History Trivia / Riverdale

** Cheryl is referred as Cheryl "Firestarter" Blossom now that she can vaporizing people with her mind. The fans were inspired by Stephen King's novel, '''Literature/Firestarter''', where the main character can ignite fire by thinking of it, which is something Cheryl does it too.

** Cheryl is referred as Cheryl "Firestarter" Blossom now that she developed pyrokinesis out of nowhere. The fans were inspired by Stephen King's novel, '''Literature/Firestarter''', where the main character can ignite fire by thinking of it, which is something Cheryl does it too.

* WordOfSaintPaul: In a 2022 Paleyfest, KJ Apa confirms that Archie and Betty were each other's [[TheOneThatGotAway long lost loves]] that finally got their chance in Season 6.

* RealLifeRelative: Creator/MarkConsuelos' son Michael played a young Hiram Lodge in the fifth season episode "Citizen Lodge".

** Lili Reinhart and Cole Sprouse--who play Betty and Jughead, the longest-lasting OfficialCouple of the show--dated In real life.

* CharacterSpecificPages:
** [[Characters/RiverdaleArchieAndrews Archie Andrews]]
** [[Characters/RiverdaleCherylBlossom Cheryl Blossom]]

* DawsonCasting: The show is infamous for trying to have 30-year-olds pass as teenagers.

* CastTheRunnerUp: Vanessa Morgan originally auditioned for Josie and made enough of an impression despite not getting the role to be cast as Toni in Season 2.

** Inverted with KJ Apa, who is part Samoan, playing Archie, who presumably isn't.

* FanNickname: Referring to Reggie as "Asian-Dude-Bro Reggie" has become viral thanks to WebVideo/AndreTheBlackNerd referring to him as such in several reviews.

* FakeMixedRace: Toni is revealed to be descended from the Native American tribe who were the inspiration for the Serpents, with full-blooded Oneida {{Creator/Graham Greene|Actor}} playing her grandfather. Vanessa Morgan is of Tanzanian and Scottish descent.

** Similarly, the blonde Cole Sprouse dyed his hair black as Jughead.

* CastTheRunnerUp: Vanessa Morgan originally auditioned for Josie, and made enough of an impression despite not getting the role to be cast as Toni in Season 2.

** Creator/SkeetUlrich announced in late May 2020 that he was leaving the show, and when asked on the matter, the actor replied that he "got bored creatively."

* DawsonCasting: The show is infamous for trying to have 30 year olds pass as teenagers.
** Most obvious cases being Josie (Ashleigh Murray, 29) Reggie (Ross Butler, 26), Chuck (Jordan Calloway, 26), and Jughead (Cole Sprouse, 24).

** This trope reaches its apex in Season 5, when the (very noticeably) 34-year-old Zane Holtz portrays his ''Series/KatyKeene'' character K.O. Kelly as a teenager.
* DiedDuringProduction: Creator/LukePerry passed away after a stroke partway through Season 3. Molly Ringwald was brought back to fill his intended role for the three remaining episodes he wasn’t able to film, with Fred vaguely just being said to be “away” while Archie’s mother looks after him, giving them time to figure out how to deal with his continued absence. The Season 4 premiere was made entirely into a tribute to Perry as Fred makes a HeroicSacrifice to save someone else from a speeding car, resulting in the whole town giving a lavish celebration of his life, heroes and villains alike paying respect.

** KJ Apa has dark brown hair, and dyed it red for his role as Archie.

* FanNickname: Referring to Reggie as "Asian-Dude-Bro Reggie" has become incredibly popular thanks to WebVideo/AndreTheBlackNerd referring to him as such in several reviews.

