‘Riverdale’: 25 Teases For The Seven Year Time Jump

First up, here’s the official time jump poster for Riverdale Season 5. This is mostly helpful for a good look at the whole cast in your regular Hollywood Head Pile. It’s also our first good look at Betty sans her iconic pony tail, Jughead without his beanie (he tossed it into a time capsule in this past week’s episode) and with a “I’m a cool writer” dirtstache, Toni Topaz’s (Vanessa Morgan) new look, and our first real look at Erinn Westbrook with the rest of the cast. She’ll be joining in the brand new role of Tabitha Tate, Pop Tate’s granddaughter.

It’s also sort of fascinating from a logistical perspective, without getting too in the weeds, that Riverdale was essentially promoting a season finale, and then one week later has to gear up for a season premiere. What a time to be alive!

We’ll see a bit more of this in the trailer footage, but here you can see Archie returning home in “Purgatorio” — possibly to biker bar The White Wyrm — after joining the army. More army inclined folks than I can probably tell what rank he has, but as Veronica mentioned there’s a war on (with whom? who knows?), it’s distinctly possible Archie is returning with a few more scars than he left with. But hey, once you survive a bear attack, war is easy-peasy.

Toni Topaz is getting a big upgrade after the time jump. She’ll officially be Serpent Queen of the South Side Serpents, in case the dancer with the snake in the background didn’t tip you off — or that her fellow gang member Fangs Fogarty (Drew Ray Tanner) is accompanying on guitar. In “Purgatorio,” she’ll be one of the few, remaining Riverdale-ians that Archie encounters, and embarks on a quest to retake the town from — who else — Hiram Lodge (Mark Consuelos).

Toni is also, though you can’t tell here, pregnant, as Morgan was in real life at the time (she’s since reportedly given birth to a baby boy).

What else would Betty Cooper be seven years later than an FBI agent investigating serial killers? She’s grappled with her own serial killer genes, her father and half-brother turned out to be serial killers… So of course she would join the agency. That’s where we’ll find her in “Purgatorio,” murder wall and all (also, we see you Wall Beat… Never change, Riverdale). Think Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs, and you’ll get the idea.

How about Jughead? In “Purgatorio,” he’ll have finally gotten what he’s always wanted: to be a successful author. However, if the bottles in the background didn’t tip you off, sure seems like nothing else in his life is going right. Perhaps a trip back to Riverdale could help inspire a new novel?

Take this with a grain of salt, but there have been persistent rumors from fans that Jughead will have a new girlfriend post-time jump. If that is true, it certainly looks here like he could be having a serious and disappointing conversation with her. Perhaps his hard drinking, no-writing ways are causing her to leave? And perhaps, defeated, Jughead returns to the town — and friends — who spurned him?

When last we left Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch), she had all but broken up with Toni, and vowed to restore the Blossom name in Riverdale after her mom, uh, murdered their entire family. Anyway, we don’t know a lot about Cheryl’s status seven years later, but it definitely looks like she’s painting flowers in Thistlehouse, dressed all in black. An Instagram tease from Petsch used the word “recluse” to describe Cheryl, and that certainly fits with what we see here in “Purgatorio.”

Surprise! After announcing that Marisol Nichols was leaving the series, then that she’d be returning to finish up the three episodes left from Season 4 and do a few guest appearances, we’ve got our first look at Hermione Lodge, seven years later. She’ll pop up in “Purgatorio,” seemingly dining with Veronica. Is she still on Real Housewives of New York, as mentioned a few episodes back? Is she still living with Andy Cohen? How’s she doin’? I guess we’ll find out.

In a series of pics from “Purgatorio,” we can see Archie shaking Pop’s hand with Toni looking on in the background, Betty smiling at someone, and then Toni and Veronica looking on, annoyed or disturbed. Is Archie talking about his plan to get the gang back together here? Is it something else? There’s definitely at least one, formerly beanie-hat wearing person not spotted in this tableau…

We’ll get back to “Purgatorio” in a second — the footage from the two trailers seems on surface to be several episodes jumbled together — but first, an official photo of Westbrook as Tabitha Tate, in full Pop’s uniform from “The Homecoming.” We don’t know a lot about Tabitha yet, though she does have an eye to franchising Pop’s. Welcome to Riverdale, Tabitha. Hope you survive the experience.

As we can see from this still from “The Homecoming,” it looks like at least some of the old band is back together. Here, Betty and Veronica are front and center, joined by Alice (Mädchen Amick), Kevin Keller (Casey Cott) and Tom Keller (Martin Cummins). Are they perhaps greeting a returning Jughead with his fave milkshakes?

Speaking of Veronica, you might notice the ring on her finger? At some point in the past seven years, she married a guy named Chad Gekko, played by Chris Mason. He’s described as, “An Alpha dog… threatened by Veronica’s life in Riverdale, especially her friendship with Archie.” Yikes.

As for Kevin, we actually know exactly what he’s up to: working at Riverdale High directing theater. We learned that thanks to a guest appearance on Katy Keene last year! And his Dad is most likely the sheriff, again, thanks to some last minute finagling from FP Jones (Skeet Ulrich) in “Graduation.”

In another pic, we can see Toni, Veronica and Archie. But on this side of the table? Betty, and a supremely bummed out Jughead. After getting ditched by his friends for seven years, wouldn’t you be, too? Regardless, fans holding out hope that Bughead will reignite some of the old sparks after they grew cold in “Graduation”? Well, that speculation starts here.

