‘Riverdale’: Meet The New Midge, Abby Ross

Though Riverdale has gone back to basics for the final season — beyond, if you consider they’re now firmly entrenched in their iconic looks from the Archie Comics source material — there have still been so many changes. Characters have been switched, romantic situations shaken up… And there’s even a new Midge, played by Abby Ross.

When Riverdale premiered in 2016, the world met Midge Klump, played by actress Emilija Baranac. Midge was subsequently killed off halfway through Season 2 in probably the most shocking death the show had seen to date. And now, with the rebooted timeline of the 1950s, Midge is back. Unfortunately, Baranac was on a family trip and unable to return to the show, but fortunately, Abby Ross (who had previously appeared on Archie-verse show Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) hopped into the role — and wig — on short notice.

For Ross, this quick change was the end of a long flirtation with Riverdale that started with multiple auditions for Betty Cooper, the role eventually played by Lili Reinhart, and continued with near misses on other roles throughout the seven season run of the series.

“We’re in the ’50s and I’m enjoying it so much,” Ross told Decider. “It makes me wish I had joined the show earlier, but at the same time if I was going to get any role, this is almost the best role I could have gotten because this is one of the best seasons of the show to be on. So it kind of feels like it was meant to be, like I wasn’t meant to get any of those other roles.”

In the first few episodes of the season, Midge’s storyline has amped up dramatically. After a mild flirtation with greaser/rocker Fangs Fogarty (Drew Ray Tanner), and an interrupted groping session in a car on lover’s lane, we discovered in the fourth episode that Midge is pregnant. Though Fangs was rebuffed when he asked Midge’s parents for her hand in marriage, Toni Topaz (Vanessa Morgan) hatched the sort of plan you can only make on Riverdale: as Midge will start to show in four months, Fangs has that amount of time to become the world’s biggest rock star and try to ask to marry Midge again.

The next few episodes will get even bigger for the pair as the relationship — and Midge’s baby — develops, leading to both what Ross calls “almost a Romeo and Juliet vibe,” and a storyline that’s arguably bigger than anything Midge had going in Seasons 1 or 2 of the series. In advance of that, though, we talked to Ross about joining the series in the final season, exploring the character in the ’50s setting, and of course, that wig.

Decider: Given you had previously appeared on Chilling Adventures, did you have to audition for Riverdale? Or did they call you up and say, “We want you back?“

Abby Ross: It was interesting, actually. So, it wasn’t like a regular audition where they decided to recast Midge and auditioned a bunch of people. What happened was, my agent called me – and it’s handy because my agent and manager represent the previous actress who played Midge. They called me and they said, Midge needs to be recast, the other actress isn’t available, and because Roberto [Aguirre-Sacasa] has seen you in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, he likes you for the role, we’ve pitched you, and you’re the top choice… But they still want you to audition. But you are the only one auditioning right now? So it kind of sounded like, “You’re the choice, but let’s read it, read the scenes, see if it works.” I was almost like, “Oh, so I kind of already have it? But don’t get too excited.” [Laughs] You never know, they could watch my audition and be like, “Ah, let’s audition fifty other girls.” It was exciting because it had to happen very fast, and when they called me I was already the top choice.

Did they send you actual script pages? Did they send you sides to give you a sense of the character?

I think it was Midge’s original audition sides, is what it looked like. It wasn’t from season seven, it was from two scenes in season two, that I was kind of familiar with because I had watched bits and pieces of the show over the years, having auditioned for it so many times. So it was Midge’s scene in season two where she approaches [Moose] at his locker and he’s like the “Klumps” or “Midge the Klump” and she’s asking him for Jingle-Jangle, and and then the scene where she’s in the hospital with Moose and she’s describing the Black Hood’s eyes. By the way that it was like given to me, it really looked like the original sides rather than new sides for season seven. And I was like, “oh, okay, interesting.” So I had no idea what her storyline in season seven was going to be, or that it was even in the ’50s at that point.

