Main characters (Archie Andrews • Cheryl Blossom) | Riverdale High | Riverdale Townspeople | Outside Riverdale
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Riverdale High School
Students Jason Blossom
Jason Blossom
Played by: Trevor Stines
Cheryl's late twin brother. His death kicks off the events of the first season.
- Affectionate Nick Name: Cheryl sometimes refers to him as JJ.
- Big Brother Instinct: Played with, as he was Cheryl's twin, not her big brother, but nevertheless he was incredibly loving and protective of his sister.Cheryl: Even though we were twins, I used to demand I have my own birthday party. Until one year, out of the blue, Jason convinced me we had to combine them into one. It wasn't until years later I found out why: It was because no one wanted to come to mine, and Jason didn't want me to know. [starts crying] He protected me, every single day.
- Big Man on Campus: He was very popular when he was alive, and on the football team.
- Broken Pedestal: Serves as one to Cheryl when she finds out he participated in the "playbook" and did indeed hurt Polly.
- Death by Adaptation: His death kicks off the events of the first season.
- Faking the Dead: His original plan. Then he got shot for real.
- Jerk Jock: While none of the students have spoken ill of him, Alice insists that he is a sociopath who destroyed her daughter Polly for kicks, although it's hard to take her account at face value. It becomes more complicated in later episodes, when it's revealed that Jason entered his and Polly's name into the football team's "playbook", indicating he saw her as just another conquest. But it is then revealed that he was in fact planning to run off with and marry her, retroactively implying he may have just been trying to save face with his buddies. Overall, considering almost no one talks about him as an individual much besides Cheryl, it's really not clear at all what sort of person Jason was in life.
- In Love with the Mark: He put an entry on Polly in the football team's "playbook" like any other conquest, only to end up giving her a wedding ring and make plans to run away together.
- Morality Pet: Cheryl's not a nice person, but she does truly love and miss her brother.
- Pet the Dog: No matter what else he may have done, planning to marry Polly after he got her pregnant is a surprisingly mature and good response to it, given that he was a teenage boy with at least a couple Jerk Jock tendencies. Bear in mind that at the time, neither his nor Polly's parents were pushing him into it—it was his and Polly's own idea.
- Plot-Triggering Death: Much of the drama in the first season of the show stems from his death.
- Posthumous Character: Even though the show begins with his death, the audience continues to learn more about him as the series progresses.
- The Runaway: 1.03 reveals that he planned to run away, and Cheryl was in on it. His death threw a wrench into that plan, obviously.
- Secret Relationship: Whatever happened between him and Polly, he cared enough about her that he wanted to marry her.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: He and Polly seemed to have really loved each other, but their parents did everything to keep them apart.
- Surprise Incest: It is revealed that the Cooper family used to be a part of the Blossom family, and that Jason and Polly's great-grandfathers were brothers. This makes them third cousins. (Third cousins share less than 1% of their genes—0.78% exactly—and can legally marry everywhere.) The Blossoms don't think it's really a big deal; the Coopers still find it very squicky.
- The Voiceless: So far, we haven't heard him speak, even in a flashback.
Valerie Brown
Valerie Brown
Played by: Hayley Law
The songwriter and keyboardist for the Pussycats. Has a brief fling with Archie in the first season.
- Beware the Nice Ones: While she is overall a kind and compassionate person, she doesn't hesitate to call people out if she feels they've mistreated her. When breaking up with Archie, she makes it as quick as possible while still making her annoyance clear. However, when he pushes the issue, she angrily splashes her drink on him and flat-out tells him he's a "hot mess" (though she lets go of her animosity soon after once he saves Cheryl from suicide). She also gets fed up with Josie's controlling nature in the band at one point and chews her out for it, and then later on Valerie and Melody angrily confront Josie once they find out about her solo gigs.
- The Confidant: To Archie, supporting him and giving him advice about his music aspirations.
- Demoted to Extra: She is a significant supporting character in Season 1, and even has more focus than Josie. Beginning with Season 2, as Josie becomes more prominent, Valerie fades into the background, rarely having much dialogue, and she ultimately disappears halfway through the season.
- Third-Option Love Interest: Becomes increasingly close to Archie, culminating in them kissing in 1.06. The relationship lasts for a few more episodes, until Archie screws up and she quickly dumps him.
- Token Good Teammate: She started off as the nicest to Archie, as Josie was ambivalent about him and Melody rarely spoke, although Josie eventually warmed up to Archie as well.