Okay, here we go. First up from the just released “The Future Is Now” teaser trailer, we can see what’s most likely Archie returning home from the army. Pop’s is bathed in red, there are bikers out front… In the intervening years, Riverdale has become a ghost town thanks to Hiram Lodge’s schemes left unchecked. Seeing what’s become of the place he loves, Archie, of course, vows to save everyone.

There’s a running bit on Netflix’s excellent BoJack Horseman where, whenever they have a flashback episode, someone will say, “Come on, this is the 1980s!” or “But this is the 1960s!” Anyway, over footage of Toni doing her serpent dance, we hear Archie saying “We’re in our twenties!” presumably to Betty. Which is true! It’s seven years later, and the “teens” of Riverdale are finally playing close to, or their actual ages.

Possibly more importantly, you can see Archie out of his army uniform and in a Riverdale High sweatshirt. Though exact details haven’t been confirmed, in “The Homecoming” the war for Riverdale’s soul begins with Riverdale High; and it certainly looks like all the “kids” are returning as teachers, including Coach Archie.

As our new Core Five looks on, Hiram Lodge announces that “Riverdale is hereby dissolved,” whatever that means. Regardless, we can see a few other folks in the background, including Mr. Weatherbee, school secretary Ms. Bell, Fangs, and even fan favorite Sweet Pea (Jordan Connor), looking mad enough to break a pencil.

In what looks like the alley next to Archie’s former boxing gym the El Royale, Toni and Archie spy a large homeless encampment that’s cropped up as, in voiceover, he says, “We can bring this town back to life.” Riverdale has always had its weird pockets, from kids sleeping under the boxing ring, to snuff film raves, and more. But solving the town’s homeless problem? Very curious to see how this pans out.

In a quick, weird shot, we see Jughead — now wearing glasses, like the dirtstache wasn’t enough to scream “artist” — try to hide under the counter at Pop’s. Is he hiding from Betty? More likely, as the “The Homecoming” synopsis teases, he’s on the run from his creditors. Hey, maybe he could get a job at his fave diner to make up the cash?

“You’re playing a very dangerous game,” says Cheryl, now out of the black robes and Thistlehouse proper. But what is going on in this scene. Is she in Toni’s office? Sitting at Toni’s desk? Who is Cheryl talking to? I need answers.

After telling Betty in her bedroom (more on that in a moment) that “We’re taking this town back,” we can see Archie bashing down a door and attacking a thug in a kitchen. To me it certainly looks like he’s breaking into the old Andrews house, which was left abandoned when Archie went to the army, and his mother Mary (Molly Ringwald) moved out, too (probably back to Chicago, though it wasn’t specified).

…and here it is, folks, the scant second of footage that is currently being analyzed by the Riverdale fanbase heavier than the Zapruder Tape: is this what it looks like? It’s carefully cropped, but there is reason to think that the long awaited pairing of Betty and Archie, a.k.a. Barchie, are… Well, you know. Taking a shower together to conserve water. Good on them.

Right in the middle of an emotionally charged trailer about saving the soul of Riverdale, it’s important to remember: this is still Riverdale. Which means yes, of course, there is a random leather clad chainsaw murderer attacking Betty. There have been a lot of hints about the overarching mystery (or mysteries) the gang will be facing this year, but at least one of them involves something called The Lonely Highway, and a weird, seemingly demonic trucker who trolls the road.

This Leatherface looking motherf**ker could be from before Betty gets back to Riverdale — she’s definitely gone through some trauma pre-homecoming. Or, perhaps the gang is going to get into the backwoods, Hills Have Eyes, Texas Chainsaw Massacre part of the ever expanding town of Riverdale.

…and now it’s over to the promo that broke the internet, that aired directly after “Graduation.” In it, Jughead explains what everyone’s status quo is, seven years later. For Archie, turns out he did go to war, and as the subsequent scene shows, he’s being sent home, honorably discharged after an injury.

It’s, uh, hard not to notice that this war seems to be fought on a football field, though. My best guess here is A) it was easier to arrange production to shoot on a set they already had, and that B) this is a dream/nightmare Archie is having about fighting in the army and conflating it with his high school years.

Or hey, maybe the NFL and XFL decided to finally make it personal.

Jughead, as mentioned, is a published writer in the future timeline. However, a lot more speculation has focused on who is holding his book as that looks like Lady Hands™️ to the internet. Is it Betty, checking in on her ex-boyfriend? Is it that potential, mysterious girlfriend? Or has Jughead grown a pair of Lady Hands™️ in the intervening seven years? He’s also, as the subsequent shots show, an incredibly frustrated writer. Perhaps without the inspiration of his friends’ lives in Riverdale, he’s run out of ideas?

…and then we get our first look at Chad (who Veronica calls “Chadwick”), talking to Archie (who, of note, is wearing a “Riverdale ROTC” sweatshirt). They seem pretty happy here, but chances are Chad is not the upstanding, loving husband he seems.

Also of note, and as many have pointed out already, hopefully Veronica had a bit more going on in the past seven years than “getting married,” as Jughead boils her down.

Meanwhile, Betty is seen running through the woods, and talking to a therapist who tells her, “you suffered severe trauma,” over scenes of what could be the same masked dude from earlier, or an entirely different masked dude! Either way, here’s Betty seemingly trapped in a well just like in Clarice’s final showdown with Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs. Suffice to say, CBS’ Clarice better watch its step.

Whatever is going on with Betty — and everyone else — Archie sums it up best: “Seems like we have a lot of catching up to do.” See you in the future!

Where to watch Riverdale