Everything is entirely different in Riverdale, including the period of time. According to Entertainment Weekly, the CW released the first trailer for the final season of Riverdale and well, everything is changed. The first difference that can be easily noticed is that the characters are now stuck in 1955, which had already been revealed to the audience. The problem seems to be that only Jughead, played by Cole Sprouse (Five Feet Apart, The Suite Life on Deck), is the only one who remembers their previous lives in the future, and will have to explain what happened to his friends. You can watch the trailer below.
The cast of the final season includes Sprouse as Jughead Jones; KJ Apa (A Dog’s Purpose, The Hate U Give) as Archie Andrews; Lili Reinhart (Look Both Ways, Hustlers) as Betty Cooper; Camila Mendes (Do Revenge, Dangerous Lies) as Veronica Lodge; Madelaine Petsch (Hotel for the Holidays, About Fate) as Cheryl Blossom; Casey Cott (Asking for It, All the Little Things We Kill) as Kevin; Vanessa Morgan (My Babysitter’s a Vampire, Monster High: The Movie) as Toni Topaz; Mädchen Amick (Twin Peaks, Witches of East End) as Alice Cooper; and Shannon Purser (Stranger Things, Sierra Burgess Is a Loser) reprising her role as Ethel Muggs.
The previous seasons of Riverdale are known for their established couples; for multiple seasons Betty and Jughead were dating while Veronica dated Archie. The show then introduced Toni as a partner for Cheryl and they became the first LGBTQ+ couple in the show. It wasn’t until later seasons that these established couples began to change but in the new trailer, these couples have been turned on their heads.
In the new trailer for the last season, the audience can see some confusing couples that in all previous seasons of the show seemed impossible. In 1955, Betty is dating Kevin, who in the present is her gay best friend. While Archie announced his engagement to Cheryl, the audience can also see Veronica and Jughead kissing. But the trailer also shows Veronica and Betty showing interest in Archie.
Riverdale showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin) told Entertainment Weekly that one of the reasons they decided to send the main characters back to the 1950s is because they wanted them “to go back to basics” and be high school students again and relieve that stage of their lives.
But since nothing seems to go right in Riverdale, they won’t be able to be regular high school students. In the last scene of the trailer, we see Ethel burst through the door, covered in blood, and say, “Something terrible has happened.” It seems their stay in the 1950s will be just as full of mystery as their time in high school in the future.
Riverdale follows Betty, Archie, Jughead, and Veronica as they solve the mysterious crimes that seem to keep happening in their hometown all while trying to live a normal teenage life.
The last season of Riverdale will premiere on March 29 on The CW. Previous seasons of the series are available to stream on Netflix.