After breaking out of jail and hiding in a bunker, it didn’t take Archie Andrews (KJ Apa) long to realize Riverdale wasn’t big enough for both Hiram Lodge (Mark Consuelos) and himself. Warning: The following contains spoilers for the November 28 episode of Riverdale, “Manhunter.”
So with his best friend Jughead (Cole Sprouse) in tow, Archie has broken things off with his girlfriend Veronica (Camila Mendes) and hit the road. Where the two friends will end up is anybody’s guess, but according to Sprouse and Apa, it’s going to make for a very different Riverdale in upcoming episodes.
“It’s really an Archie-Jughead narrative, which is kind of in rare supply,” Sprouse told GameSpot and other reporters during a visit to Riverdale‘s set. “So you get that for a good chunk of episodes. It’s really just Archie and Jughead for a little bit and it’s a lot of fun and they’re on the lam and they’re running away, kind of [like] Stand By Me. It’s really fun.”
He’s not wrong when pointing out that there are very few storylines centered on the friendship between Archie and Jughead. While they are the best of friends in comic books, the two are so heavily weighed down by the trials and tribulations in living in a horrible and dangerous town like Riverdale to have any time to be friends.
Now, with Riverdale in their rear-view, thanks to Hiram’s obsession with destroying this teenager, Archie can have an adventure with his buddy, wherever it may take them. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’ll last too long. Eventually, both will have to come back to Riverdale. As Apa tells it, though, they may not come home at the same time.
“Eventually, they end up finding themselves having to kind of — like the fork in the road,” he said. “They have to go their separate ways at some point.”
What breaks them up remains to be seen, but there’s plenty unraveling in Riverdale that’s going to need their attention. Betty (Lili Reinhart) is locked up in Sisters of Quiet Mercy, while her mom has run off to join a cult. The Gargoyle King is leaving a trailer of bodies because some people take Dungeons and Dragons too seriously, and Hiram is seemingly involved in every dastardly thing happening within city limits. Archie and Jughead can only ignore the atrocities literally happening in their backyard for so long.
Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8 PM ET on The CW.