Chuck Clayton
Chuck Clayton
Played by: Jordan Calloway
The captain of the football team and son of Coach Clayton.
- Adaptational Personality Change: He's not the Nice Guy comic book artist of the comics. Not by a long shot. Up until he sees the writing on the wall that is.
- Adaptational Villainy: Nice Guy in the comics, sexist cyberbully here.
- The Atoner: In season 2, he sincerely wants to make up for his crimes before Betty put him in his place.
- Big Man on Campus: The son of Riverdale High's coach, good-looking and on the short list for Ivy League schools apparently.Kevin: It's like dating a Kennedy!
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He's nice enough to Veronica before he gets what he wants from her.
- Butt-Monkey: Scarcely anything good happens to him whenever he appears. He walks right into Betty and Veronica's honey trap; he gets drugged and chained up in the jacuzzi, Betty pours maple syrup on his head and nearly boils him, and he is ultimately humiliated into admitting his wrongdoings, leading to him getting kicked off the football team. Later on at Archie's birthday party, Betty and Jughead both physically attack Chuck, and FP forcibly boots Chuck out of the house after his fight with Jughead. The next time we see Chuck, he seems genuinely remorseful over his past actions and is trying to make up for them, only nobody around him believes him, and he gets falsely accused of being Josie's stalker. And then at the wrestling team, Archie beats Chuck in their first match together, despite Archie being much less experienced and in a lower weight class.
- Cassandra Truth: In season 2, he's genuinely trying to turn over a new leaf, taking art lessons, going to church and generally being a nice person. Unfortunately, those around him don't buy it. At first.
- Evil Counterpart: To Reggie. They’re both popular Jerk Jocks on the football team who have a reputation for skirt casing and antagonise the main cast. However, while Reggie ultimately is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, Chuck is a misogynistic Bitch in Sheep's Clothing, who happily uses slut shaming and cyberbullying to ruin numerous girls’ reputations, perpetuates a system of sexist ranking and openly wants to make the main cast suffer. Stops applying after Chuck's Heel–Face Turn.
- Jerkass: Openly cyberbullies most of the girls he dates, and some of those he doesn't.
- Jerk Jock: One of the stars of the Bulldogs, who has a habit of giving the girls he dates, and those he doesn't a "Sticky Maple."
- Put on a Bus: He disappears by Season 5. His last appearance in "A Night to Remember" has him be forgiven by Veronica who declares his pariahship over, leaving him no reason to try to prove himself anymore. However, he is mentioned as "Charles Clayton" in Season 7 as having worked with Josie McCoy, though doesn't appear.
- Reformed, but Rejected: Sorry, Chuck, but no matter how sincere you might be, people aren't going to believe that a former misogynistic, slut-shaming cyberbully has changed, nor are you going to be forgiven so easily.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: The reason he can get away with humiliating and mistreating girls is because he's the football coach's son. Once Betty publishes concrete proof of his wrongdoings, however, his father is forced to cut him from the team to cover his ass.
- Slut-Shaming: A part of a circle, that openly does so to many of the girls on campus.
- Smug Snake: Believes his status and his family relationships will let him get away with anything.
- Underestimating Badassery: He makes it clear he doesn't think Archie is in his league when Archie joins the wrestling team. However, this comes back to bite him as Archie improves after receiving extra lessons from Kevin and beats Chuck in a match.
Dilton Doiley
Dilton Doiley
Played by: Major Curda & Daniel Yang
The smartest kid in town and a Boy Scout leader.
- Adaptational Badass: Dilton in the comics is a shy science nerd. In the show Dilton is a Crazy Survivalist, and a competent Gun Nut. Arguably downplayed considering how when he does get in a gang brawl, the fight doesn't end that well for him (to the point his own knife gets used against him).
- Adaptational Jerkass: Downplayed. Dilton isn’t a jerk, but he still lacks his comic counterpart’s overall friendliness, being much more aloof and cool towards others. He’s likewise really hard on his scout group.
- Alliterative Name: Dilton Doiley. Both his names start with the letter D.
- Character Death: In Season 3 which puts Betty and Jughead onto a new mystery.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Of the unstable, anti-social variety. Dilton is utterly paranoid, convinced that the Government is plotting to take away the people’s rights and believes everyone should be preparing for when this conflict kicks off. For this reason, he forces his Scout group to train like the military and is stockpiling weapons.
- Crazy Survivalist: Dilton is obsessed with surviving the impending crises he believes are coming, using them as a justification to treat his Scout group like they’re in the military. Its revealed in season 3, he's secretly built his own bunker in fox forest.
