Riverdale might be a fictional world but whenever you’re watching the show, you can’t help but get sucked into all the drama and really connect with the characters. The town is filled with so many twists and turns like you know, murders, fights, couples getting together and dramatically breaking up, gangs, people selling illegal substances, creepy games. Casual. You might be watching Archie, Betty, Jughead, Veronica, Cheryl, Kevin and all of your faves each week wondering, wait exactly how old are they supposed to be? We know they’re all obviously in high school, but how old are they really?

So we’re here to break it all down with some basic facts. Essentially, the core characters of Archie, B, V, and Juggy started the series out as sophomores in high school, so they’re 15 going on 16 years old. As we all remember in Jughead’s birthday episode, he turned 16 based on the number of candles on the cake Betty made for him.

jughead birthday cake

We’re not sure when anyone else’s birthday is, but they’re all between these two ages, until Season 3. In episode 3×01, during Jughead’s narration portion in the beginning of the episode, he explains that the gang is now starting out their junior year of high school. The real-life actors who obviously play these roles are much older though. KJ Apa, our dear Archie, is 21 years old, making him the youngest of the main cast. Cole Sprouse and Casey Cott, who plays Kevin, are both 26 years old, Lili Reinhart is 22, and both Camila Mendes and Madelaine Petsch are 24 years old. So yeah, a long way from their own early high school days!

Speaking of Madelaine, who brings the one and only Cheryl Blossom to life, her age is a bit more confusing. See, Cheryl and her brother Jason were twins.

jason and cheryl riverdale

And Jason was known to be older than our main squad. We’re going to say 17, 18 years old, which would make him a senior in high school. He died the summer before the new school year began, so he never got to experience his last year of high school. Obvi if Cheryl is his twin, they’re the same age and she is the captain of the River Vixens, a position that usually goes to an upperclassman. So why is she often in the same classes as the rest of the squad who are supposed to be younger than her? What grade is she actually in then?!

More proof we have that Cheryl is older than the main crew is that Jason was dating Polly Cooper, Betty’s older sister. It’s safe to say she’d about a year older than Betty and possibly a year younger than Jason, so she would be a junior.

jason and polly riverdale

This age confusion has swept the fandom so much that YouTuber Shane Dawson just had to set the record straight with Madelaine herself when they sat down for an interview. While Madelaine ~technically~ kept her lips relatively sealed when asked about the age theory, we’re totally convinced she was holding back information.

“What does that mean? Wait, is that like a thing?” Shane questioned, to which Madelaine responded, “Anything is possible in Riverdale.”

So will it finally be clarified in the show? LET’S HOPE. We know they’re all teenagers, but actual ages are still a mystery. Tbh, they all have A LOT of things going on in their lives that typical teenagers don’t actually deal with on the regular, like trying to track down someone tormenting the town aka, the Man in the Black Hood or the Gargoyle King. So guess anything really does go in Riverdale…

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