When Riverdale’s fourth season kicks off later this year on The CW, it’ll start with some kind of episode-long tribute to Luke Perry—who died from a major stroke back in March and had played the father of KJ Apa’s Archie on the show since the beginning. The Riverdale team made that announcement a while back, but at this afternoon’s San Diego Comic-Con panel, they also revealed that they’ll be getting some help with their Luke Perry tribute in the form of his friend and Beverly Hills 90210 co-star Shannen Doherty. We don’t know who she’s playing, but apparently it’s a “pivotal, super emotional role” that will be “very impactful.”
Riverdale executive producer Robert Aguirre-Sacasa also noted that Perry had wanted to get Doherty on the show “since season one,” and it was something that had actually been in the works “for some time” before Perry died. Apparently, she “immediately said ‘yes’” after reading the script, so it is presumably a nice tribute. Variety’s report on the panel says that Molly Ringwald’s character will “step into a more prominent role” in season four and become a “more or less full-time mom” for Archie.