- Death by Adaptation: Commits suicide in early season 3, influenced by the mysterious board game "Gryphons and Gargoyles".
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: He runs his Boy Scout troop like a military hardass.
- Gun Nut: Dilton is secretly stockpiling guns, believing that he needs to be prepared for when the Government tries to take away his rights. He likewise manages to secure a pistol for Archie to protect himself and his family from the Black Hood.
- Informed Ability: Whilst possessing a nerdish physique, so far Dilton hasn’t demonstrated any of his comic counterpart’s high intelligence despite supposedly being the smartest teenager in Riverdale.
- Nerd Glasses: Dilton is bullied, called 'nerd' derogatorily a lot, and wears these. (Season 7)
- Odd Friendship: Had this with Ethel before he died where they played a game and his scout troop called her "Princess Etheline".
- Race Lift: Traditionally white, but is portrayed as by a mixed Asian actor.
- Right-Wing Militia Fanatic: Dilton is paranoid about the government taking away his rights, believing that an upcoming conflict with them is inevitable. For this reason, he has taken to forcing his Scout group to prepare, and stockpiling guns.
- Token Evil Teammate: Downplayed. Dilton is far from evil, but of the members of the Red Circle, he’s overall the most paranoid and antisocial.
- Toxic Friend Influence: Whilst trying to help him, Dilton’s influence encourages the worst parts of Archie’s PTSD, especially his growing obsession with personally taking down the Black Hood. He supplies Archie with a pistol despite it being obvious he’s not in a fit state to be trusted with one and convinces Archie to take the fight to the Black Hood and try to draw him out. This achieves nothing and leads to Archie angering the Serpents and causing a dangerous brawl between them and the Bulldogs, in which Dilton gets stabbed.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Dilton is paranoid, anti-social and secretly stockpiling weapons in the belief that Government is planning to attack and take away their rights. Nevertheless, Dilton is still on the side of helping Riverdale, tries to be helpful to Archie and joins the Red Circle to help protect the town from the Black Hood. That said, his efforts to help Archie still backfire as noted in the above trope.
Midge Klump
Midge Klump
Played by: Emilija Baranac & Abby Ross
Moose's girlfriend and a popular Riverdale Vixen.
- Back from the Dead: She’s returned to life in 1955 Riverdale.
- Boyish Short Hair: Has short black hair that doesn’t go past her cheeks.
- Character Death: Subverted. She’s shot at by the Black Hood at the end of “Night Hawks”, but survives thanks to Moose shielding her, only to actually get killed by him at the end of “A Night To Remember”.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Midge is crucified by the Black Hood, and stabbed multiple times with scissors and knives in the school play episode.
- Death by Adaptation: Is murdered by the Black Hood to mark the beginning of his second killing spree.
- Good Bad Girl: Is introduced buying drugs to take with her boyfriend, and Moose claims she likes to get wild sometimes. Nevertheless, she is a friendly person and seems quite popular, with numerous people being shocked when she almost gets shot.
- Love Across Battlelines: In Season 2, with Fangs. After Midge is murdered by the Black Hood, it's revealed that she and Fangs were having an affair. It incites a town-wide fight between the North- and Southside.
- Nice Girl: Midge is a friendly, kind hearted person and is generally nice towards everyone, even smiling at Reggie’s obvious attempts to flirt with her and offering to help Kevin find himself a date. She is likewise very well liked, to the point that her death temporarily causes the entire town to ignore their quarrels and provokes a massive outcry.
- Promoted to Love Interest: In Season 7, Midge's story is her relationship with Fangs. She gets pregnant and they plan to marry once Fangs is famous enough that her parents will agree.
Moose Mason
Marmaduke "Moose" Mason
Played by: Cody Kearsley
One of Riverdale High's jocks, and a closeted bisexual trying to get in a relationship with Kevin.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Blond in the comics, brunet in the show.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: This version of Moose lacks both the temper and the jealousy of his comic book counterpart. Played With in that he’s also secretly cheating on Midge, as opposed to the comics Moose who is devoted to her.
- Adaptational Wimp: In the comics, Moose is the biggest, toughest guy in all of Riverdale, and everybody is afraid of incurring his legendary bad temper. In the show, whilst still strong and brave, Moose shows no signs of being any different to the other football players, whilst Archie and Reggie come across as a lot tougher than him.
- Big Man on Campus: Like Reggie and the late Jason, he's popular due to being on the football team.
