead, Sheriff Keller and Frank Andrews are murdered by a hustler they picked up one night — Chic.
Archie Andrews
Archie goes to California as part of the work crew that builds America’s interstate system and his mom was right when she said he wouldn’t return to Riverdale. He sees the Pacific Ocean and doesn’t look back. He meets a girl and settles down in Modesto. Archie goes on to have a family and become a professional construction worker and amateur writer and is happy. When he dies, he asks to be buried in Riverdale next to his dad.
Pop Tate
A trip to the cemetery reveals a sad fate for the beloved Pop Tate. He died right after the beginning of senior year in 1956. He died in his sleep and the town was devastated.
Jughead
Jughead is the second to last of the Riverdale classmates and serves as Betty’s spirit guide int he episode. It’s revealed that he started Jughead’s Madhouse Magazine. It is still going 70 years later, is described by Betty as an “institution” and it is his legacy. He dies at age 84. He never married or has a family and admits to Betty he does sometimes have some regrets about that.
Betty Cooper
The last remaining Riverdale classmate, we find out that Betty Cooper lived a long and successful life. Betty had her book, her advice column, then she went to New York and was freelancing and protesting in her youth. (Same fights, but other people are fighting them now. The younger generation, she tells Jughead.) Betty goes on to found She Says magazine — a feminist and progressive magazine that is still being published. She never married and has no regrets about that. She adopted a daughter, Carla and has her granddaughter, Alice. She says that is her true legacy: her family.
She dies on her final trip to Riverdale, taken there by her granddaughter in the last moments of the episode where she is reunited with everyone — young and beautiful again — at Pop’s in the Sweet Hereafter.
Fates Confirmed Prior to Finale
Several characters’ fates were teased or confirmed leading up to the finale during the course of the season and while they were not fully fleshed out, the characters were at least addressed in a way that fans can imagine for themselves what the future holds.
Hermione and Hiram Lodge were Hollywood stars and were on a path to divorce after walking away from their popular television show and Hirams infidelity.
Fred Andrews was already deceased at the start of Season 7 and the 1950s timeline, though his legacy loomed large for Archie throughout.
Penelope and Clifford Blossom were arrested for being Russian spies.
Josie McCoy is a movie star.
Ethel Muggs, revealed to be Betty’s half-sister via Hal Cooper, was last seen leaving Riverdale for Hollywood where she had already secured a job. Ben Button, her boyfriend, was driving the car.
Never mentioned
A handful of characters fans may have expected some resolution for were not mentioned during the series finale. It’s unclear what their fates were or if they no longer exist in the new Riverdale timeline.
F.P. Jones and Jellybean Jones: Jughead’s father and sister are never mentioned at all in Season 7. It is unclear what their fate is in the new Riverdale timeline, especially since in the case of F.P. and Alice, it appears they never got together and never had a child effectively erasing Charles Smith from existence entirely. He is notably also never mentioned.
Moose Mason: The last time viewers see Moose Mason is in the Season 6 finale. He is never mentioned or seen in Season 7.
Evelyn Evernever: While we technically saw Evelyn in Season 7, her fate is left unknown. She’s last seen fleeing the Riverdale High gym screaming when Cheryl takes back the River Vixens in the penultimate episode.
Sierra McCoy: Josie’s mom, Sierra was last seen in Season 5 and is not mentioned at all in Season 7.
Dilton Doiley: Dilton Doiley appears a few times in Season 7 and also appears in the finale, though his fate is never specifically laid out.
Geraldine Grundy: Another character who we revisit in Season 7, we don’t really know what happens to Mrs. Grundy. With Ms. Thornton restored to her teaching position in the penultimate episode, one is left to assume Mrs. Grundy went back to whatever she was doing before coming to Riverdale.
Hermosa Lodge: Hermosa Lodge is never mentioned in Season 7 of Riverdale.
Alexandra Cabot: Alexandra arrived in Riverdale just before Bailey’s Comet in Season 6 and since she wasn’t among those taken to the 1950s, it’s unclear what her fate is. Was she simply just wiped out of existence or in this new timeline is she just set on another path, far from the Town With Pep? We may never know.
