Who Is Peaches ‘N Cream on ‘Riverdale’? We’ve Got Some Theories

Among the many eye-opening details revealed about the upcoming “Heathers: The Musical” inspired episode of The CW’s Riverdale was one head-scratching casting note. Right under Reggie Mantle’s (Charles Melton) name was a line listing “Peaches ‘N Cream” playing “Kurt’s Dad/Veronica’s Dad/Principal Gowan.” So who is Peaches ‘n Cream on Riverdale?

Let’s get what we know out of the way, first. Peaches ‘n Cream is a new character who will reportedly show up in “Chapter Forty-Seven: Bizarrodale,” an episode that switches the focus from the “Core Four” of Jughead (Cole Sprouse), Betty (Lili Reinhart), Archie (KJ Apa) and Veronica (Camila Mendes) onto Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch), Toni (Vanessa Morgan), Kevin (Casey Cott), Josie (Ashleigh Murray) and Reggie. Going off IMDB, it looks like Peaches ‘n Cream will stick around the Town With Pep for at least three episodes after that, including “Chapter Forty-Nine: Fire Walk With Me,” “Chapter Fifty: American Dreams,” and the aforementioned musical episode, “Chapter Fifty-One: Big Fun.”

“Bizarrodale” will air on February 6, and tees up the wedding of Sierra McCoy (Robin Givens) and Tom Keller (Martin Cummins). It’ll also feature the return of the parent group “The Midnight Club,” Veronica and Reggie cleaning up a mess, Cheryl getting unexpected news about college, and Kevin giving Moose (Cody Kearsley) an ultimatum. No info about a new character in there necessarily, though as usual with Riverdale a lot happens between the lines.

When Peaches ‘n Cream does show up, the character will be played by actress Bernadette Beck. Beck actually dropped the info (at least that she was joining Riverdale) on her Instagram account on November 19, 2018, though it largely flew under the radar until now:

View this post on Instagram

🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 I am beyond grateful to have the opportunity to join the cast on Riverdale. @thecwriverdale #riverdaleseason3 #riverdale #riverdaleedits @riverdale.series @riverdalelove @cwriverdalenews @riverdalehype

A post shared by Bernadette Beck (@bernadettebeck) on Nov 19, 2018 at 1:21pm PST

Beck is also on Twitter, if you’re curious, where she’s been happily hyping her involvement in the musical episode. The Vancouver based performer was born in Islington in England on May 23, 1994 and has been working steadily in Canada since 2010. On The CW side of things, she’s appeared on The Tomorrow People and will show up soon on The Flash (according to her Instagram). But Peaches ‘n Cream is arguably her biggest role to date.

There are a few peculiarities about the character that probably will become clearer once we actually see the actress appear on screen. The first is the name, which isn’t… You know… A name. For a show that’s introduced everyone from Sweet Pea to Benjamin Button (really), that’s not necessarily a step too far. But even in the span of Riverdale nomenclature, it’s weird.

Also as noted above, Peaches ‘n Cream is playing three male characters in “Heathers: The Musical.” On stage, the role of Kurt’s Dad/Veronica’s Dad/Principal Gowan was previously played by a man, so this seems to be gender-bent casting.

And lastly, there’s no character named Peaches ‘n Cream in the Archie Comics canon. On the surface, this isn’t necessarily an issue: characters that don’t exist on the page have shown up on screen before. But most major recurring characters pull something from the comics the show is based on, even if they’re in vastly different forms (see Zoé De Grand Maison as Evelyn Evernever).

So in lieu of any more information (we’ve reached out to Warner Bros. for clarification), I’m going to throw out two theories at you that aren’t mutually exclusive.

The first theory? Given the joint name, and the fact that Bernadette Beck (a woman) is portraying male characters in the “Heathers” musical, it’s possible Peaches ‘n Cream is a gender-neutral character. That might pair nicely with Lachlan Watson’s portrayal of Susie Putnam on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, which is non-binary (like Watson).

The second theory is a little more complicated, so bear with me. Back in Season 2’s “Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Hills Have Eyes,” Cheryl opened up to Toni about her first love, a girl named Heather. When they were (younger) teenagers, Cheryl’s mother discovered them in bed together, and essentially banished Heather from Cheryl’s life — though we’ve never discovered what actually happened. Cut to a few years later, and Cheryl is spearheading a musical version of “Heathers,” which doesn’t seem like a coincidence.

Peaches ‘n Cream, meanwhile, shows up in “Bizarrodale” during an episode where we’ve been promised a big Cheryl/Toni “first,” though one we might not expect.

Also of note? The cast list for the “Heathers” musical is a recipe for confusion: Cheryl, Veronica and Betty are all playing characters named Heather; Josie is playing a character named Veronica; Sweet Pea is playing a character named Jason, which was Cheryl’s brother’s name; and Toni is playing a character named Betty. I’m getting a headache just thinking about this, but let’s make it even more confusing.

Remember when I said there’s no character called Peaches ‘n Cream in the Archie Comics? Well, there is a song called “Peaches & Cream,” and it’s sung by Beck. Hey, what’s the name of the actress playing Peaches ‘n Cream again? Bernadette Beck.

So what if — and I realize this is basically me turning into the gif of Charlie Day screaming “Carol!” from It’s Always Sunny — the character’s name isn’t Peaches ‘n Cream at all? What if it’s a fake name put on the cast list to throw fans off the scent, once they cast Bernadette Beck? What if Beck is actually playing… Heather.

That doesn’t preclude the character now going by “Peaches ‘n Cream,” or being gender-neutral, mind you (or just being a regular old character named Peaches ‘n Cream for some reason). But it also might fit the big first for Cheryl & Toni: meeting an old ex-girlfriend for the first time is never easy on a new relationship. And if Peaches ‘n Cream is Heather, having the character playing a character not named Heather in the musical “Heathers” would only amp up the level of terrifying confusion already inherent in the cast list.

Regardless, a lot of this info if guesses and supposition. We’ll know more once Beck makes her debut on the show. Hey, maybe she’s just a big fan of ice cream flavors, who knows?

Where to stream Riverdale