After months and months and months of teasing, “Riverdale” finally revealed on last Wednesday’s episode that Jughead (played by Cole Sprouse) isn’t actually dead. That’s right, it was all a big fake-out crafted by Archie and the gang to keep Jug safe from his Stonewall Prep classmates who think he really is deceased — because they think they really did kill him.
And while Archie (KJ Apa), Betty (Lili Reinhart) and Veronica (Camila Mendes) may have been able to fool the residents of Riverdale and the Stonies, including their leader, Donna Sweett, they didn’t entirely fool fans of The CW drama, who have been refusing to accept the fact that creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa would actually kill off Sprouse’s fan-favorite character.
“But we did a terrible job of keeping it under wraps, I think,” Apa told Jimmy Fallon on Monday’s “Tonight Show.”
“He was meant to be dead, but clearly he wasn’t dead — he was on set every day with us,” he added, laughing.
Yeah, pictures of Sprouse with his castmates and crew did make their way around the internet, dampening the shock when Jughead’s alive status was finally revealed last week. But that’s OK, because all we really wanted was Jug to be safe and sound.
Readers who are at all confused — and it’s fine to admit you are — about this whole faked-Jughead-death situation can read our explainer here.
Fallon, who is self-professed “Riverdale” superfan, pressed Apa for as many details he could get about the remainder of the currently airing fourth season, which will end with the kids finishing up their senior year of high school.
“That’s the thing, I think that’s the interesting thing about next season is we can go anywhere,” Apa said. “The only kind of spoiler I can give people is it’s not your typical, graduate high school and then, you know… It’s gonna surprise a lot of people I think.”
“Riverdale” airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.