When Riverdale returns for its final season on Wednesday, March 29 on The CW, you’ll get to see the cast in a whole new light. Specifically, an olde timey light as the Town With Pep has been magically transported back to 1955. You’ll see Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart), Archie Andrews (KJ Apa), Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse), Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes), and all the rest played by the actors you’ve come to know and love over six seasons, but in an entirely different mode more akin to the classic Archie Comics characters.
But just because Riverdale is going back to the basics of its comics’ source material doesn’t mean there aren’t a few weird swerves along the way. Thanks to some shenanigans in the Season 6 finale where Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch) used her witch powers to destroy a comet sent to obliterate Riverdale, the timeline has been reset — though things aren’t 100% how they once were. While most of the cast is happily living their lives as teenagers in their Junior year of high school, Jughead still remembers the regular timeline. And in the opening minutes of the Season 7 premiere, titled “Chapter One Hundred Eighteen: Don’t Worry Darling”, he notes that some things have changed significantly.
Don’t worry (darling); other than the aforementioned cast members, the rest of the main cast is back for the Season 7 premiere. You’ll see Casey Cott as Kevin Keller, Mädchen Amick as Alice Cooper (more on that in a moment), Vanessa Morgan as Toni Topaz, and Erinn Westbrook as Tabitha Tate. And while Charles Melton doesn’t appear as Reggie Mantle in the premiere, he will be returning later in the season.
But even with the final episodes slowly counting down to the series finale in August, you’ll still get to meet some fresh, new faces on Riverdale — as well as some returning faces, and faces you may recognize in completely new roles.
Here’s a guide to the Riverdale Season 7 cast, for when you go: “hey wait, wasn’t that guy that other guy?”
Nicholas Barasch As Julian Blossom
Probably the biggest casting change for the season, Riverdale kicked off with the death of Jason Blossom (Trevor Stines), Cheryl’s twin brother. In Season 4, Cheryl came to believe that she was actually a triplet, and had eaten her other brother Julian in the womb. Not only that, but she came to believe the spirit of Julian was haunting a sailor doll that she stored in the same locked room as the corpse of her brother. Turns out it was just her mother Penelope (Nathalie Blossom) who was gaslighting Cheryl while living in the walls of their mansion! You know, regular family stuff. Anyway, now he’s a real human boy who attends Riverdale High and is vying for Veronica’s affection.
Barasch is probably best known as the voice of Austin on the animated series The Backyardigans, though he snagged the role on Riverdale while appearing Off-Broadway — most likely in the 2022 production of The Butcher Boy in New York. “I had seen a show in New York, a musical, an Off-Broadway musical with this actor Nicholas, and I thought, oh my god he would be a great Julian Blossom,” Riverdale showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa told Decider. “So when we went back to the ’50s I thought, oh one thing that would be fun is if we made in this 1950s reality, we had Julian as a living, breathing human being.”
Karl Walcott as Clay Walker
While Kevin Keller is living as a closeted gay man in 1955, dating Betty Cooper and scared of his own sexuality, Clay Walker is coming in to shake things up. Played by Karl Walcott, according to the casting announcement Clay is, “a teen renaissance man. He is studious, artistic, well-read, and well-traveled. An Army brat, Clay comes from a loving family and is a champion for social justice. He is very open-minded in his art and his sexuality. As he does in the comic books, Clay will have an impactful friendship with fellow queer character Kevin Keller.”
Other than Riverdale, Walcott appeared on 75 episodes of Le Chalet as Charles, as well as a recurring role on District 31 and a bit part in X-Men: Apocalypse.
Shannon Purser as Ethel Muggs
Fan-favorite Ethel Muggs is once again back in Season 7, played by Shannon Purser. Though Purser has appeared in multiple episodes of the series previously, she’ll have a key role in the plot of this season — and if you’ve seen the Season 7 trailer, you know there’s a scene where she comes in covered in blood.
Purser was nominated for an Emmy for Stranger Things and starred in the 2018 Netflix rom-com Sierra Burgess is a Loser.
Abby Ross as Midge Klump
Other than Jason Blossom, one of the first big character deaths on Riverdale was the murder of Midge Klump in the Season 2 musical episode, “Chapter Thirty-One: A Night To Remember”. Played by Emilija Baranac, Midge was shockingly found impaled on the stage thanks to Season 2’s villain The Black Hood (more on that in a moment, too).
Good news, Klump-heads… Midge is back in Season 7, albeit with a different, but familiar face. “We did attempt to get the OG Midge, but she was on a family vacation,” Aguirre-Sacasa told Decider.
Instead, Midge will be played by Abby Ross, who previously appeared in the Archie-verse as one of the Dezmeldas (there were three) on Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina — specifically “Chapter Fifteen: Doctor Cerebus’s House of Horrors”. You might also know the Vancouver-based actress as Young Emma on Once Upon a Time, or her appearances on Supernatural, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, and many more.
Lochlyn Munro as Hal Cooper
Remember earlier when we mentioned that Alice’s last name is Cooper — instead of Smith, her maiden name? Well, her husband Hal Cooper, played by Lochlyn Munro is back, and Hal and Alice are living a blissful married life in Season 7. Hey, also remember when we mentioned Season 2’s villain The Black Hood? Well, that turned out to be Hal. So what the what? Is Hal Cooper still a serial killer in 1955? And if so, what does that mean for Alice? And Betty? And, you know, Riverdale??
We’ll have to keep tuning in to find out, but Munro has had an extremely prolific career outside Riverdale, most recently co-starring in the Detective Knight trilogy with Bruce Willis and a recurring role on Peacemaker on HBO Max.
Daniel Yang as Dilton Doiley
Dilton Doiley, Riverdale’s resident nerd/doomsday prepper, died several seasons back; though he returned briefly in Season 6 thanks to the alternate universe of Rivervale. Thanks to the time reboot in Season 7, Dilton is back once again — and if he looks familiar, don’t worry, it’s not just your imagination.
“This is the OG Dilton who was in the pilot of Riverdale,” Aguirre-Sacasa revealed, “and then we recast Dilton after the pilot with an actor named Major Curda. But Major Curda was doing KPOP on Broadway when we started filming so he couldn’t come back, so we went back to the OG Dilton.”
Yep, that’s right: after seven years (the pilot was filmed in March of 2016), Daniel Yang is back in the role he originated. In the intervening time you might have caught him as Brian on Crawford, or as Daniel Stoppard on The Magicians.
Moses Thiessen as Ben Button
Another return-to-lifer, Moses Thiessen reappears as the bizarrely named Ben Button on the new season of Riverdale.
William MacDonald as Principal Featherhead
New character, who dis? William MacDonald, who previously appeared in Season 3 as the villainous Warden Norton, is back to be a new thorn in the sides of the Riverdale High kids. This season, he’ll be playing Principal Featherhead — a part previously played in the iconic flashback episode “Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Midnight Club” by Anthony Michael Hall.
Malcolm Stewart as Dr. Werthers
Another returning villain in another new role, Malcolm Stewart previously played Francis DuPont in Season 4. DuPont stole the kids’ mystery Baxter Brothers novels from Jughead’s grandfather, manipulated the students at Stonewall Prep, and ultimately threw himself out a window. This season, Stewart returns as Dr. Werthers, a new antagonist for the kids. To reveal more gets into spoilers, but suffice it to say he and Jughead get along as well in the ’50s as they did in the 2020s.
Riverdale returns for Season 7 on Wednesday, March 29 at 9 pm ET on The CW.