** "The Sex Bunker" has made the rounds since Season 3, in which Dilton’s bunker was introduced. Although it’s been used for various things, pretty much every OfficialCouple in the series has slept together in it, giving it it’s name.
* FollowTheLeader: Just like ''Series/OneTreeHill'' before it, the show has a TimeSkip following the characters graduation from high school.
* IKnewIt: After the flash-forwards in the first few season 4 episodes showing [[spoiler:Jughead's apparent death]], fans immediately began theorizing that [[spoiler:his death had somehow been faked. Sure enough, he turned out just fine.]]
* MidDevelopmentGenreShift: It was originally conceived as a film in vein of the Creator/JohnHughes high school films of the Eighties before being expanded and reworked into a TV show. This is even potentially [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Cheryl when she addresses Archie, Betty, Jughead, Veronica, and Kevin:
-->"Sorry to interrupt, Sad [[Film/TheBreakfastClub Breakfast Club]]."

* TheOtherDarrin: Dilton is played by Daniel Yang in the pilot, but is replaced with Major Curda afterwards. And with Ross Butler's comittment to ''Series/ThirteenReasonsWhy'', Charles Melton replaced him as Reggie for Season 2.

* RealLifeRelative: Creator/MarkConsuelos' son Michael will be playing a young Hiram Lodge in the fifth season episode "Citizen Lodge".

** In Chapter 2 Josie and the Pussycats sing "Candy Girl (Sugar Sugar)" by Inner Circle ft. Flo Rida, which samples the song "Sugar, Sugar" by the Archies, which of course are based off the band from the original ''Archie'' comics.

** Lili Reinhart and Cole Sprouse--who respectively play Betty and Jughead, the longest-lasting OfficialCouple of the show--are dating in real life.

** There are subtle similarities between Jughead's and F.P.'s features that truly make them look like father and son (their eyes and jaws in particular are similar).

** The Cooper family might just be the most on-point casting on television. Interestingly, Betty looks more like Alice and Polly looks more like Hal.[[note]] Although, Polly's face shape is more square like Alice's and Betty's face shape is more like Hal's. [[/note]] [[spoiler: Chic looks a lot like The Cooper family as well, despite turning out to not be related to them after all]].
** This is exploited in season 3's The Midnight Club, where the main cast plays younger versions of their parents, with KJ Apa managing to look spot on as a young Luke Perry.

* StarMakingRole: For pretty much the entire teenage cast, bar Cole Sprouse who was already well-known from his child roles.

** Season 2 got some bad buzz before it even started when KJ Apa fell asleep while driving home from filming and crashed into a pole, causing some controversy over the long hours the younger actors were being put through, including an anonymous source outright saying "Someone is going to die." Luckily things didn't get that far, but the season still suffered the loss of several cast members which forced some very contrived writing decisions. Most damagingly, they lost the actor for the character planned to be revealed as TheDragon in the season finale, and rather than alter their plans, we were treated to a quite amusingly pathetic attempt to wrap the story up without him ever appearing onscreen, including news of his death in a massive shootout. Luckily, they were able to negotiate his return in a single episode the following season to give the story proper closure.
** Production on the fourth season came to a halt due the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, leaving the final three episodes unfilmed; the unfilmed episodes would ultimately be repurposed as the opening episodes of Season 5.

** Jughead was originally supposed to be deaf in the original pilot script, and needed to use a hearing aid. However, this does not seem to be the case in the show.
** In the original pilot script, Veronica had a mean case of AdaptationalVillainy on par with ''Afterlife with Archie'' and she mainly liked Archie for his looks. In the final product she was toned down to be more like her SpoiledSweet main-comics incarnation.
** The crew had several possible culprits in mind for Jason's killer. [[spoiler:Besides the canonical Clifford, it also could have been FP (whose motivation was reworked into the story he gives the cops in his false confession), Hiram, or Hal, or even all of them together (you might notice a pattern here, given the show's focus on fathers and children).]]

** In the original pilot script, Polly lived with her parents and she hated Jason as much as they did.
** The original plan for the Season 1 finale's cliffhanger was that Sabrina Spellman would arrive in Riverdale. In Season 2, she would have been an antagonist and the show would change to horror on account of her supernatural powers.

