Season four of The CW’s Riverdale will find Jughead (Cole Sprouse) apart from his friends and attending an elite prep school. However, although Jughead will be spending his daytime hours not fitting in at his new school, he’ll still be hanging with Archie, Betty, and Veronica whenever possible.

Cole Sprouse joined his fellow Riverdale cast members at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con to discuss the upcoming fourth season. He also participated in roundtable interviews to delve into what’s going on with Jughead and the gang when the series returns on October 9, 2019.

Where does the season pick up?

Cole Sprouse: “This season picks up the first day of senior year. It’s the start of their entry to senior year and they’re just coming off the back of a calm and quiet summer vacation.”

Will there be much interaction between Jughead and Charles?

Cole Sprouse: “I don’t know. I know that Betty’s storyline is much more integrated with Charles than Jughead’s is, at least from what I’ve read this far. But, I don’t see it as… I’ve been asked a lot if it’s going to put tension to Betty and Jughead’s relationship, and so far it doesn’t look like that’s where it’s going. But Jughead’s only in Riverdale on the weekends now. So, his main storyline is the prep school which is the sort of building blocks to the whole flash-forward thing that we’re doing with season four and kind of the mystery of this season is this very strange, elitist prep school. I don’t know how much interaction Charles and Jughead are actually going to have this season.”

In terms of the school, there will be new characters involved this year. What can you say about them?

Cole Sprouse: “The way it was described was very Gossip Girl sort of prep, like upper East Side kids – and then Jughead. It’s sort of like a Dead Poets Society and Jughead’s integration into it is basically the story of the Gargoyle King that he had submitted to this writing contest and then a teacher being fascinated with the stories and taking them to the prep school. I think it’s going to be fun to play with.”

The storylines are taking you away from your normal co-stars. How is that for you?

Cole Sprouse: “I haven’t worked with KJ in like three seasons! No, I don’t think it’s really pulling me away from them, so to speak. I think the way they write it I could be in every scene with them or not. It’s really just the prep school serving as the setting for the mystery. I don’t assume Jughead’s really going to be away from Betty or Archie for long.”

Will it affect his role with the Serpents?

Cole Sprouse: “I think so. At the end of last season, we actually filmed a scene we didn’t put in the final cut which was Jughead relinquishing the Serpents to Toni Topaz. It’s my understanding that they want a bit longer of a narrative with that, play around with that a little bit more. I have a feeling that season four Jughead is very much season one Jughead which is the perspective character – the writer who’s feeling everything from the outside and not so much the gang leader.”

Can we assume the prep school will have some sort of ominous, evil undercurrent?

Cole Sprouse: (Laughing) “I would say that’s a pretty good guess. Yeah, yeah, like all pretentious prep schools. There’s got to be like a taxidermy lab or something.”

It sounds like Jughead doesn’t fit into the prep school. Does he develop any friendships there?

Cole Sprouse: “I don’t know yet. We haven’t really dug too deep into it. But I don’t think so. I think there’s one character that he may get along with, but the rest of them the way they’re written is really pretentious.”

• Interview with Riverdale Star Lili Reinhart on Season 4
• KJ Apa on Riverdale Season 4 and Archie’s Future Plans