That’s so interesting, because we’re getting a very different Midge, we’re getting a little bit more of the classic comic book Midge. Was that something that you found out when you got to set? How did they frame up, “Hey, you auditioned in this way, but this part is going to be almost totally different.”

I kind of just found out as I started to get the material… I didn’t know it was set in the ’50s until maybe after I got the role, and then I started catching up on the end of season six. And I was like, oh, it looks like they get sent to the ’50s. Then I went to my wardrobe fitting and I was like, “okay, yeah, it really is in the ’50s.”

My role started off, I would say smaller, but it grows… It grows in like the middle of the season which is yet to air. And it ends up being, I think, a bigger role than she ever was in season two, or whenever she was last in the show, which is really interesting. I’m not sure if they always were planning on doing that. Or if they liked me, and they were like,” oh, let’s just keep growing her storyline.” It became something different. I mean, I don’t want to give any spoilers but it just became something entirely different. And I went into my audition trying to be like the previous Midge. The person I was taping with was like, “You know what, they want to see you as Midge they don’t want to see you trying to copy her.” I was like okay, so I’ll bring aspects of her, but I’ll put my own spin on it. And then as the season grows, you can tell that she’s definitely different than she was in season two, which works for the fact that they’re in the ’50s and she’s not the Midge you see in season two, she’s a different version.

This isn’t the first time you’ve kind of picked up on another actor’s… The things that they’re doing, because you played Young Emma in Once Upon a Time as well. So when you’re trying to channel somebody else’s performance, but create your own performance, what are what are the challenges there? How do you approach that?

You don’t want to get into the thing of trying to copy exactly. For Young Emma I was playing the younger version of her, so it was more about… What has she gone through based on how she’s ended up? What was she like as a child? How she’s ended up today, what were her struggles and what are some of the personality traits she’s carried through to adulthood?

In terms of when you were gonna ask me that, I thought of Tori Spelling at first because I had to play her in the unauthorized 90210 movie, which was a little different because I was playing her at the age that she was in 90210. And she’s got very unique mannerisms and way of talking so that one was more of a challenge for me than any other role, where I’ve had to emulate a certain actor, and I only had one weekend to prepare for that movie. So I was watching interviews of her non-stop, hours and hours, and I was like, “Okay, this is this is what I got.” If I had one to two months, I’m sure I could have done it even better.

It’s always a challenge, but you always got to bring your own kind of flair to it. Because that’s what they want to see. So you don’t want to be copying someone exactly. Just bringing elements of them and bringing elements of you.

You mentioned earlier you auditioned for Riverdale a bunch of times. Are you allowed to say what you auditioned for before?

I auditioned for Betty when the show first started way back… The end of 2016, I believe. I auditioned for Betty a few times. They weren’t connected though. It wasn’t like, you got a call back. It was like, “we’re still auditioning for Betty.” Two months later, “we’re still auditioning for Betty.” I was like, okay, because I was blonde. And then I auditioned for Josie, Polly. Evelyn Evernever. Donna Sweett. And then the last one I did before Midge was Cora who had a tiny little role in season five where she has a one night stand with Jughead and then he’s like, “read my manuscript.” So it was almost like every year-ish, I’d have an audition for Riverdale and I always wanted to be on it… This is such a great opportunity… Some of my friends were on. It was a cool show. And every year I’d be like, maybe this is the one and then someone else would get it. Damn it! [Laughs] and then this came along just at a time when my friend was auditioning for Julian Blossom. And I literally manifested this audition. I was like, “Oh, I haven’t had an audition for Riverdale in a while. I kind of want one.” And then I my agent called me a few days later, “I need to recast this role.”

That said, what is it like coming on set as one of the newbies; but for the final season of the series?

You know, it’s exciting because a lot of people are saying this is the best season to be on, because it’s so much like the original comics and it’s so cool. We’re in the ’50s and I’m enjoying it so much. It makes me wish I had joined the show earlier, but at the same time if I was going to get any role, this is almost the best role I could have gotten because this is one of the best seasons of the show to be on. So it kind of feels like it was meant to be, like I wasn’t meant to get any of those other roles.