- Bigger Is Better in Bed: In an unusually explicit comment, Kevin describes Moose's "appendage" as "horse-like".
- Closet Gay: Moose continually denies that he is gay or bi, even as he sexually pursues Kevin. He talks to Kevin about it in Chapter 16, pointing out how hard it is living in such a small town. Whilst most people are open-minded, there still is a lot of bigotry under the surface and there is virtually no one else like them. He seems to have overcome his fears by the third season however as he's more open with his relationship with Kevin, even coming out to his father. In Season 4 he states blatantly that he’s bisexual, when Jughead walks in on him in bed with a girl in the two guys’ shared dorm room at Stonewall Prep.
- Lovable Jock: With the exception of Archie, Moose is easily the nicest member of the Bulldogs, being a cheerful, friendly fella.
- Made of Iron: Played With. He survives being shot four times by the Black Hood. Although he is hospitalized almost immediately, he’s still in amazingly good shape the very next day. But it still takes him months to recover, including physical therapy and he needs a crutch to walk after being released.
- Nice Guy: Moose is a big softy, being constantly friendly and cheerful with everyone. He volunteers to help out Fred when, due to financial problems, he can’t get any workers and has a big project due.
- Ship Tease: Has had more than a little with Kevin, with the two almost hooking up in the very first episode and sharing a heart to heart about the difficulties of not being straight in such a small town in Chapter 16. Moose even invites Kevin to come back to visit him at any time. In the season 2 finale he ends up making out with Kevin.
- Trauma Conga Line: Holy crap, this guy just cannot catch a break. To date:
- He is the one to find Jason when secretly seeing Kevin while still dating Midge.
- He volunteers to help Fred but gets beaten up for his trouble.
- He gets shot four times while with Midge in their car. While they both survive, Midge later dies during a school musical.
- He finally comes out to his father who seemingly accepts the news, but then his father impersonates the Gargoyle King and he and the RROTC attack him and Kevin to "scare him straight" before they can have sex for the first time.
- He is so broken up by this that he spends time in a facility.
- He then gets invited to play football at Stonewall Prep, but the news about his father's impersonation gets distributed to the student body. Not only that, he was actually invited to Stonewall Prep as a murder victim for the literary club and it was only his teacher getting cold feet and chasing him out to protect him that saves his life.
- His roommate at Stonewall Prep makes a sex tape of him.
- He joins the army then becomes a trucker but he gets laid off. He then moves back in with his father who just got out of prison
- Unlucky Extra: So far, Moose is a minor character whose luck is utterly terrible. He finds Jason’s dead body whilst trying to hook up, gets beaten senseless by vandals whilst volunteering to help Fred’s construction work, and is shot numerous times by the Black Hood.
Ethel Muggs
Ethel Muggs
Played by: Shannon Purser
A girl who is drawn into a friendship with Betty and Veronica due to wanting to out the unsavory actions of the school's jocks.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Black hair in the comics, but a redhead here.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In the comics she was a very cheerful, extroverted, active young woman who didn't let people's insults get her down and even stuck up for herself
; in the series, Ethel is much more lonely and insecure to the point she gets involved in a dangerous fantasy role playing game. - Adaptational Attractiveness: After Archie, she's had the most extreme makeover, not looking anything like her comic book counterpart.
- Adaptational Curves: The term "voluptuous" isn't something you'd associate with Ethel in the comics; aside from being cute with red curly hair here, she also has ample curves.
- Adaptational Name Change: Comic!Ethel's original last name was Ethel Dinkelhof, but in the show Ethel's last name is simply just Muggs (which is a Dutch name). Ethel told Veronica that she originally had three G's in her last name but her grandfather had one of the G's removed.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Season 3 due to being under the influence of the "Gargoyle King", even to the point of drinking poison under "his command". Betty and Jughead help her get better.
- The Bus Came Back: She returns in 1955 Riverdale as a major character.
- Fiery Redhead: Obviously as soon as her mean streak and craziness start showing up, she partakes in this trope (as Betty and Veronica can readily attest to).
- Green-Eyed Monster: She doesn't get the role of Carrie and is bitter towards the leads of the play (Cheryl and then Midge). In 3.07,she looks quite jealous of Betty for her reputation/popularity at school and possibly because she's with Jughead.
- Nice Girl: Kind and friendly, and unlike her mother Ethel doesn't blame Veronica when she finds out Hiram Lodge was indirectly responsible for her father's attempted suicide.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: She helps Chuck with a math problem, and in return, he spreads nasty rumors about her.
