Who killed Jason Blossom?
That was the question everyone in Riverdale--and everyone watching it-- was asking at the end of the series premiere tonight, with our narrator Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse) teasing that an arrest would be happening in next week's episode. And you thought small towns were boring.
And every character is a suspect on the CW's new drama, as this seemingly sleepy town is more filled with rivalries and secrets than Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe milkshakes are with calories. So when we sat down with the cast, including K.J. Apa (Archie) , Luke Perry (Fred, Archie's father) and Betty and Veronica themselves, Lili Reinhart and Camila Mendes, we decided to play a game of Mafia, asking them to passionately defend their character and say why they couldn't possibly have killed Jason.
"Cheryl's got a little bit more of a tough case to get to believe her, because she might've been there when it happened, " Madelaine Petsch told E! News of Cheryl Blossom, Jason's sister/the queen bee of Riverdale High. "When I first read it, I thought maybe I had done it, because I was so obsessed with him and so in love with him that maybe I couldn't have him so I killed him. And then I got to know her better and the loss that she felt when her brother was taken away from her, like I've never felt that before. She feels like she's been torn apart."
Hm...that was pretty convincing. As for Jughead, Cole Sprouse went for the it-would-be-way-too-obvious defense, which was also compelling. "He's so external from most of society that it would be too easy to point at Jughead and say he's the killer because he's such a fall guy."
K.J.'s defense? Simply, "Archie's not the killer because he's Archie." Boom. Lawyered.
Alas, not everyone can so easily defend their character, as Mädchen Amick had a hard time defending Alice Cooper, Betty's strict mom with a serious dislike for the Blossom family. To watch the rest of the cast's pleas, press play on the video above.
Riverdale airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on The CW.