# List of Riverdale characters
The characters of *Riverdale* are the television adaptations of the [Archie Comics](https://www.edgepedia.org/archie-comics) cast, reworked for [The CW](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-cw)'s dark teen drama that premiered in 2017. The series was written by [Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa](https://www.edgepedia.org/roberto-aguirre-sacasa), chief creative officer of Archie Comics, and executive produced with Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter of Berlanti Productions and Archie Comics CEO Jon Goldwater for Warner Bros TV[1](https://archiecomics.com/characters/riverdale-on-the-cw/). The Archie comics, following the light-hearted adventures of a small-town red-headed teen, first debuted in 1942[2](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/how-did-riverdale-get-made-71380/); *Riverdale* recasts those figures in a noir-style murder mystery about the darkness beneath a wholesome small-town façade[1](https://archiecomics.com/characters/riverdale-on-the-cw/) • [2](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/how-did-riverdale-get-made-71380/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Source material | Archie Comics characters, in print since the comics' 1942 debut[2](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/how-did-riverdale-get-made-71380/) |
| Core four | Archie Andrews (KJ Apa), Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart), Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes), Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse)[1](https://archiecomics.com/characters/riverdale-on-the-cw/) |
| Other principal cast | Ashleigh Murray as Josie McCoy, Madelaine Petsch as Cheryl Blossom, Casey Cott as Kevin Keller, Luke Perry as Fred Andrews, Marison Nichols as Hermione Lodge, Mädchen Amick as Alice Cooper[1](https://archiecomics.com/characters/riverdale-on-the-cw/) |
| Opening premise | The discovery of Jason Blossom's body on American Independence Day drives the first season's murder mystery[3](https://theses.ncl.ac.uk/jspui/bitstream/10443/6573/1/Jensen%20N%202024.pdf) |
| Most-altered character | Ms. Grundy, changed from an older gray-haired comic figure to a young music teacher who has an affair with Archie[4](https://www.teenvogue.com/gallery/how-riverdale-is-different-from-archie-comics) |
| Later arcs | A seven-year time jump in season 5; the seventh and final season closes in 2023 with elderly Betty returning to town[5](https://www.thewrap.com/riverdale-time-jump-archie-army-betty-fbi-veronica-married-jughead-cheryl-toni-pregnant/) • [6](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/riverdale-season-7-finale-ending-recap) |
## The core four
**Archie Andrews** is played by [KJ Apa](https://www.edgepedia.org/kj-apa). In the comics he is "America's typical teenager," a heartthrob who keeps [Betty Cooper](https://www.edgepedia.org/betty-cooper) and [Veronica Lodge](https://www.edgepedia.org/veronica-lodge) in a love triangle while meaning well; the show stresses his loyalty and willingness to help his friends, including his guilt over being unable to stop the attack on his father[7](https://www.thewrap.com/how-do-the-riverdale-characters-compare-to-their-comic-book-versions/). The television Archie is darker than his comic self: an aspiring indie rock singer with a mournful mien, carrying on a secret affair with his music teacher, Ms. Grundy[8](https://time.com/4649889/riverdale-cw-review/).
**Betty Cooper**, played by [Lili Reinhart](https://www.edgepedia.org/lili-reinhart), is the sweet-natured girl next door of the comics[8](https://time.com/4649889/riverdale-cw-review/). The show's version displays erratic and self-destructive behavior tied to her strained relationship with her family[9](https://irishgothicjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/riverdale.pdf). A scholarly reading of the series groups her with [Cheryl Blossom](https://www.edgepedia.org/cheryl-blossom) and Veronica Lodge as female characters pitted against the death-oriented patriarchs who haunt the town from the pilot through season three[10](https://www.revenantjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/6.-Dumas-Riverdale.pdf).
**Veronica Lodge**, played by [Camila Mendes](https://www.edgepedia.org/camila-mendes), is the wealthy and spiteful socialite of the comics; in the show she is far more sympathetic, fleeing to Riverdale with her mother after her father's financial scandal[9](https://irishgothicjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/riverdale.pdf). Her defining tension, as one character analysis puts it, is between a genuine desire for independence and the ruthless, manipulative tactics she inherited from her father[11](https://www.idrlabs.com/riverdale/test.php).
