All The DeetsIs Cole Sprouse Leaving ‘Riverdale?’ Here’s Everything You Need To Know

Where was Jughead in the Season 3 finale?

As fans know, the third season ended back in May 2019 with super intense finale! In true Riverdale style, the final episode totally left fans with a total cliffhanger.

During the last scene, the show flashed forward to the future and viewers saw Archie, Betty and Veronica standing around a fire. They were all in their underwear, covered in blood and holding Jughead’s infamous beanie. But the final member of the core four was missing. This is where the storyline of Jughead’s death first started.

Is Jughead really dead?

No, he’s not. On March 4, 2020, viewers found out that, after weeks of wondering, Jughead Jones was alive after all!

So, what really went down? Well, by now everyone knew that Betty Cooper did NOT, in fact, kill Jughead like fans initially thought. Instead, his Stonewall Prep classmate Donna did — at least she thought she did. On the night of his “death,” Donna drugged Betty, hit Jughead over the head with a rock and placed the bloody rock in her hand. That’s why when Archie and Veronica found Betty holding a rock and standing over Jughead’s body, she had no idea what happened. As it turned out, when viewers saw Jughead lying on the ground, he wasn’t dead, just knocked out.

Betty later explained that even though he was hit pretty hard in the head with a rock, his iconic beanie cushioned the blow. Instead of killing him, the rock just put a major gash in his head.

How did they fake his death?

Sorry, #Barchie fans, all the teasers of Betty and Archie’s relationship were all part of the gang’s master plan to coverup Jug’s “murder.” The two pretended to be couple and even got caught making out at school so Donna and the rest of the Stonewall Prep students would believe that Jughead was actually dead and Betty’s grief caused her to start a relationship with his BFF.

In reality, after he was “killed,” Jughead’s pals moved him to their underground bunker so he could hide while the rest of the plan played out. Aside from the core four, FP Jones, Jellybean Jones, Alice Cooper and Betty’s brother Charles all knew about the plan and helped the kids cover up and fake the death. They even went as far as to hold a fake funeral.

Why did they fake his death?

Well, as viewers found out in episode 16 — titled “The Locked Room” — Jughead faked his death because the Stonewall principal, Principal DuPont, actually wanted him dead! Yep, that’s right, after Jughead took on his Stonewall Prep schoolmates in a writing competition and won, he became the next ghostwriter of the Baxter Brothers mystery books. But when he did some digging into the previous authors, Jughead found out that DuPont had stolen the book ideas from Jug’s grandfather Forsythe. Once he confronted DuPont about it, the principal knew he needed to be killed. So, DuPont told the other students that anyone who murdered Jughead would get the Baxter Brothers contract — which would explain why Donna hit him with a rock.

Once he was “dead” Jughead had some time to investigate another teacher’s death, which is how he found out the truth about Principal DuPont. After the truth was revealed DuPont seemingly jumped out a window and Jughead returned to Riverdale High. All’s well that ends well in Riverdale. At least, for now!

What were the major fans’ theories?

Even though the truth about Jughead’s death is out there now, some fans are convinced that he’s still going to die during Season 4! Yep, that’s right, a recent theory suggested that his life still may be on the line.

According to Express, when he supposedly “died,” during the March 4, 2020 episode, Jughead’s death date was marked as March 18, 2020 — which would be a few weeks in the future. So, the thought from some viewers is that because the 18th is on a Wednesday, the night when Riverdale airs, within the next two episodes he might he killed for real. OMG!

Before the truth was revealed, avid watchers of the show had some major theories about what had really happened to Jughead. Some fans had theorized that he had faked his own death to ensure his safety.

Years ago, four students, referred to as the Stonewall Four, went missing from the school without a trace and were never seen again. Before his “death,” Jughead was on the hunt to find out what really went down between them, and according to Express, if he kept digging and found out his enemy Bret Weston Wallace’s relatives were involved in the mysterious disappearance years ago, there’s no doubt he would fake his death in order to stay alive and ensure his safety.

Some other fans believed that Dylan Sprouse was going to join the Riverdale cast Jughead’s lookalike cousin, Souphead. They suggested that Souphead was the one who actually died, not Jughead! How epic would it have been if the actor joined his brother in the CW show?

What does the cast say?

During a recent interview with Green Matters, Lili Reinhart, who plays Betty Cooper in the show, opened up about the death of her character’s on-screen love interest.

“No one’s ever actually dead on Riverdale,” she teased. “Even when you’re buried in the ground, you can still come back. So, there’s always a chance that he will come back.”

When talking about the future of the show with ET, Cole didn’t exactly confirm his character’s death, but he didn’t deny it either. The actor dished on what he thought would happen to the characters after they graduated high school and seemingly left Jughead’s name out of his answer.

“As we grow older and we look older, we had to solve that problem, so it’s nice that we’re aging,” he said. “And it also kinda frees up the universe a little bit inside Riverdale to play around with that concept. I’m excited to see where we all go.”

We’re so glad that Jughead is alive and kicking!