Cole Sprouse took a five year break from acting following the end of The Suite Life on Deck but now he’s back with a starring role in the upcoming The CW series Riverdale. Riverdale is based on the iconic Archie comics and in the series Sprouse will be tackling the role of hamburger-loving Jughead Jones. The CW hasn’t set a premiere date yet for Riverdale, but Archie fans can expect to see it debut as a midseason replacement.
The Plot: “As a new school year begins, the town of Riverdale is reeling from the recent, tragic death of high school golden boy Jason Blossom — and nothing feels the same… Archie Andrews (K.J. Apa) is still the all-American teen, but the summer’s events made him realize that he wants to pursue a career in music — not follow in his dad’s footsteps—despite the sudden end of his forbidden relationship with Riverdale’s young music teacher, Ms. Grundy (Sarah Habel). Which means Archie doesn’t have anyone who will mentor him — certainly not singer Josie McCoy (Ashleigh Murray), who is only focused on her band, the soon-to-be-world-famous Pussycats. It’s all weighing heavily on Archie’s mind — as is his fractured friendship with budding writer and fellow classmate Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse).
Meanwhile, girl-next-door Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart) is anxious to see her crush Archie after being away all summer, but she’s not quite ready to reveal her true feelings to him. And Betty’s nerves – which are hardly soothed by her overbearing mother Alice (Mädchen Amick) aren’t the only thing holding her back. When a new student, Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes), arrives in town from New York with her mother Hermione (Marisol Nichols), there’s an undeniable spark between her and Archie, even though Veronica doesn’t want to risk her new friendship with Betty by making a play for Archie. And then there’s Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch)… Riverdale’s Queen Bee is happy to stir up trouble amongst Archie, Betty, and Veronica, but Cheryl is keeping secrets of her own. What, exactly, is she hiding about the mysterious death of her twin brother, Jason? Riverdale may look like a quiet, sleepy town, but there are dangers in the shadows…”
The cast took part in the 2016 San Diego Comic Con to promote the new series and to talk about their characters during a Q&A with Comic Con attendees. They also participated in short roundtable interviews in support of the comic book-inspired series. Check out what Sprouse had to say during our brief interview at this year’s Con:
Would you say Jughead as a character is the most unlike the character from the comics?
Cole Sprouse: “He’s definitely an interesting character in this. I think the Jughead we’re closest to in this is the Mark Waid and Fiona Staples Jughead – that’s definitely the one we’re pulling from, the recent reboot of the Archie comics. But there’s also a small little narrative within the old digest in which Jughead is a sleuth, an amateur detective. He’s had a bunch of iterations, but sleuth Jughead is definitely the one we’re kind of going for in this. He’s the narrator. He’s always been an anti-authority non-conformist kind of character. That’s always been Jughead. He still has that fundamentally within the show. He’s also still sardonic and sarcastic. It will eventually reveal itself that he’s still the comic relief. But he’s the point of view character. He’s still the narrator of this film noir dialogue.
It’s going to be interesting seeing him. I know that Roberto (Aguirre-Sacasa) was firm on making Jughead kind of an outsider character, a bit of a weirdo. He’s definitely the black sheep of Riverdale. I’m excited to bring that Jughead to life.
What’s Jughead’s relationship with Archie like in the series?
Cole Sprouse: “So, Archie (played by K.J. Apa) and Jughead were clearly best friends. We wanted to give … My understanding of Jughead and Archie is that we wanted to build a narrative of repair with them where they become super solid friends. Because, one, as an actual writing trope that’s much more interesting. I know if you come into a friendship with Archie and Jughead that’s already super solid – ‘They’re the most solid best friends!’ – that’s close to the comics but it’s not as interesting to watch as a repair or some tension between Jughead and Archie. But, they are definitely going to be working on their friendship. They’re clearly best friends, even in the show still. They’re going to be working on it and that’s more interesting for people to watch.”
Jughead wasn’t near a cheeseburger in the pilot episode. Will that change as the season progresses?
Cole Sprouse: “Actually, it’s funny. He was but it was demolished on his actual plate. I don’t know if the shot showed it too much but he’s still eating quite a bit. We don’t want to beat the ‘Jughead eating a cheeseburger’ over the head for the audience members. Like, ‘Here’s seven cheeseburgers, Jughead!’ But, the remains of an eaten cheeseburger might be there. He might be ordering another, but in terms of a pyramid of cheeseburgers, I don’t know.”
(Interview by Sandy Kraisirideja. Article by Rebecca Murray.)
