It’s hard to imagine Betty Cooper as anyone but Lili Reinhart, 22, but apparently Kiernan Shipka almost got the role! According to Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, the Chief Creative Officer of Archie Comics, the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina star was one of his first choices to play the iconic blonde beauty in Riverdale.
“Kiernan was iconic in Mad Men, and I had even thought about her, I was like, ‘Oh I wonder if she’d ever do Betty,’” Roberto told Entertainment Weekly in a recent interview.
The Chief Creative Officer also revealed that originally, the idea for the two shows was that they would both air on The CW at the same time and that the shows would be fully integrated. He even had plans for Sabrina to become one of the main stars of Riverdale during Season 2.
Roberto added that after The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina was moved to Netflix, he knew that Kiernan, 18, was right for the role.
“When [Sabrina] moved from CW to Netflix, our casting director David Rapaport said, ‘By the way this is something Kiernan might be interested in. There was no script at the time, but from the second he said that, for me it was sort of like, ‘Okay she’s Sabrina. I’m writing this for Kiernan,'” he told EW.
“She felt like the right actor at the right age at the right point in her career and someone who was up for the challenge, because it’s grueling,” he continued. “She’s in practically every scene. But for me, Sabrina had to stand up to the Dark Lord, the devil, and these very formidable opponents and someone like Kiernan has the gravitas and the assuredness to be able to do that. I’d say she was my first choice for sure. For sure.”
It seems like everything worked out for the best! The show, which also stars Ross Lynch, premieres on Oct. 26 and we couldn’t be more excited!
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