But it’s interesting because I’m new. I’m like, “Oh, I kind of wish there was another season, I could come back” but everyone else, the people that have been there since season one and two, they’re like, “Okay, this part of my life is has happened and I’m ready for something new.” And I’m like, “I just got here!” [Laughs] Every show ends when the time is right. So it’s exciting. I’m excited for what everyone else is going to do after this, including myself.

I talked to Karl Walcott and Nicholas Barasch and it sounded like the three of you really bonded on set.

Yeah, we started on the exact same day and we shared a trailer. It’s called a triple banger when the trailer has three different parts. So we were all in the same trailer, and we were all new… We bonded over how it’s so crazy to join this huge show and these actors that have been on the show since season one or whatever. It’s a little bit intimidating because some of them are so successful and they’re so famous, they’re doing all these things… But yeah, we definitely bonded over the fact that we were all new and all just so excited and experiencing all these things together.

What was your first scene?

My first scene was in episode two, when Fangs comes in, and walks by, and I’m meant to kind of look at him and then I look back and he looks at me and I’m like, “Oh my god.” So we were all in the classroom. And I was nervous, for sure. Because I was just sitting next to… everyone. All the main cast in the show. I already knew Drew before. So he was introducing me to people and making me feel super welcome. But yeah, it definitely was a little nerve wracking.

Well, it’s good that you knew each other, I was going to ask about developing the relationship between Fangs and Midge… What has it been like figuring that out?

I had no idea going into it, [that] there would be a romantic arc for our characters. I watched the whole show in preparation for this — not before I started, but [over] the first few months of shooting, I watched the entire series. I started with season two with all of Midge’s stuff. And I did see that in the episode that she meets her unfortunate fate in the musical, where she gets killed, right before that, she’s caught in the dressing room with Fangs and so I was like, “okay, so they’re picking up on that storyline.”

It happened so fast. At first my character was shy around his character. We were caught in that car together. And then things started developing and we ended up finding this really great love story. I don’t know how much I’m allowed to say, but almost a Romeo and Juliet vibe… We started getting more scenes together. And it’s just so sweet. It’s just the sweetest little romance between these two characters. I know some of the other characters… Don’t know who to go for, like there’s a love triangle with Archie and Betty and Veronica. And these two characters, things start to really speed up. I mean, episode four she’s pregnant. Things really escalated to a point where I never thought they would, and it ended up being so fun. It’s such a sweet story, I can’t wait for everyone to see more of them.

Do you have a favorite ship name? I think the internet started floating out Fidge but I wasn’t sure if you prefer Fidge or Mangs.

Oh, I haven’t seen Fidge yet. What we came up with onset was Mangs because it was usually the first name of the girl and the rest of the boy’s name. Like for example, Archie and Veronica is Varchie, and then Bughead is Betty and Jughead. And there’s Barchie. I don’t know if anyone’s ever said Tughead but that’s what I think of Tabitha and Jughead. It’s actually, I think, Jabitha. So maybe the rule doesn’t always apply to Mangs or Fidge. [Laughs] I think I like Mangs better. Fidge reminds me of fidgeting, but I mean, I’m down for anything. Whatever people want to call it. That’s fine.

Do you have a favorite ship on the show other than Mangs?

Oh, that’s a tough one. You know, I think because of the comics — I can’t say that I’ve read the comics extensively, but I feel like Archie and Betty are such an iconic duo that whenever they started to get together in the show, it was season five or six, like on and off. I was always like, “ooh, maybe this is what it’s supposed to be.” Archie and Veronica were awesome, for sure. But Betty and Archie just seem so… iconic. But I don’t know how it’s going to be. I mean, I still don’t even know how it’s going to end up in season seven, because we’re filming.

What episode are you filming right now? You have like another month and a half, two months?

