Riverdale Star Mark Consuelos To Replace Ryan Seacrest on Live With Kelly

Riverdale star Mark Consuelos is trading in his menacing stare for a bright smile. That’s because the actor, who played villain Hiram Lodge for most of the fan-favorite CW series’ run, is set to join his wife Kelly Ripa as the new host of Live With Kelly. Currently titled Live With Kelly and Ryan, Consuelos will take over after Ryan Seacrest decided to exit the series. Seacrest served as co-host with Ripa for six years. Seacrest announced his departure on Thursday’s episode of Live — which, yes, will be rebranded as Live With Kelly and Mark when Consuelos joins up.

Conseulos, who married Ripa in 1996, has made guest appearances in the past when Seacrest was out. Seacrest, who runs his own production company and serves as a host or MC for a number of other projects, including American Idol, was routinely driving back and forth between New York and Los Angeles over the last few years.

“It was a tough, tough decision,” Seacrest said. ” I love the fact that we get a chance to sit here every day and connect with you in your kitchens and your living rooms, at work. There’s nothing like this on television – I’m getting emotional, I promised Kelly I would not cry – and this show comes together because of an incredible family of people.”

The couple’s son, Michael Consuelos, also appeared on Riverdale, playing a younger version of his father’s character.

This is not Consuelos’s first appearance since wrapping on Riverdale; the actor also recently reteamed with Berlanti Productions for The Girls on the Bus, an upcoming HBO series starring Supergirl‘s Melissa Benoist, Legends of Tomorrow‘s Tala Ashe, and more.

Riverdale itself is currently in production on its final season, and is set to air its series finale this spring. You can see the official synopsis below.

The seventh season of RIVERDALE goes where no season of RIVERDALE has dared to go before-the 1950s! Picking up where last season ended, Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse) finds himself trapped in the 1950s. He has no idea how he got there, nor how to get back to the present. His friends are no help, as they are living seemingly authentic lives, similar to their classic Archie Comics counterparts, unaware that they’ve ever been anywhere but the 1950’s. Archie Andrews (KJ Apa) is the classic all-American teen, coming of age, getting into trouble, and learning life-lessons; Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart) is the girl next door, starting to question everything about her perfect life-including her controlling mother Alice (Madchen Amick); Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes) is a Hollywood starlet who moved to Riverdale under mysterious circumstances; Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch) is the Queen Bee with a withering wit and a secret longing; Toni Topaz (Vanessa Morgan) is an activist fighting for the Black students of recently integrated Riverdale High; Kevin Keller (Casey Cott) is a “square” crooner wrestling with his sexual identity; Reggie Mantle (Charles Melton) is a basketball star from farm country; and Fangs Fogarty (Drew Ray Tanner) is a greaser who’s destined to be an Elvis-type star. It isn’t until Jughead is visited by Tabitha Tate (Erinn Westbrook)-Riverdale’s Guardian Angel-that he learns the cosmic truth about their predicament. Will Jughead and the gang be able to return to the present? Or will our characters be trapped in the 1950’s forever? And, if so…is that such a bad thing?

Based on the characters from Archie Comics, RIVERDALE is from Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television and CBS Television Studios, with executive producers Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (“Supergirl,” “Glee”), Greg Berlanti (“The Flash,” “You,” “Titans”), Sarah Schechter (“The Flight Attendant,” “You,” “All American”) and Jon Goldwater (Archie Comics Publisher & CEO).