Jughead Jones has something to say when it comes to his town.
Cole Sprouse, who stars as Jughead on the hit CW show Riverdale, is sharing his thoughts on when he thinks the show will end. The series just hit 100 episodes, and having reached this major milestone, many have been wondering how long Riverdale will go on.
In an exclusive with ET, Cole had this to say about the show:
“I think just in a straight up legal sense, contractually it started at seven seasons, which is a pretty standard contract for film and television, so I don’t know what happens after that. But the world of Riverdale is open-ended enough to kind of flex alongside that.
But I think the quality of a wonderful program is knowing how to wrap it up and say, “Hey, we love you guys. This is the end, and I hope you guys enjoyed the ride.”
He went on to talk about teen drama revivals and having “a second life,” stating:
“A lot of teen dramas have a second life. Gossip Girl is actually a great example of this. During quarantine, people were re-binging that show, some new people were coming to it for the first time, a lot of old fans were going to it, and a lot of these shows have that. The OC had that. One Tree Hill had that. A lot of these types of programs have that.
Our show’s really campy and really over the top sometimes — intentionally. Very intentionally so. And I think due to the cult-like nature of it, I’m hoping that if it does have a second life, people go at it knowing exactly what it was intended to be and go, “Oh my god, we’re seeing this with new eyes for the first time for what it really is.”
Cole also spoke about the show’s fanbase — and the division between Bughead and Barchie shippers. To this, he opened up about seeing his friends on the show go through traumatic experiences:
“I’m a little bit conflicted about it because as a natural consequence of the characters we played on the show, a lot of the actors get scrutinized and really put down upon by the opposite sides of this ship debate in real life. There’s been a tremendous amount of inquiries into who we are as people, outside of who we are as playing characters.
I’ve seen a lot of my friends, especially on the show, go through really conflicting, borderline traumatic, experiences. From people criticizing every little facet of them, and myself included.
I think just in general, celebrity culture or film and television has always had a kind of suspension of disbelief put in place where people have a hard time seeing you outside the character that’s existed forever. But it’s been really interesting stepping into this part of my career and seeing that from a romantic perspective. And watching how people build certain narratives about you as a real human being outside of the show in consequence to what happens on the show.”
He went on to say that is honored to have such passionate fans:
“Will I say it was the most enjoyable experience? I’d be lying to you if I said yes. Do I understand this is part of the job? Absolutely. And I think it’s also a consequence of sort of a younger, very social media savvy audience, but it’s been a wild ride. That being said, I think it’s a badge of honor that the relationships we portrayed on the show compelled people to such passion.
I think it’s beautiful, and that’s kind of the currency of the job, is going, “Wow. They really, really love this in a very real sense. They identify with this in a very, very real sense,” and that’s the power of it. And in a way, that can be incredibly empowering, but it’s been a wild ride, and I think episode 100 does a really good job of kind of bringing all that in and speaking directly to the fourth wall and going, ‘This is where we came from. This is what we did. Hope you guys enjoy the ride.’”