**Jughead Jones**, played by [Cole Sprouse](https://www.edgepedia.org/cole-sprouse), is in the comics the best friend who loves burgers and serves as comic relief[4](https://www.teenvogue.com/gallery/how-riverdale-is-different-from-archie-comics). The show turns him into a sullen teenager with a dark past[9](https://irishgothicjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/riverdale.pdf), and he serves as the series' brooding outsider-narrator, a cynical writer whose melodramatic voice frames the story from the pilot's opening lines about a town that presents itself as safe, decent, and innocent[11](https://www.idrlabs.com/riverdale/test.php) • [10](https://www.revenantjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/6.-Dumas-Riverdale.pdf).
## Other principal characters
**Cheryl Blossom** ([Madelaine Petsch](https://www.edgepedia.org/madelaine-petsch)) is introduced in mourning for her twin brother Jason, whose death opens the series[8](https://time.com/4649889/riverdale-cw-review/) • [3](https://theses.ncl.ac.uk/jspui/bitstream/10443/6573/1/Jensen%20N%202024.pdf). She is written as a lesbian, and together with her girlfriend Toni Topaz, who is bisexual, she is a central figure in the show's musical episodes[12](https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/downloads/v118rk42z).
**Kevin Keller** ([Casey Cott](https://www.edgepedia.org/casey-cott)) is a relatively recent addition to the Archie universe: the character debuted in 2010 as the comic's first openly gay character, and he is gay in the series as well[4](https://www.teenvogue.com/gallery/how-riverdale-is-different-from-archie-comics) • [12](https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/downloads/v118rk42z).
**Josie McCoy** ([Ashleigh Murray](https://www.edgepedia.org/ashleigh-murray)) leads Josie and the Pussycats, reimagined from the fun-loving girl group of the comics into, as one review described it, a marketing machine that wears cat ears because it is "building a brand, creating a signature look"[8](https://time.com/4649889/riverdale-cw-review/).
**Reggie Mantle**, Archie's rival in the comics, was played by Ross Butler; the show made the character Eurasian, adding diversity to the cast alongside Josie and the Pussycats[13](https://www.avclub.com/how-riverdale-s-residents-match-up-against-their-archie-1798259958).
## Parents and adult characters
The adult cast includes [Luke Perry](https://www.edgepedia.org/luke-perry) as Fred Andrews, Archie's father; Marison Nichols as Hermione Lodge, Veronica's mother; and [Mädchen Amick](https://www.edgepedia.org/madchen-amick) as Alice Cooper, Betty's mother[1](https://archiecomics.com/characters/riverdale-on-the-cw/). When Camila Mendes and Ashleigh Murray were asked to name the most challenging parent on the show, both named Amick's character without hesitation[14](https://nerdist.com/article/riverdale-cast-interview-challenging-parents/). Fred Andrews was killed off during the run, a change made after Perry's death[2](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/how-did-riverdale-get-made-71380/). Hiram Lodge, Veronica's father, is played by Mark Consuelos and rules a darker Riverdale by the time of the season 5 time jump[5](https://www.thewrap.com/riverdale-time-jump-archie-army-betty-fbi-veronica-married-jughead-cheryl-toni-pregnant/).
**Ms. Grundy** is the character altered the most in translation. The comic book Mrs. Geraldine Grundy was an older woman with gray hair and old-fashioned dresses; the Riverdale version is a mysterious young music teacher who has a summer affair with her student Archie[4](https://www.teenvogue.com/gallery/how-riverdale-is-different-from-archie-comics).
## How the characters differ from the comics
Most characters keep a physical semblance to their comic counterparts, but their characterizations and backstories differ, and the narratives trade juvenile comedic antics for adult themes absent from the family-friendly comics of the 1940s[9](https://irishgothicjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/riverdale.pdf). The darker register was prepared in print: the 2013 horror comic *Afterlife with Archie*, written by Aguirre-Sacasa, in which an undead Jughead overruns Riverdale, proved the characters could carry darker and sexier tones and served as a bridge to the television series[15](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2017/01/26/how-the-darker-sexier-archie-in-riverdale-came-to-be/) • [9](https://irishgothicjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/riverdale.pdf).
