Riverdale season four is set to kick off with an emotional tribute to Fred Andrews star Luke Perry who died after suffering a stroke back in March.
The Netflix episode will see the sad absence of Archie’s (played by KJ Apa) dad Fred, and it is unknown how his character’s exit will play out in the show.
However, it seems Archie is in for an emotional senior year after showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa tweeted an emotional snap of a season four scene.
Showrunners have already revealed the premiere episode will play tribute to Luke, and fans are in for a heartbreaking watch if Robert’s tweet is anything to go by.
Taking to Twitter, the showrunner posted a photo of Archie hugging his mother Mary (Molly Ringwald) as she appears to be tearing up.
The caption simply read: “No words.”
While Archie’s face cannot be seen in the picture, the pair’s embrace seems to reveal bad news for the Andrews family.
Fans will know that despite divorcing a long time ago, Mary and Fred maintained a strong bond and worked together to co-parent Archie.
Mary was fiercely protective of Fred as she even hit back at Archie back in season two for talking down to his father after finding his new short-lived loyalty to Riverdale villain Hiram Lodge (Mark Consuelos).
If Archie’s father has died what will this mean for the troubled highschooler?
READ MORE: Riverdale season 4 spoilers: Veronica Lodge devastated by bombshell
The touching post sparked a flood of positive comments from the fandom, as one commented: “This episode is going to be so heartbreaking. Luke would be proud.”
A second added: “So so sad. His light extinguished way too soon. Watched him since before my eldest child was born, that’s 22 plus years.
“My love to his family & work colleagues. You will be missed so much when you had so much yet to give xxx” posted a second.
“This episode is gonna be so hard. But a beautiful tribute to Luke” a third agreed.
The episode is set to feature Shannen Doherty, who appeared in Beverly Hills 90210 alongside Luke.
Archie Andrews star KJ Apa opened up about filming the memorable episode in an interview with Extra TV.
KJ began: “It was awesome. I had a couple of scenes with her. She is a beautiful actress. Everything in that first episode is so authentic and so real that it didn’t really feel like shooting an episode of our show…
“It was obviously really emotional. It’s a beautiful episode; we still have a lot to shoot for it.”
“It’s a tough one, because you have to go back a bit and access that emotion — that is not something that everyone feels comfortable doing… The writers absolutely nailed it.”
Riverdale season 4 starts October 9 on The CW and October 10 on Netflix.
