The cast of The CW’s Riverdale hit the stage at the 2017 WonderCon on March 31, 2017 to talk about the first season of the Archie Comics-inspired series. While the major storyline has followed the investigation into the murder of Jason Blossom, the first season has also been parceling out details on the key players who inhabit the town of Riverdale. Among those whose characters have particularly juicy storylines thus far are Mädchen Amick and Marisol Nichols who play Alice Cooper and Hermione Lodge, respectively. In addition to the Q&A with fans, Amick and Nichols were paired up for roundtable interviews in which they discussed what’s coming up on season one and their hopes for Alice and Hermione.
Are you enjoying playing the tension between your two characters in season one?
Mädchen Amick: “Yes, it’s been fun. The only thing I regret is when Hermione worked at Pop’s as a waitress, I really wanted Alice to come in and just give it to her, just make her order really [hard]. Just really rub it in her face but she’s moving on to other jobs so whatever.”
Marisol Nichols: “Sorry!”
What was your knowledge of Archie to begin with?
Marisol Nichols: “I knew Archie from, honestly, gum wrappers. The Bazooka Joe where you’d take the gum and it’d be either Archie, Betty, or Veronica. I was like, ‘Oh, cool!’ I didn’t realize how long the comic book had been around, for so long and new iterations of it and all of that. When I heard that they were making a show I thought that was cool, but I didn’t think I’d have anything to do with it. And then honestly when I went in, Roberto [Aguirre-Sacasa] – he sold me on the show. His passion for it and how he explained it, dark and this and that and what they were going to do with the adult characters, it was like that’s a show I’d watch so I’m in.”
Mädchen Amick: “I’ll admit that I was a little skeptical of how they might bring it to life. You always worry a little bit when they bring sort of an animated thing to life how they’re going to do it, but once again Roberto was so impressive, so passionate. He grounded the characters and made them so relevant that I thought it was brilliant and I was super excited to play. His ideas for Alice…I just was like, ‘Yep! Sign me up.'”
I love how they’re gradually feeding us backstories on the characters, and especially on the parents. Will we learn a lot more by the end of the season on both of your characters?
Mädchen Amick: “Yes.”
Anything you can tease?
Mädchen Amick: “I’m teasing that [Marisol’s] got a major reveal towards the end of the season which I was shocked by.”
Marisol Nichols: “I was, too.”
Mädchen Amick: “And then just you’re going to find more of Alice Cooper’s history and why she acts the way she does. She’s got a lot of drama and a lot of history.”
Marisol Nichols: “Yeah, we do. And you understand Alice a lot better and I think Hermione just confuses everybody more.”
Mädchen Amick: “That’s the thing. The more we understand Alice Cooper and why she does what she does, all of a sudden we’re thrown to, ‘Wait a minute…Hermione, what?!'”
Hermione’s big reveal that’s coming up, is it from the past when she was in Riverdale or when she was in New York?
Marisol Nichols: “This brings everything that you’ve heard so far as far as New York – Hiram, prison, what you’ve seen, what you’ve heard about how she’s trying to turn over a new leaf – you’re going to see a lot of the old Hermione and how she got to where she was married to this powerful man come full circle. But, it’s good. It’s like she said. I was like, ‘What?!’ I was like, ‘Does this work? All right.'”
Speaking of changes, what’s going to happen moving forward between Betty and her mom? Was episode eight a turning point?
Mädchen Amick: “Yeah, that was a big turning point for them and I think that you start to realize there are times when Betty is the adult in the relationship. I think we’ve all gone through that with our parents. You know, there’s those moments when you’re being parented and all of a sudden you have to step up and be there for your parent. And, yeah, there’s a lot that gets revealed. I think you feel for Alice a little bit more the more you understand her history and why she is the way she is. So, yeah, I think that’s a turning point. It was a really fun episode.”
Do the scripts really shock you?
Mädchen Amick and Marisol Nichols, jointly: “Yes!”
Mädchen Amick: “There was one in particular from that point forward it was like a roller coaster.”
Marisol Nichols: “12 and 13.”
Mädchen Amick: “12 and 13. Literally the actors were flushed in the room during the table read. Like, ‘Whoa, this is intense!'”
Someone else is going to die this season, however if your characters live, what would you like to see happen?
Mädchen Amick: “I’m really rooting for Alice to unbutton her shirt a little bit and maybe have like a wild night out. Maybe with girls…maybe with a guy, I’m just saying. I have an idea! Maybe Alice could have a night fling with Jughead’s dad. I’m just putting it out there. It may be fun and then she has to do the walk of shame home. I’m just saying.”
Marisol Nichols: “Can Hermione be watching her while she does the walk of shame home?”
Mädchen Amick: “Yes!”
Marisol Nichols: “For Hermione, I doubt this is going to happen but if I had it my way, she would finally put Hiram in his place, tear that down, take over her family, and do what she really just wants to just do and be. But I doubt that will happen.”
Watch the full Marisol Nichols and Mädchen Amick Riverdale interview:
