‘Riverdale’ Season 5 Trailer: The 15 Biggest Moments

Under the opening narration via the recently imprisoned Stonewall Prep student Bret Weston Wallis (Sean Depner), we see Jughead lighting a match. In case you can’t read upside-down script writing, Mr. Jones is reading Dune by Frank Herbert. Perhaps to bone up before the upcoming Timothée Chalamet movie? The bigger question is why he’s sitting in the dark at all – and what secrets does the book hold? The spice, after all, is life.

Next up, as Wallis continues, we see shaky camera footage of Betty and Jughead sleeping. In case you forgot, one of the big mysteries in Season 4 was the identity of The Voyeur (or identities), the mysterious group that was first taking video of people’s doors, then recreating murders, and now they seem to be wandering in to watch people sleep. Yikes!

“Something’s coming, and it’s going to hit you like a mack truck,” finishes Wallis, as Betty and Jughead interrogate him in jail. The most interesting thing about this line is that, while most of the footage in the trailer looks like it comes from the Season 5 premiere, which was previously the twentieth episode of Season 4, we already know that the post-time jump, Season 5 mystery will involve a trucker prowling The Lonely Highway, and we’ve seen art of a blonde woman running away from his 18-wheeler. So is Wallis teasing the Voyeur mystery? Or is “hit you like a mack truck” setting up the next one?

…and then after a montage reminding viewers about the Voyeur mystery, we get a scene of Betty and Jughead. What’s most interesting about this, I’d argue, is not the requisite sexy times that helped put Riverdale on the map, but the expressions on the duo’s faces. We know that Jughead will find out about Betty kissing Archie back in Season 4 — and given their conflicted, sad expressions is this scene leading off that revelation? And if so, is this make-up sex… Or break-up sex?

“This will be the last dance with our friends,” says Archie to Veronica post-boxing match. “Can’t miss it.” Though everything seems copasetic in the prom scenes — Veronica and Archie dancing, the assembled teens (and guest star Zane Holtz as KO Kelly, from spinoff Katy Keene) all toasting — it’s clear this is before the Barchie Bomb gets dropped. Something that happens almost immediately in the trailer, but first…

It’s an extremely blink-and-you-miss-it moment, but it sure looks like Archie is once again donning his vigilante costume — and once again, coming to blows with Hiram Lodge (Mark Consuelos). An extra clue that this murky scene is Archie vs. Hiram, round 1000? What looks like bottles of the Lodge family’s rum.

…and here it is, the moment Varchie (Veronica and Archie) ‘shippers have been dreading for nearly a full year: Veronica has clearly figured out that, as she says, “something happened between Betty and Archie,” though she doesn’t seem to know they kissed while practicing for the school musical. Fans have been speculating that, after Archie sings a full version of “Carry The Torch,” the song he wrote for Betty, at prom, Veronica will figure things out. However it goes down, looks like Varchie may be going down, too.

…and now here’s something we haven’t seen before. While investigating what looks like a flophouse rave, Jughead and Betty discover someone in a bizarre owl mask filming them. The Voyeur(s) showed up last season wearing similar, seemingly homemade masks; but so far, they’ve been classic comic book versions of the characters in the show. So who (who) is behind the mask? And why an owl?

Then we’re on to a quick montage: Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch), I’d bet getting ready for prom using her signature color lipstick; the prom dance floor; another dance, this time at that flophouse rave (or whatever it is); and then, most disturbing of all, grainy footage of Cheryl’s blood-covered dress at Thistle House. Is the HBIC of Riverdale High in trouble?

…and then we’re back to the plot, as Betty and Jughead, along with their half-brother Charles Smith (Wyatt Nash) observe a man hanging from a noose in what looks like might be the abandoned cabin inhabited by The Voyeur last season. The reverse angle of the shot, seen through a fisheye lens, shows that this is seemingly the same man wearing the owl mask. Is this the sad end of the Voyeur mystery? Or another swerve? Either way, as Betty says right after, “I’m never going to get that image out of my head.”

After two scenes of fighting — Jughead at what looks like the flophouse, and presumably a crowd watching KO Kelly and Archie’s exhibition match — we get a glimpse of what might go terribly wrong at prom… Because you can’t have a Riverdale dance without things going horribly wrong. Here, the Voyeur Gang is glimpsed dressed in those creepy masks and holding knives. Are they the ones who reveal Betty and Archie’s lip-lock?

The boys — KO, Reggie Mantle (Charles Melton), Fangs Fogarty (Drew Ray Tanner) and Kevin Keller (Casey Cott) — look on as something weird happens. I’m mostly posting this because it’s a fun pic of the boys all dressed up. Hey, here’s some bonus pics of Varchie and Choni (Cheryl and Toni Topaz, played by Vanessa Morgan) taking prom pics… And for fans worried we don’t see a lot of the latter couple in the 60 second promo, there have been teases of interesting storylines for the two in the new season, including the long-awaited intro of Toni’s family.

After two scenes that seem to be a post-prom Archie watching a Voyeur video recreating the serial killer Black Hood’s attack on him in Pop’s from a few seasons back, we see Archie, sweaty, at a grave saying, “It doesn’t make any sense.” Though the context implies he’s talking about the video, I’d venture it’s more likely he is once again visiting the grave of his departed father Fred Andrews (Luke Perry) to try and figure out his feelings for Veronica and Betty.

Next up on the Voyeur knows when you’ve been sleeping list is Jellybean Jones (Trinity Likins). Though she’s been high on the suspect list for being part of the Voyeur mystery, her being delicately caressed with a large knife in her own bed seems to point the suspicion away from her. It also may indicate why FP Jones (Skeet Ulrich) wants to take his daughter and get the hell out of town in the season’s third episode (which used to be the Season 4 finale).

Right before closing out the trailer with Veronica asking, “is everyone having a good time tonight?” In La Bonne Nuit, we see Betty in the Cooper/Jones/Smith house brandishing a firearm. Where did she get the gun, and who is stalking Betty this time? I guess we’ll find out on January 20, 2021…

Where to watch Riverdale