- Odd Friendship: Popular girl Veronica takes a liking to her and goes to bat for her when she finds out about the scorebook.
- Apparently she was friends with Dilton Doiley, playing "Gryphons and Gargoyles" with him and Dilton even lends her and their friend Ben use of his bunker.
- Put on a Bus: After a brief appearance in Season 4, she’s never seen again, not even when the cast graduates. It could be said this is due to her wanting nothing to do with the events and struggling to keep her head down until graduation.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: In Season 2. She publicly humiliates Veronica (who has always been so nice to her and continues to do so) and is bitterly jealous that she didn't get the role of Carrie to the point that Jughead suspects she must be writing threatening letters to the high school production.
Later Students
Evelyn Evernever
Evelyn Evernever
Played by: Zoe De Grand Maison
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She initially appears nice and emphatic but is actually manipulative, and takes advantage of emotional vulnerability of others to recruit them for the Farm.
- Evil Redhead: In both the original timeline and season 7.
- Green-Eyed Monster: In 1955, she's this to Cheryl, with regards to her position as captain of the River Vixens.
- Hypocrite: She claims that she doesn’t allow strange substances such as prescription medications to enter her body, despite the fact that she takes anti-rejection meds.
- Manipulative Bitch: She targets fragile and vulnerable people and acts like their friend, all towards the purpose of recruiting them for the Farm.
- Number Two: To Edgar. She's the representative of the Farm before he appears.
- Older Than They Look: She is Edgar's wife, not his daughter; she is actually a 26 year old adult who has been posing as a 17 year old student at Riverdale High to recruit teenagers for the Farm.
- The Rival: Again to Cheryl, in 1955.
Britta Beach
Britta Beach
Played by: Kyra Leroux
- Alliterative Name: Britta Beach. Both her names start with the letter B.
- Canon Foreigner
- The Smurfette Principle: She is the only female member of the Riverdale Bulldogs.
Clay Walker
Clay Walker
Played by: Karl Walcott
An activist and arts aficionado who likes Kevin.
- Dance of Romance: At the Dark Room, where they can safely show affection, Clay and Kevin slow dance and hold each other.
- Military Brat: He states in his first appearance that his father is in the military, so his family moves around a lot, which has resulted in him never staying in one place long enough to call it home.
- The Movie Buff: Clay loves film and wants to study filmmaking at university, with dreams of becoming a director.
- New Transfer Student: Clay mentions to Kevin that he's fairly new to Riverdale High and is looking to make friends. He explains this when Kevin is surprised that Clay lists facts about him.
- Nice Guy: Clay is a genuinely nice guy who seems to get along well with everyone.
- Official Couple: Clay and Kevin become a couple after Kevin's beard situation with Betty finally ends as Kevin comes to terms with his feelings.
- Ship Tease: With Kevin, in Season 7.
Julian Blossom
Julian Blossom
Played by: Nicholas Barasch
Cheryl's twin brother in season 7.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Has this with Cheryl after he nearly dies.
- The Bully: Usually, when he's not simply a Jerkass, though he does start to mellow out after his Near-Death Experience.
- Hidden Depths: Is shown to be a very good singer.
- Jerk Jock: Was captain of the basketball team before his accident, and as the other tropes show, is a jerk.
- Near-Death Experience: He nearly dies after driving his car into Sweetwater River. After he recovers, he's noticeably less of a jerk than he was before. Apparently he learned from it.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: More like Politically Incorrect Jerkass, though this is in the fifties. He refers to Kevin as a "cream puff", and Reggie as "banana boy".
- Rape as Backstory: He states his father took him to see a prostitute when he was sixteen.
- Ship Tease: He has a few of these moments with Veronica in the early episodes of season 7, though she clearly prefers Archie over him. May overlap with Hopeless Suitor.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Somewhat, following his Near-Death Experience.
Staff
Mr. Weatherbee
Mr. Waldo Weatherbee
Played by: Peter James Bryant
The principal at Riverdale High.
- Adaptational Curves: Inverted. He doesn't have the huge gut of the character he's based upon.
- Badass Teacher: Not demonstrated often, but when the town breaks out in a riot he takes up a baseball bat and leads several of the faculty members to protect Riverdale High, with him personally preventing a brawl between Archie, Kevin and Moose and the teen Serpents, then forcibly driving all of them out of his school.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Weatherbee spends the majority of the show coming across as a well-meaning but strict and ineffectual principal who is out of touch with the real struggles and dangers the main cast go through. When a riot breaks out in “Judgement Night”, he takes to personally guarding the school, leading several other teachers armed with baseball bats.
