Riverdale Cast Reveals New Characters Testing "Bughead," Veronica and Archie

Riverdaleis going even darker in Season 2, and bringing in new characters to shake up the core relationships!

The cast, and executive producers Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Sarah Schecter, introduced the first look at footage of Season 2 ahead of their panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday morning. If Jason Blossom's murder was the beginning of a dark turn, the shooting of Fred Andrews (Luke Perry) is Riverdale tumbling into the abyss.

"People will look back at this as the moment where the last piece of Riverdale innocence died," Jughead (Cole Sprouse) ominously predicts at the start of the footage. Meanwhile, Archie (KJ Apa) drags Fred's limp body into the hospital. The rest of the scenes show Archie digging deeper into a paranoid depression, wondering if the man who shot his father will be back to finish the job.

For fans that are anxious about whether Fred will make it out of this alive, the producers were unwilling to let the cat out of the bag, but promised that he answer will come in the season's first episode.

"I think we're going to find out Fred's ultimate fate at the end of the premiere," Aguirre-Sacasa said. "You saw a little clip there of Archie bringing Fred to the hospital...It will be revealed at the end of the episode. We're all pulling for him."

In the meantime, Archie is going to be very caught up with the drama, but he's not the only person going deeper into the dark side. Jughead is also heading down his own dark path at Southside High.

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"Jughead in season 2 is placed in the middle of two worlds that are starting to collide and erupt," Sprouse said. "As the season progresses, it forces him to pick a side which is really tough for him because he's a morally gray character."

Jughead's journey is going to put a lot of pressure on his relationship with Betty (Lili Reinhart), who is struggling with her own demons as she supports Archie and Fred and her boyfriend is going to a different school. It doesn't help that Jughead will be hanging out with the newly cast Toni Topaz (Vanessa Morgan) -- a bisexual Southside Serpent who attaches herself to our favorite Riverdale weirdo.

"I think [Toni] is trouble getting Jughead into this gang. She might be trouble for 'Bughead'," Aguirre-Sacasa teased. "We thought it would be really fun to have a bisexual character on the show, and it's going to stir up trouble for a lot of people on this panel."

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Of course, Veronica and Archie are going to have their own trouble in Season 2. Mendes and Apa teased that Archie will have some tense scenes with Hiram (Mark Consuelos) who is back in town and ready to reunite with his family. Hiram isn't nearly as much trouble as Veronica's ex -- Nick St. Clair -- from New York that will be showing up in the sophomore season and he'll be bringing out Veronica's "dark side" as well.

"Veronica's dark side is a lot darker than Betty's," Reinhart teases.

Riverdale Season 2 kicks off Wednesday, Oct. 1 at 8/7c on The CW.

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