Fans have been obsessed with Archie Andrews and his friends ever since the CW introduced us to Riverdale back in 2017. And, a lot has happened in six seasons, including A LOT of deaths (and fake deaths) in this tiny fictional town. Warning: spoilers ahead!
Throughout Riverdale‘s history, fans have been tricked and bamboozled by the show thinking several of their favorite characters met their demise. Take our leading man, Archie Andrews (KJ Apa), for example. In the five-episode special that kicked off season 6, fans were introduced and brought to a parallel universe called “Rivervale” where Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch) was a witch and ended up ripping Archie’s heart out during the town’s harvest festival.
“At the end of 6×01, Archie is dead,” showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa said during an interview with Decider in October 2021. “It’s taken five and a half years, or over five years to finally kill Archie, but it has happened.”
But Archie was not the only one who perished in “Rivervale.” Toni Topaz (Vanessa Morgan), Reggie Mantle (Charles Melton) and Nana Rose (Barbara Wallace) also met their untimely deaths in the alternate dimension. Luckily, Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse) reversed all the deaths when he saved the day by becoming the all-knowing narrator.
The “Rivervale” event was not the first time the Riverdale writers tricked its fans into believing a beloved character died. In the season 3 finale, viewers saw Archie, Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart) and Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes) seemingly burning Jughead’s clothes with him out of the scene.
“No one’s ever actually dead on Riverdale,” Lili said during an interview with Green Matters in October 2019. “Even when you’re buried in the ground, you can still come back. So, there’s always a chance that he will come back.”
Jughead’s limited appearances in season 4 led fans to speculate about what actually happened. Ultimately, it’s revealed that Jughead faked his death after learning that the principal of Stonewall Prep wanted him dead.
The show paid tribute to Archie’s father, Fred Andrews (Luke Perry) in the season 4 premiere. Archie’s father died in a hit-and-run accident, but in real life, the actor died March 2019 at age 52 due to a stroke.
“Everything in that first episode is so authentic and so real that it didn’t really feel like shooting an episode of our show,” KJ shared while speaking with Extra in August 2019. “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.”
Keeping up with all of the deaths in Riverdale is a lot to remember. Scroll through our gallery to take a look back at all the characters who died on Riverdale and a breakdown of each one.
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