- Pointy-Haired Boss: Played With. Weatherbee tries to be a Reasonable Authority Figure and he’s overall not a bad principal himself, but his general grouchiness and cold attitude doesn’t always inspire trust from the students. Likewise, he has a habit of jumping to conclusions and lashing out at those he perceives as troublemakers even if they’re not guilty. In general, his actions don’t do much to address the actual problems at Riverdale High, although he certainly tries.
- Race Lift: He's usually portrayed as white, but is now black here.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Zig-zagged. He does everything he can to keep things stable at the school. He also encourages Archie to speak up if he knows anything about Jason's murder, but doesn't force him to come clean. However, he can also be quite grouchy and irascible. Demonstrated when he acts very condescending toward Betty and lashes out at her for asking for help with homecoming decorations, and he very harshly interrogates, blames, and tries to suspend Jughead for the murder of Jason after his father gets arrested.
- Stern Teacher: Weatherbee is strict, somewhat short-tempered, and can be a real hardass at times, he likewise never makes threats that he won’t go through with (with him suspending several students for ignoring his warnings or breaking the rules) and at times even implements unfair rules (such as banning all the Serpents from wearing their jackets inside the school in response to some minor graffiti they didn’t even do). However, he does value his students’ wellbeing, encouraging them in regard to Jason’s death and is willing to be reasonable with them, such as accepting there were mitigating circumstances and agreeing not to expel all the Serpents for some of them vandalizing the school during the riot, after Archie manages to get almost all of the students to stand with them.
Miss Grundy
Miss Geraldine Grundy (Jennifer Gibson)
Played by: Sarah Habel
The music teacher at Riverdale High. She has a relationship with Archie over the summer.
- Alliterative Name: Geraldine Grundy before it was revealed her current identity is fake.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: In the comics, she's a frumpy senior, but this one is young and gorgeous. Eventually subverted as the real Grundy died years ago, with the real one looking more like her mainstream counterpart.
- Age Lift: Much younger than her comic counterpart. This is due to her being an imposter.
- Asshole Victim: Knowing her manipulative character, to say nothing of preying on underage people, it's hard to feel much sympathy when she gets killed by the Black Hood.
- Back for the Dead: She returns in the closing scene of the first episode of season 2, only to be killed at its finish.
- Betty and Veronica: There's a case to be made that she is Archie's Veronica, Veronica is his Betty, and Betty herself is a non-contender as the Unlucky Childhood Friend. However, it remains unclear how much of a relationship they can have, considering the legal and moral issues.
- Canon Character All Along: Inverted. We all thought she was an age lifted version of her comic counterpart, but were wrong.
- Ephebophile: Jennifer Gibson, or as she calls herself, "Geraldine Grundy", preys on teenage boys and manipulates them sexually.
- Female Gaze: Enjoys gazing at young, fit underage boys.
- Hot Teacher: Is a young woman enough gorgeous enough to attract the interest of not only Archie, but Archie's dad Fred as well.
- Karmic Death: The Black Hood specifically targets her for sexually preying on young boys. He even strangles her right after she makes out with one of her students.
- Manipulative Bitch: Jughead believes her to be this. He might have a point, considering the pressure she puts on Archie to keep the evidence they have under wraps.
- Mysterious Past: As it turns out she has one. Her name isn't really Geraldine Grundy, and she claims to have escaped an abusive relationship as the excuse for her fake identity but it's implied she's lying.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: The fact that she took advantage of Archie and boys before and after him means the audience won't shed a tear over this nonce's death. Years later, when Archie is himself a teacher at Riverdale High, he finally confronts his trauma by destroying a Cello which had belonged to "Geraldine".
- Teacher/Student Romance: She and Archie have an affair over the summer that she wants to keep under wraps. It's implied she might have had something similar with Jason before his death, and as she's leaving town she's shown admiring some other teenage boys, hinting she's done this before. The series 2 premiere confirms that this is definitely her M.O. as she is seeing kissing Ben, another teenage music student of hers.
- Walking Spoiler: It's nigh impossible to talk about Ms. Grundy without giving away the huge spoiler pertaining to her true identity.
- Whole Costume Reference: The red heart-shaped sunglasses from her first and last scenes allude to the ones featured in the advertising/poster for Stanley Kubrick's 1962 Lolita adaptation.
