Riverdale: Two Major Characters Leave the Show in “Fear the Reaper”

As Riverdale‘s third season begins to draw to a close, the endgames of some of the show’s many plotlines are beginning to fall into place. And if tonight’s episode is any indication, that seems to mean saying goodbye to two major characters.

Spoilers for tonight’s episode of Riverdale, “Fear the Reaper”, below! Only look if you want to know!

Part of the episode centered around Josie McCoy (Ashleigh Murray) attempting to reconnect with her father, who was established in Season 1 to be a professionally-touring musician. At one point during their attempt at reconnecting, Josie asked if she would be able to go on tour with her father, as a way for her music career to get more of an audience beyond Riverdale. Josie invited her father to her show at the speakeasy that night, but believed that he hadn’t shown up. As she learned afterwards, he did make an appearance, but he’d wanted to see if Josie was passionate enough about her performance without him there.

Josie’s father then agreed to take her on tour with him as soon as possible, which she accepted. The next day, she broke the news to Archie Andrews (KJ Apa), saying that she wasn’t sure if and when she would actually return to Riverdale.

If that wasn’t enough, the episode featured another surprising exit as well, which centered around the Jones family’s frantic search for Jellybean (Trinity Likins), who they believed had been kidnapped by acolytes of the Gargoyle King. Over the course of their “quest”, Gladys Jones (Gina Gershon) was forced to tell FP Jones (Skeet Ulrich) about her role as the town’s new Fizzle Rocks dealer, the family was forced to rob Pop’s at gunpoint, and Gladys was put in a gnarly one-on-one battle with Penny Peabody (Brit Morgan).

Once Jellybean was brought back to safety, Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse) visited Gladys in the hospital, and asked her to stay in town and not run away from her problems. Gladys stuck to her laurels, though, and left town by the episode’s end.

For Riverdale fans, these two exits are probably surprising in different ways, considering the direction that the season has gone thus far. But to an extent, Josie’s exit – or at least, temporary absence from the show – has been on fans’ radar, thanks to the recent updates surrounding The CW’s Katy Keene spinoff. The pilot, which filmed last month, is expected to follow a set of twenty-somethings making it big in New York City — including a slightly-older version of Murray’s Josie. Murray was actually the first actress to be brought on to the pilot, with the notion that she would leave Riverdale if the project goes to series. While an official series order hasn’t been made yet, positive buzz surrounding the pilot has given fans hope that Josie won’t be gone from The CW for long.

What do you think of Gladys and Josie leaving Riverdale (for the time being, at least)? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.

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