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Cole Sprouse's Riverdale Castmates Are Big Fans of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody—And It's Not Awkward At All

Exclusive! Sprouse and his castmates sound off on his return to acting, their favorite Suite Life episodes, and more ahead of the CW drama's Jan. 26 debut

By Lauren Piester Jan 25, 2017 6:05 PMTags
Watch: "Riverdale" Cast Were Fans of "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody"

The cast of Riverdale really is living the Suite Life. 

Cole Sprouse is making his return to acting on the CW's Riverdale (aka your new favorite show) as Jughead Jones, the classic Archie Comics character, and you wouldn't be wrong to say his fellow cast members are big fans of his previous work. They were not afraid to admit it when E! News sat down with them during this year's Television Critics' Association press tour. 

In fact, when we asked KJ Apa (who plays Archie) his favorite episode of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, he had an answer prepared...sort of. 

"There's an episode where his character—what one were you? Zack or Cody? Cody. He was Cody. There was an episode where he has this eagle—it's an eagle?" 

"It sounds like you don't remember the episode that well," Sprouse interrupts. "I thought you were a fan." 

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Apa goes on to describe a scene from the 2006 episode "Birdman of Boston," in which Cody, played by Cole, takes care of a hawk (not an eagle) after its mother abandons her eggs on the balcony at the Tipton. Sprouse played Cody, opposite his twin brother Dylan, from 2005 to 2011, on both the Disney Channel's The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and its high-school-on-a-boat spinoff The Suite Life on Deck

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Lili Reinhart and Camila Mendes, who play Betty and Veronica, were also big fans back in the day. 

"I had a huge crush on those boys," Mendes reveals. 

"I didn't have a crush on them, but I mean, I would go home from school, drop the backpack off and watch Suite Life," Reinhart tells us. 

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 Meanwhile, Madelaine Petsch, who plays Cheryl Blossom, had quite the confession to make. 

"My favorite was actually Zack," she admits. "Is that like, blasphemous to say when we've got Cody on our show?" 

And Josie (of Josie and the Pussycats), played by Ashleigh Murray, throws it even further back and says she knows the Sprouse twins from their film debut in 1999's Big Daddy—impression included. 

"I fell in love with Cole and Dylan from Big Daddy," she says. "That's the Cole and Dylan that I knew and loved and watched, and you know, I saw them in Friends, and that's who I referenced. Then when I saw him sitting on the couch at the Sutton [Hotel], I was like, oh hello." 

Still, Apa's love of that one specific episode may beat them all, even if he doesn't remember it all that well. 

Riverdale premieres Thursday at 9 p.m. on the CW.