You’re about to see a side of Riverdale you never have before
— and that’s doubly true for Cole Sprouse and KJ Apa, who will share a streaking scene in an upcoming episode, creator Aguirre-Sacasa teased on his Twitter account this week.
“Some things were different back then… Others, not so much… This Wednesday’s #Riverdale is an unmissable blast from the past. Teen FP and Teen Fred streaking, because why not?,” he tweeted on Monday.
Some things were different back then... Others, not so much... This Wednesday’s #Riverdale is an unmissable blast from the past. Teen FP and Teen Fred streaking, because why not? ?????????????????????? pic.twitter.com/FK1LJFKxdr
— RobertoAguirreSacasa (@WriterRAS) November 5, 2018
When EW caught up with the Riverdale creator, he elaborated on the scene’s purpose in the episode. “We wanted to kind of have them do in the past more traditional, innocent, stupid high school things so we came up with the idea of streaking,” he explains.
But viewers should keep their eyes peeled during the scene. “They are streaking in front of a glass cabinet. It used to be that you could catch a certain reflection in that glass cabinet,” Aguirre-Sacasa jokes. “I believe that it has been brushed out in editing, but eagle eyes should keep an eye out for it.”
This episode, which flashes back for a glimpse of the Riverdale parents’ junior year of high school, has been a long time coming. Back in season one, Aguirre-Sacasa told EW that they had contemplated a flashback episode before hitting on the idea of showcasing classic Archie Comics looks in Jughead’s nightmare. However, Aguirre-Sacasa stresses the moment was finally right because the flashback is essential to season 3’s central mystery.
“The mystery we’re telling, which is swirling around Gryphons & Gargoyles, we decided to weave the parents further into that story,” he says. “We wanted it to be the sins of the parents visited upon the kids, and we wanted to have the parents having played the game in high school. It felt like to make that real this could be a great opportunity to do the flashback.”
For Aguirre-Sacasa, it’s akin to the musical episode of season 2. “We didn’t do it just for the sake of doing it,” he explains.” It actually told a story that was very critical to the ongoing storyline and really dimensionalized their relationship. It’s a fun idea, but we had to do it when it made sense and when it added to the season.”
So what will fans see? Well, first off, there’s the incredible transformations of Riverdale’s young stars into the younger versions of their adult counterparts — Lili Reinhart becomes Twin Peaks era Madchen Amick, Cole Sprouse does his best Skeet Ulrich circa Scream, and KJ Apa has full Luke Perry 90210 coiffed hair.
While praising the hair and make-up departments for their role in these transformations, Aguirre-Sacasa also notes each of the cast studied footage and photos of their adult counterparts. “Lili texted me pictures of Madchen from Twin Peaks. KJ’s infamous for his imitations of Luke,” he says. “I believe Cole also looked at stuff from Skeet’s teen heartthrob past.” There was one cast member though who didn’t have to do any research because he’s been living it — Michael Consuelos, who plays a younger Hiram Lodge, is Mark Consuelos and Kelly Ripa’s son.
The episode is jam-packed with Easter eggs making reference to teen movies of the past, while also introducing many unexpected moments between the Riverdale parents (yes, this includes a lot of surprises for the #hotdadsofriverdale).
Aguirre-Sacasa teases, “There’s a really great moment between Alice and Fred. There’s a really fun moment between Sierra and Tom Keller because we see them as well. The show has always been about the past — the earlier generations and the way that the current generation of high school kids is wrestling with it. It’s great to finally be able to see that [and] have an episode that explores it. The whole thing is pretty delightful”
Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