Mr. Svenson
Mr. Joseph Svenson (Joseph Conway)
Plrayed By: Cameron McDonald
- Adaptational Personality Change: As opposed to his hard working, single minded and well respected comic book counterpart, this version of Svenson is a timid and somewhat creepy man.
- Adaptational Nationality: Unlike his comic book counterpart, who is Swedish, this version of Svenson is American.
- Ambiguous Situation: Whilst it's clear Svenson isn’t the true Black Hood, it’s left unclear whether he truly is a weak-willed man whom the Black Hood forces to impersonate him, or, whilst manipulated, he actually agreed to work with him. His timid nature and loss of his finger suggest the first, whilst his suppressed rage, support of the original lynch mob and unhesitating threat to shoot Archie and Betty suggest the later.
- Broken Bird: His entire family getting murdered understandably scared Svenson, to the point that well into his mid-forties, he’s still traumatised by the experience.
- Character Death: Is shot dead by Sheriff Keller in “Silent Night, Deadly Night” when he’s mistaken for the Black Hood.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Conway’s entire family was murdered by the Riverdale Reaper when he was six years old. He was the only survivor of the massacre. He was manipulated into naming the wrong man to the lynch mob, leading to an innocent man being buried alive.
- Death by Adaptation: Is shot dead by Sheriff Keller, who mistakes him for being the Black Hood.
- Extreme Doormat: Due to being traumatised at a young age, Svenson is an incredibly timid man. He practically trembles in response to Cheryl’s verbal abuse and is terrified when Archie and Ronnie interrogate him, to the point that his only response to Archie physically restraining him is fear. It’s due to this that Hal was able to manipulate him into naming the wrong man when he was a child, and pose as the Black Hood as an adult.
- Fingore: Has his finger cut off by the Black Hood and sent to Betty after being kidnapped by him.
- Frame-Up: The real Black Hood forces Svenson to dress up as him, to attempt to assassinate Archie and frames him for the entire killing spree, causing Svenson to be shot by the police.
- Meaningful Rename: His real name is Joseph Conway. His adopted family gave him the name Svenson to distance him from the tragedy of the Riverdale Reaper killing the entire Conway family.
- Suppressed Rage: While he is being interrogated by Ronnie and Archie, it’s revealed that beneath his timid exterior, Svenson secretly carries a lot of rage due to the trauma of his family dying, even claiming the man who the lynch mob killed “got what he deserved” and that “the town demanded blood for blood”. He’s just too meek to ever express it. It’s implied this is part of how Hal manipulated him to pose as the Black Hood.
Mr. Honey
Mr. Honey
"I don't know what kind of a ship Waldo Weatherbee was running around here. Things are going to be different this year. We’ll have order. Discipline. Consequences."
Played By: Kerr Smith
Mr. Honey becomes the replacement for Mr. Weatherbee, taking his role as principal of Riverdale High School in the gang's senior year.
- Alliterative Name: His full name is Holden Honey.
- Ambiguous Situation: While the final of Season 4 cleans up Honey's reputation of being just a heartless headmaster who has nothing better to do than ruin his students' lives, there are still several things which raise big question marks, such as why he visits the video store and what was discussed with the owner about the confiscated videos or the fact that for some reason, he declines Betty's yearbook (just because she missed the deadline by two days), despite him being the advocate of its creation, and the printers agreeing to finish it by the graduation. There also the fact that at every other school he served as headmaster, he always managed to cancel the school ball for reasons known only to him.
- Ambiguously Evil: Mister Honey's very antagonistic behavior and general mystery about his life make him to appear as a suspect many times. He also seems to have a grudge against the core five. But it turns out that, despite all his extreme measures, Mister Honey was Good All Along.
- Cruel to Be Kind: Possibly the only reason he ran the school the way he did.
- Dean Bitterman: He's Principal Weatherbee's replacement and holds little to no love for the students under his care.
- Subverted because the season finale reveals that he does care about the students and only acted in their best interest.
- Establishing Character Moment: The first time we see him, he is scolding Archie and gang harshly for being tardy and then carries on to inform them that he intends to drive a significant harder course then Mr. Weatherbee.
- Evil Counterpart: To Principal Weatherbee at first, but as the season goes one, it's slowly subverted. While both come across as a strict, but otherwise Reasonable Authority Figure at first glance, Mr. Honey proved in the long run that he actually cared about his students. While indeed he was stern and obsessed with making the students follow the rules and could come across as downright nasty towards those who don't obey his every command, many times he was provoked by the students before making a move.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: He wears a pair of quadrangular glasses and is a man who will stop at nothing to make the students of Riverdale High obey him, stooping to such low levels as pressuring Kevin into putting all the blame for Mr. Honey's vandalized office on Reggie and afterwards mocking Reggie for playing the Sad Clown in order to hide his terrible home life from his friends.