Right now we’re filming the fourteenth episode. Well, we’re about to start, the last several episodes are filming out of order. There was 10, 11, 13, 12, 16, 15 and then 14. But the last four — 17, 18, 19, 20… We’re still about the place we would be in if they were in order. I don’t get the script until a couple days before we’re about to shoot so I have no idea what’s happening for the rest of the season.

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa had told me before the season started that eventually you’d be exiting the 1950s. And I know at least as of shooting two weeks ago, you were still in the 1950s, because I talked to KJ and he was surprised to hear that. Have you left the ’50s at all at this point?

We haven’t and I have no idea if or when we will. And it’s also scary because if they do… I’m technically dead. People can come back from the dead in this show, but my character in the present day storyline was was no longer around. So part of me’s like, “stay in the ’50s!” But part of me is like, they should go back, it would be cool if they did, to wrap it all up. I have no idea if they will, because I know it’d be a lot of a lot of work if they if they did, because we have all these amazing 1950s sets that were built.

I think you posted a picture of yourself in the recording booth around the same time everybody else did. Is there going to be some sort of musical episode this season? And in the musical episode, are you going to be singing?

I don’t know if I’m allowed to say if there’s a musical episode, but if there is… I’m in it. [Laughs] I don’t know if there is. I mean, I don’t know if I’m allowed to say, I don’t want to get in trouble… I’m a recurring guest actor. I feel like there’s minimal things I’m allowed to say. So I don’t want to I don’t want to get in trouble for saying too much.

I definitely don’t want to get you in trouble… Here’s another thing I don’t know necessarily you can talk about but when Toni comes up with a plan, that Fangs needs to become a rockstar in four months in order to marry Midge… My perception, knowing this is Riverdale is: well, that’s absolutely going to happen. So what potentially is that journey going to be like for your character?

When [Toni] says that, it does hold a lot of meaning. Because if you look at what she says in episode four, Midge’s family is white and Catholic and it’s the ’50s and the Fangs is a Serpent… They’re that bunch of the outcasts and they hang out at the coffee house and they like motorcycles… And my parents probably were envisioning someone else for me to marry, so he really has to prove himself. He has to be so incredible… That’s why I love how this season is in the ’50s because there are all these elements that add to everything, like being pregnant as a teenager in the ’50s is so much worse than being a teenager and being pregnant in in today. Because it was seen as terrible to be pregnant, out of wedlock, when you’re still in high school parents would hide it. Parents would send their kids away, they would pretend it was the mother’s baby, not the child’s baby. I did a lot of research.

I forgot to ask you earlier about the wig. It’s such a very specific wig, what it was like putting that on for the first time?

Yes, yes, the wig! So actually my agent and manager suggested to me to go buy one for my audition. Because everything was happening so quick. They were like, Let’s take advantage of this and make sure you have the best chance and luckily, it was almost Halloween so I was able to find a wig really easily at a Halloween store. So I got a little taste of putting a wig on, I was like, “Oh, this looks good.” But it was like a brown haired wig when Midge’s wig is black. Plus the Halloween wig, it was really cheap, bad quality. Once I got to set the wig that they gave me, it’s such good quality. It looks like it’s my real hair. Everyone who met me for the first time with the wig on just thought it was my real hair. And I’m naturally blonde, so it was crazy for the black haired wig, it doesn’t look that bad on me? I feel like it suits me and people would ask me, “Is that your real hair?” And I’d be like, “No, it’s a wig.” And they’re like, “wow, it doesn’t look like a wig. It just looks so real.”

Once I have the wig on then I’m her, I totally transform, and if I ever go to set without the wig, for whatever reason, which is rare because I’m always going through hair and makeup — but let’s say if, I don’t know, have to get a COVID test and it’s in the studio and I don’t have my wig on, on the actual sets. I’m like, “this is so weird. I can’t be here.” I am not Midge until I have that wig on. And a lot of the crew have never seen me without the wig. So yeah, it’s really cool to be able to get those costumes on and get the wig on and then I’m not me anymore.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on The CW