TV

Riverdale cast admits it's 'difficult' to feel like 'butt of a joke': 'Our show is made fun of a lot'

"When we're doing our table reads and something ridiculous happens, Roberto [Aguirre-Sacasa, creator] is laughing because he understands the absurdity and the campiness."

By

Jessica Wang

Published on August 16, 2023 02:32PM EDT

Yes, the cast of Riverdale knows how silly the show is.

Ahead of the Aug. 23 series finale, Lili Reinhart, KJ Apa, Cole Sprouse, Camila Mendes, and other cast members gathered for an interview with Vulture (conducted prior to the actors' strike) about saying goodbye to the series after seven seasons. Something they won't miss? Being mercilessly mocked on social media.

"I think it's important to acknowledge that our show is made fun of a lot," Reinhart said. "People see clips taken out of context and are like, What? I thought this was about teenagers. And we thought so as well — in season one. But it's really not been easy to feel that you're the butt of a joke. We all want to be actors; we're passionate about what we do. So when the absurdity of our show became a talking point, it was difficult."

She added, "It is, What the fuck? That's the whole point. When we're doing our table reads and something ridiculous happens, Roberto [Aguirre-Sacasa, creator and showrunner] is laughing because he understands the absurdity and the campiness."

Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper, KJ Apa as Archie Andrews, Madelaine Petsch as Cheryl Blossom, Camila Mendes as Veronica Lodge, and Cole Sprouse as Jughead Jones on 'Riverdale'. Kailey Schwerman/The CW

Based on Archie Comics characters, the series indeed began as a typical teenage noir following high school student Archie (Apa) and pals Betty (Reinhart), Jughead (Sprouse), and Veronica (Mendes) as they navigated romance, school, and dark mysteries lurking beneath the surface of their small town. The storylines got progressively more unorthodox as the seasons went on, introducing alien abductions and time travel, among other unexpected twists.

Mendes, however, contended that the absurdity is on par with the absurdity in Marvel movies. "Superhero movies are the main thing at the box office these days, and those are the most absurd stories you could imagine!" she added. "You've got a f---ing talking raccoon fighting aliens in space! No one's like, 'This makes no sense.' We're a comic book; it's supposed to be fun and fictional and weird. If you want to watch a teen show where there's just a bunch of kids in a high school dealing with relationship drama, there's a lot out there."

Sprouse quipped, "Go watch Euphoria."

"Roberto didn't want to do that," Mendes added. "I think he wanted something that was more outlandish."

New episodes of Riverdale air Wednesdays on The CW.

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