Cole Sprouse Says Rushing Into The Supernatural Would “Break” Riverdale

 

One of Riverdale‘s stars cautions against moving too quickly into supernatural realms.
Before showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa brought Riverdale to an audience unaware that it desperately need it, he reinvigorated the Archie Comics brand with a horror title called Afterlife with Archie. Naturally, many hoped some of the elements of that title would spill over into The CW program. In fact, early reports suggested the show would feature paranormal happenings.
Instead, the show focused on a murder mystery while building an ethereal-looking world. And as the second season draws near, the show will stick with the mystery format instead adding ghosts or zombies.
At least for now.
But star Cole Sprouse — he who made Jughead Jones such a delight last year — told The Los Angeles Times that there is wisdom in holding back the supernatural. “I think when it goes there, it doesn’t really come back,” he said. “I think it will break the world a little bit.”
Though the show’s dreamy feel would seem to allow a monster to creep into the woods, Sprouse’s comments make sense. The show was very successful in creating a darker but nonetheless fun version of Archie Comics’ key location. And though that reality is heightened, it is n0t so elastic as to let Betty discover a werewolf on the edge of town and then return to her family’s troubles the next week. Well, not unless the writers want the show to be about werewolves. The Vampire Diaries proved you can strike a successful tone between teen drama and horror elements.
And to be fair, the show could pivot into that at some point and feel nearly seamless. Sprouse, though, suggested the choice to pivot should be made with great care. “The creative staff has to ask themselves if they ever do choose to include a supernatural element, how do they do it without destroying the universe that has already been built?” he pondered.
The show has been confident in its choices so far, including going against the will of Jugehead fans who hoped the character would come out as asexual. So, should Riverdale break itself with the strange and paranormal, it is easy to see how the show would revolve around that breakage.
Riverdale returns on October 11th.