‘Riverdale’: Is Archie Really Dead?

Spoilers for Riverdale “Chapter Forty-Four: No Exit” past this point. Really.

He’s been incarcerated, stabbed, and branded. He’s been on the run, attacked by goons, thrown into a fight club, forced to break up with his girlfriend, left his family and friends… But it turns out, Archie Andrews’ (KJ Apa) kryptonite isn’t beautiful women, or protecting his friends: it’s bears. And we’re left at the end of this week’s episode with arguably the biggest cliffhanger the show has ever done: is Archie dead on Riverdale? Is KJ Apa leaving Riverdale? Does Archie die in Season 3? Is this real life???

No, of course not, don’t be silly. Not even a deadly bear attack can stop Archie from returning to Riverdale and saving the day. But that doesn’t mean the show isn’t gonna draw things out a bit and make you think he’s dead.

For those who missed the episode, Archie has found a peaceful life up north patrolling trails in a park with his dog Vegas, ignoring warnings of bears in the area. Naturally, he finds cartoonishly large bear tracks in the woods, and gets attacked by a camera. I mean, offscreen bear. Stumbling back to his cabin, he calls for help, but it’s bad: his beautiful torso has been ripped to shreds, and feverishly he collapses onto his bed. From there, he enters a dream state where he tackles three tasks inspired by the evil role playing game Gryphons & Gargoyles: kill the Black Hood (the villain he failed to stop from shooting his Dad in Season 1); kill The Gargoyle King The Man in Black, a.k.a. Hiram Lodge (Mark Consuelos), the man who has forced him to go on the run and who he backed off of killing in Season 2; and then in an Empire Strikes Back inspired moment, kill himself, lying asleep in his bed at home.

When we cut back to the real world, two park rangers bust into his cabin only to find him lying on the bed, not breathing. One takes his pulse, and they look at each other sadly. So, by every indication in the episode, Archie is dead on Riverdale, right?

I’ll point you back to the second paragraph: no, silly. But that doesn’t mean the show isn’t going for its own Glenn (Steven Yeun) on Walking Dead moment, or Jon Snow (Kit Harington) on Game of Thrones, if you prefer. Both of those characters “died,” only to come back fine a few months later for a variety of reasons. Heck, Riverdale did the same thing in Season 2, “killing” Jughead (Cole Sprouse) after a vicious gang beating, and opening the next episode with his “funeral.” Turned out it was a dream sequence, and about thirty seconds later he was revealed to be fine. But the intervening week was torture for some fans. It’s a way of hyping up the audience, but particularly in longer cases like Glenn’s “death,” backfires since viewers are so savvy about casting sheets and shooting schedules.

Riverdale is gonna try it, though. The blurb for next week’s episode, “Chapter Forty-Five: The Stranger,” leaves Apa off the cast list as the rest of Riverdale preps for the SATs. After that is “Chapter Forty-Six: The Red Dahlia,” a noir inspired episode that as of yet doesn’t have a promotional blurb though seems to focus on Veronica (Camila Mendes) and Jughead working on a case together. Then we head to “Chapter Forty-Seven: Bizarrodale,” which focuses on Josie (Ashleigh Murray), Kevin (Casey Cott), Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch), Reggie (Charles Melton), and Toni (Vanessa Morgan). Follow that seemingly Archie-free episode with “Chapter Forty-Eight: Requiem for a Welterweight,” which definitely seems to point to former underground boxer Archie getting eulogized, and you potentially have a whole slate of episodes where we, the audience, are supposed to think Archie died on Riverdale.

A reminder: he’s definitely not dead, they’re just playing with us. Take, for example, this tweet from showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa:

“In #Riverdale 313, Archie steps back into the ring, Alice goes deeper with the Farm, Jughead visits the Heart of Darkness, and Veronica juggles dueling villains…” he says.

It would be awfully difficult for Archie to step anywhere if he’s dead in Canada, so as usual with Riverdale you plausibly could expect something a normal show would draw out for months to resolve itself before the next episode even starts.

Another good clue Archie isn’t actually dead? “Eventually, when he returns to Riverdale, he’s dealing with high school issues that kind of compared to what he was dealing with previously, aren’t really that important or serious when put in context,” Apa told Huffington Post.

Could he be lying? Sure, wouldn’t be the first time an actor fed fake plot points to reporters. Maybe KJ Apa is, in fact, leaving Riverdale. But add in persistent rumors that Archie will start dating Josie this season (hard to date someone when they’re dead, FYI), shots of Apa hanging out on set, shots of Archie in footage from a promo trailer that haven’t aired yet, and his name on the cast list for the upcoming “Heathers” musical episode, and either this is an elaborate fake-out and Archie is dead, or Riverdale is pulling Glenn 2.0. I’d happily put a lot of money on the latter.

Where to stream Riverdale