- Subverted in the end. Thanks to him, Jughead can go to the University of Iowa, six poor students received full scholarship so they can go to college, nobody has died under his "dictatorship" and the GPA is higher than it’s been in decades.
- Ice King: He is very cold to everyone.
- Ironic Name: His last name is Honey, but there is absolutely nothing even remotely sweet about him.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While he does run Riverdale High like a dictator and is overall a very unlikable person, he also has genuine concern about the safety and the future of his students.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Albeit disciplinarian and stubborn in his beliefs, he's right when he explains to the Vixens that Hedwig is a highly sexualized musical.
- And later, after getting fired for fake tape, when he's confronted by Cheryl, Veronica, Jughead, Betty and Archie, he makes another valid point by saying that "the murder, mayhem, and depravity of Riverdale is not normal".
- Made Out to Be a Jerkass: The gang believe that Honey was acting out against them as a personal grudge for some reason. It turns out Honey was just a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who was trying to prepare them for life outside of high school and truly cared for the welfare of his students.
- Not So Above It All: For all of his no-nonsense disposition, Mister Honey proved to be very much a Troll himself; he vandalizes Reggie's car with toilet paper, and fakes receiving a creepy video tape that he actually filmed, just to stop the ball from happening.
- Perpetual Frowner: Befitting for his Dean Bitterman character, Mr. Honey seems to have the corners of his mouth pointed downward 24/7.
- Tranquil Fury: Even when obviously enraged, Mr. Honey never resorts to raising his voice or expressing other overt signs of anger. The most Cheryl's remark about him having no power over her gets out of him is a somewhat deeper scowl.
Principal Featherhead
Principal Featherhead
Played by: Anthony Michael Hall, William Mac Donald
Felix Featherhead was the principal of Riverdale High in the 1990s, when the parents were students. He is once again the principal in 1955, played by a different actor.- Affably Evil: In 1955. He works with the notably less pleasant Dr. Werthers and Clifford Blossom. However, he's not smug or condescending, and his refusals to students are either done on the orders of others, or for traditional reasons, and he's always polite when putting students down.
- Alliterative Name: Felix Featherhead.
- Bald of Evil: In 1955. He's a balding man, and is an antagonist, though mostly subservient to Clifford Blossom and Dr. Werthers.
- Heteronormative Crusader: Disapproves of Cheryl and Toni dancing together, even commenting on it to Cheryl after the dance is over.
- Puppet King: Puppet principal, actually, but many of his harsher actions are clearly done due to the suggestions of Clifford Blossom or Dr. Werthers. The only time he goes against one of them is when someone threatens to sue the school, and even then, once making his decision, he looks to Dr. Werthers, silently begging for approval.
- The Scapegoat: He's forced to resign after allegations that he supported the Blossoms come to light. His final scene briefly implies that the allegations came from Dr. Werthers, to cover up his own involvement.
Dr. Werthers
Dr. Werthers
Played by: Malcolm Stewart
Dr. Friedrich Werthers is the school psychologist for Riverdale High in 1955.- Arch-Enemy: Arguably to Jughead.
- Bald of Evil: He's a balding man, and is at the very least, a massive Jerkass to the students, especially Jughead. Early in the season he does a few things for Clifford Blossom directly, though it's unclear if he knows what Clifford is really up to.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Wears glasses, and is a strict man who believes he's always right. He defends his harsh methods, ignoring all arguments, even reasonable ones, to the contrary.
- Irrational Hatred: Of comic books, and by extension, those who create them, which include Jughead.
- Karma Houdini: He's never punished for his attitude against the students and comic books. While it's implied his crusade against comics failed, he's not shown, mentioned, or implied to be punished directly.
- The Man Behind the Man: He actually is front and center much of the time, often seen alongside Principal Featherhead when deciding what to do about problems, but the more scenes he has with Principal Featherhead, the clearer it becomes that he's really the one running the school.
- Shout-Out: He's clearly based on Dr. Fredric Wertham, who is most well known for believing comic books were a bad influence on children, and went against them as a result. The title of an article he writes in the newspaper, called Comic Books: Slaughter of the Innocent, comes from Wertham's most famous work Seduction of the Innocent.
- They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: When Rayberry calls him "Mr" Werthers, instead of "Dr" Werthers, his face shows his disapproval.
