Barchie or Bughead? 'Riverdale' Cast Addresses Final Season's Endgame Ships
Leaving a last impression. Riverdale is getting ready to air its final season and it seems like romance is on everyone’s mind.
During the season 6 finale, which aired in July 2022, viewers saw Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) saving the world from a comet. Things took a turn, however, when the characters ended up reverting back to their teenage years. The only character who remembers their real lives — as opposed to their new reality in the ’50s — was Jughead (Cole Sprouse).
According to creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, the alternate universe will play a big role in the show’s final arc.
“We’re going to hunker down, be in the ‘50s, and kind of deconstruct not just Archie Comics but what Riverdale has been and have it in dialogue with what people think of as the Archie Comics. That said, it is not a clean break,” he explained to Nerds of Color that same month. “It is very much in continuity with the first six seasons, kind of the same way that Rivervale ended up being in continuity with the rest of the season. Jughead remembers what happened the first six seasons, it’s in question what the other characters will remember.”
For the showrunner, the big change offers the writers an “opportunity” to reset the story for most of the characters.
“I will say that we are going back and embracing the Archie Comics and the idea of the Archies in the ‘50s, one of the classic staples is the love triangle,” he added, referring to the onscreen couple debate between fans. “We don’t wanna go and kind of just play the straightforward depiction of the love triangle, meaning both Betty and Veronica are fighting over Archie.”
Aguirre-Sacasa continued: “I don’t think we’re ever going to play that. We never did and we’ve never wanted to, and I don’t think that’s going to be happening in the ‘50s but we are kind of reinvesting in sort of that young, new first love, first kiss, those tropes that we love from teen dramas. I know I haven’t really answered your question, but there will be a lot of Varchie and Barchie drama, and the story is not finished by any stretch of the imagination.”
Petsch later hinted that season 7 of Riverdale would surprise fans when it came to the core relationships.
“You’re really getting what made the show so special in season 1, which was the relationships in the town. This season is more pared down with the craziness, but there are some bizarre things happening,” she teased to Variety in December 2022. “We are shaking things up. Everyone is dating everyone.”
Scroll down for the Riverdale cast’s candid quotes about which ships might be endgame:
During an interview with Us Weekly, KJ Apa admitted he was "very anxious" to see whether Betty (Lili Reinhart) and Archie will go the distance. "I think Archie's very much loving his time with Betty and imagining a potential future with her, [which includes] kids and her family and being married," he exclusively told Us in May 2022, noting that he wasn't concerned by Archie's kiss with Veronica. "Which is why that scene kind of struck me. I don't think [the kiss] meant anything more to Archie." One month prior, Reinhart weighed in on her character's love life, saying at PaleyFest, “Archie’s relationship with Veronica and Betty’s relationship with Jughead — they’re all beautiful in their own little ways, but I think Betty and Archie have a home in each other.” The CW
Ahead of season 7, Reinhart opened up about what ending she would like to see for Betty. “I feel very happy that we’ve been able to see Betty with both Archie and with Jughead. The fans of the show, fans of the comic books, have been able to get the satisfaction of seeing both relationships,” she said on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show in August 2022. “I personally don’t know how it’s going to end. I have a soft spot for both of them. I think Barchie and Bughead — they both have really beautiful qualities.” At the time, Sprouse joked that Jughead was supportive of his ex-girlfriend's current romance. “Jughead finds [Archie and Betty] very erotic," he joked at PaleyFest in April 2022. Michael Courtney/The CW
In May 2022, Apa weighed in on a potential reunion between Jughead and Betty and Archie and Veronica (Camila Mendes) respectively. “I wouldn’t be worried about that. I don’t think that’s gonna happen,” he hinted to TVInsider at the time. Mendes, for her part, explained at PaleyFest, “I hope to see closure, not just for my character but for every character. I feel like they’ve all been through so much together. I would really love to see the stories end in a sort of blissful, sweet, hopeful way.” Photo: Kailey Schwerman/The CW
"With the love triangles, there’s possibly going to be some tension there. I definitely think Choni will be a thing in this new season," Vanessa Morgan teased during an interview with Hidden Remote in September 2022. "That’s just me having a feeling about it." Meanwhile, Aguirre-Sacasa offered a glimpse at how season 7 might bring Cheryl and Toni back together. "There is no denying the power of Choni, we know it, the fandom knows that. It was really important for us to kind of tell Toni and Cheryl’s stories separate from each other [in season 6] but as we were kind of prompting the end of the season, we knew we had to start bringing them back together," he detailed to Nerds of Color in July 2022. "So I can tell you that we will be telling Choni’s stories in season 7. It’s going to be interesting though because the ‘50s are such a different landscape for our queer characters and the way that they live their lives is so different, will be so different in the ‘50s." The creator continued: "But that’s kind of one of the big things we talked about when we talked about going back to the ‘50s — is what that would look like. So Choni will continue in season 7. It’s going to be very different though from how we’ve seen them." Jack Rowand/The CW
In July 2022, Aguirre-Sacasa discussed how Jughead and Tabitha (Erinn Westbrook) became one of the show's "big romances" in season 6. "They were a new couple and we invested in them, and the fans really, really connected with them. So when we were crafting the finale, we knew that whatever story we were telling with Jughead and Tabitha in the last episode, we wanted it to be an epic, romantic story," he explained. "I will say that Jughead absolutely remembers his relationship with Tabitha and if you recall, Tabitha was not in Riverdale in the high school years. She was a late arrival. So I think season seven is going to echo that in some way. But we are not done with Tabitha and we are not done with Jughead and Tabitha either." Earlier in the year, Westbrook gushed about the growing connection between the pair. "We have seen Tabitha and Jughead lean on each other at various points and they, of course, grow closer through those times. While they obviously have their romantic relationship, they are also best friends, partners, confidantes," she explained in an interview with W Magazine. "Cole and I have talked about how mature they are and how easy their relationship seems to be. Nothing is forced. The world around them is crazy and there is so much happening and changing all the time, but they very consistently, and beautifully, find solace in each other." The CW
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