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Creator/LukePerry passed away after a stroke partway through Season 3. Molly Ringwald was brought back to fill his intended role for the three remaining episodes he wasn’t able to film, with Fred vaguely just being said to be “away” while Archie’s mother looks after him, giving them time to figure out how to deal with his continued absence. The Season 4 premiere was made entirely into a tribute to Perry as Fred makes a HeroicSacrifice to save someone else from a speeding car, resulting in the whole town giving a lavish celebration of his life, heroes and villains alike paying respect.

* TheCastShowoff: A good chunk of the cast consists of great vocalists, with Creator/KJApa (Archie), Creator/CamilaMendes (Veronica), Creator/LiliReinhardt (Betty), Creator/AshleighMurray (Josie), Casey Cott (Kevin), Creator/MadelainePetsch (Cheryl), Hayley Law (Valerie), and Asha Bromfield (Melody) all getting chances to sing to this point.

* DawsonCasting: The show is infamous for trying to have 30 year olds to play teenagers.

* DawsonCasting: Most obvious cases being Josie (Ashleigh Murray, 29) Reggie (Ross Butler, 26), Chuck (Jordan Calloway, 26), and Jughead (Cole Sprouse, 24).

* TheCastShowoff: A good chunk of the cast consists of great vocalists, with KJ Apa (Archie), Camila Mendes (Veronica), Lili Reinhardt (Betty), Ashleigh Murray (Josie), Casey Cott (Kevin), Madelaine Petsch (Cheryl), Hayley Law (Valerie), and Asha Bromfield (Melody) all getting chances to sing to this point.

** Madelaine Petsch and Trevor Stines very convincingly play twins.[[note]] Being opposite-sex, Cheryl and Jason aren't identical twins, [[HalfIdenticalTwins but they could pass as such.]] [[/note]]

** In various interviews during and after Season One, both Camila Mendes (Veronica) and Madelaine Petsch (Cheryl) have expressed interest in exploring their characters' sexuality. Cheryl would eventually come as a lesbian in Season Two, having been heavily closeted before.

** And from Canada - Creator/LochlynMunro (Betty's father), Martin Cummins (Kevin's father), Barclay Hope (Cheryl's father), Tiera Skovbye as Polly Cooper, Rob Raco as Joaquin, and others.

* TroubledProduction: Season 2 got some bad buzz before it even started when KJ Apa fell asleep while driving home from filming and crashed into a pole, causing some controversy over the long hours the younger actors were being put through, including an anonymous source outright saying "Someone is going to die." Luckily things didn't get that far, but the season still suffered the loss of several cast members which forced some very contrived writing decisions. Most damagingly, they lost the actor for the character planned to be revealed as TheDragon in the season finale, and rather than alter their plans, we were treated to a quite amusingly pathetic attempt to wrap the story up without him ever appearing onscreen, including news of his death in a massive shootout. Luckily, they were able to negotiate his return in a single episode the following season to give the story proper closure.

** And from Canada - Lochlyn Munro (Betty's father), Martin Cummins (Kevin's father), Barclay Hope (Cheryl's father), Tiera Skovbye as Polly Cooper, Rob Raco as Joaquin, and others.

* SimilarlyNamedWorks: There was a 1997 {{CBC}} series called ''Riverdale''.

--->"Sorry to interrupt, Sad [[Film/TheBreakfastClub Breakfast Club]]."

** To add on, both Camila Mendes (Veronica) and Madelaine Petsch (Cheryl) have expressed interest in exploring their characters' sexuality. [[spoiler: The show eventually has Cheryl coming out as being attracted to women and Madelaine would eventually state that she and showrunner Roberto have discussed Cheryl’s sexuality and have [[https://www.pride.com/tv/2018/11/19/cheryl-blossom-lesbian-says-riverdale-star-madelaine-petsch?amp realized that]] [[https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/11/19/riverdale-madelaine-petsch-cheryl-blossom-lesbian/amp/ Cheryl is]] [[https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/riverdale-cheryl-blossom-lesbian/amp/ a lesbian.]]]]