When the first footage from Riverdale found its way online many moons ago, staunch Archie Comics purists scoffed at its darker, more subversive take on their beloved characters that have endured for three quarters of a century. But once the show actually premiered, some changed their tune, finding themselves hooked in by a compelling murder mystery that also introduced a new generation of fans to the town with pep.
So, even though Archie Andrews’ father was brutally shot in the closing moments of season 1’s finale, it’s starting to look like the show’s sophomore year won’t have the same kind of “whodunit?” motif. Rather, executive producer and showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa hinted at more of a horror/suspense direction to be taken this time around when recently speaking with Entertainment Weekly:
“One of my favorite movies is Shadow of a Doubt, which is an Alfred Hitchcock movie which has often been described as Our Town with a killer on the loose. I was always obsessed with that idea. This season is a little bit of an homage to that. The big theme is what happens when you’re living with fear day in and day out that something terrible might happen. And how your life changes when you’re walking home from school and you see someone and you cross to the other side of the street. Or when you go to bed, you triple-check your front door to make sure it’s locked.”
Wow. That doesn’t sound like the quaint little hamlet we’ve come to know from the comics, but it should make for some solid nail-biters. And, not surprisingly, the subject of Betty Cooper was brought up, a character whom we already know to be a vital cog in season 2’s machine:
“I would say by episode 4 and 5, Betty is absolutely in the heart of darkness. We’re putting her through the fires like never before. I can’t say too much because there’s a couple of big twists, but Betty is absolutely at the heart of the darkest story we’re telling this season.”
Truth be told, we’d normally expect them to say something like that about Cheryl Blossom, but we saw hints that Betty has some not so deeply buried issues of her own last year. Thus, we can only wonder how this’ll affect all you “Bughead” fans out there.
Riverdale returns for its second season on Wednesday, October 11 on The CW.