A recurring pattern in the show's writing gives many characters the same underlying backstory: adults in their lives hiding something monstrous, with the adolescents paying for it[16](https://www.riverdalereview.com/same-wound-different-name-riverdale-recycled-character-backstories/).
## Later seasons and endings
Season 5 opened with a seven-year time jump. Archie joined the army, Betty joined the FBI, Veronica married, Jughead wrote, and Toni was expecting while no longer with Cheryl; the showrunner said the characters had experienced the world and could return changed at Archie's request to save Riverdale from what it had become under Hiram Lodge[5](https://www.thewrap.com/riverdale-time-jump-archie-army-betty-fbi-veronica-married-jughead-cheryl-toni-pregnant/) • [17](https://www.tvline.com/news/riverdale-recap-season-5-episode-4-purgatorio-time-jump-1234638313/).
The seventh season was the last. By the time the season 6 finale aired, the production knew season 7 would end the series[6](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/riverdale-season-7-finale-ending-recap). In the finale's 2023 framing, Betty's granddaughter Alice drives the elderly Betty to Riverdale to see the town one last time[6](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/riverdale-season-7-finale-ending-recap).
## References
1. [Riverdale on the CW, Archie Comics](https://archiecomics.com/characters/riverdale-on-the-cw/)
2. [How Did 'Riverdale' Get Made?, Backstage](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/how-did-riverdale-get-made-71380/)
3. [Jensen, N. (2024). PhD thesis, Newcastle University](https://theses.ncl.ac.uk/jspui/bitstream/10443/6573/1/Jensen%20N%202024.pdf)
4. [How 'Riverdale' Is Different from 'Archie' Comics, Teen Vogue](https://www.teenvogue.com/gallery/how-riverdale-is-different-from-archie-comics)
5. [How Each 'Riverdale' Character Ended Up Where They Are in 7-Year Time Jump, TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/riverdale-time-jump-archie-army-betty-fbi-veronica-married-jughead-cheryl-toni-pregnant/)
6. [Riverdale Ending Explained: Season 7, the Series Finale, Netflix Tudum](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/riverdale-season-7-finale-ending-recap)
7. [How do 'Riverdale' Characters Compare to Their Comic Book Versions?, TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/how-do-the-riverdale-characters-compare-to-their-comic-book-versions/)
8. [Review: Gloomy and Glib, Riverdale Lacks Purpose, Time](https://time.com/4649889/riverdale-cw-review/)
9. [Riverdale, Irish Gothic Journal (2018)](https://irishgothicjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/riverdale.pdf)
10. [The Same Wound, Different Name: Dumas on patriarchal violence in Riverdale, Revenant Journal](https://www.revenantjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/6.-Dumas-Riverdale.pdf)
11. [Riverdale Test, IDRlabs](https://www.idrlabs.com/riverdale/test.php)
12. [McGill eScholarship thesis on Riverdale's musical episodes](https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/downloads/v118rk42z)
13. [How Riverdale's residents match up against their Archie comics counterparts, The A.V. Club](https://www.avclub.com/how-riverdale-s-residents-match-up-against-their-archie-1798259958)
14. [RIVERDALE Cast on the Most Challenging Parent in the Show, Nerdist](https://nerdist.com/article/riverdale-cast-interview-challenging-parents/)
15. [How the darker, sexier Archie characters in 'Riverdale' came to be, The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2017/01/26/how-the-darker-sexier-archie-in-riverdale-came-to-be/)
16. [The Same Wound, Different Name, Riverdale Review](https://www.riverdalereview.com/same-wound-different-name-riverdale-recycled-character-backstories/)
17. [Riverdale Recap: Time Flies When You're Not Having Fun, Plus, EP Hints At A 'Tragic Fate' For A Major Character - TVLine](https://www.tvline.com/news/riverdale-recap-season-5-episode-4-purgatorio-time-jump-1234638313/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Genre and subject-scripted series › Teen and high school drama series › American teen drama series*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license