The town of Riverdale‘s got enough problems with a killer on the loose… but a new arrival is looking to add a little rich-kid mischief to the mix.
The Good Wife alum Graham Phillips makes his debut this Wednesday (The CW, 8/7c) as Nick St. Clair, Veronica’s old pal from her New York days — and the slick charmer wastes no time in introducing the gang to his hard-partying ways. “He definitely stirs the pot a lot in Riverdale, for sure,” star K.J. Apa (Archie) tells TVLine, adding that Archie’s not exactly thrilled to meet Nick: “Obviously, [with him] being Veronica’s ex-boyfriend, things can get gnarly, especially because Archie’s very protective of Veronica.”
But we’ll see how close Archie still is with Betty this week, too, when the Black Hood killer calls her for a traumatizing private chat. “Betty ends up confiding in Archie,” Lili Reinhart (Betty) hints, adding that it gives viewers a chance to see “how she confides in him and how they help one another.” Apa agrees that these two share a unique bond: “I think Archie’s number-one person to go to for help, or advice, or just someone to talk to, has always been Betty, for as long as he can remember… They’re best friends, and when s—t hits the fan, Betty goes to Archie, and Archie goes to Betty.”
The Black Hood’s reign of terror certainly qualifies as s—t hitting the fan, with Reinhart comparing the killer’s strange fixation on Betty to “the Phantom of the Opera and Christine, in a way. He wants to kind of puppeteer her in order to get the town to where he wants it to be, in a very sick and manipulative way. He is this horrible figure who wants to expel Riverdale of its sins, and he is using Betty to try and do that.” She won’t reveal exactly what the killer wants Betty to do, but she does admit that the Black Hood’s influence “puts her relationships in jeopardy.”
Uh-oh… could Betty’s romance with Jughead be one of those relationships that’s “in jeopardy”? As Cole Sprouse (Jughead) hints, “it would not be a show about teenagers if there was not some fumbling and some bumbling and some grumbling,” adding, “I think it’s a wonder something didn’t happen sooner for poor Jughead and poor Betty!” He also thinks Jughead getting closer to the Southside Serpents and always “feeling outcast” could present some hurdles for “Bughead” in the not-so-distant future. Hmmm… sounds like the Black Hood could end up being a relationship killer, too. (With reporting by Vlada Gelman)
Got guesses as to who’s hiding underneath that Black Hood, Riverdale fans? Share them in the comments below.
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TVLine
