Posted in: CW, Preview, Riverdale, streaming, TV | Tagged: archie, betty, bleeding cool, cable, Cheryl, comic books, Comics, jughead, preview, riverdale, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, season 5, serpent queen, serpents, streaming, television, the cw, toni, tv, Vanessa Morgan, veronica

Riverdale: Aguirre-Sacasa, Morgan Introduce Toni, the Serpent Queen

The last time we checked in on Riverdale creator and executive producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, he was posting an image of the front of a demonic-looking truck that we're assuming is driven by a psychotic truck-driver along with the warning to avoid "the Lonely Highway." This time, we have a double-header with Aguirre-Sacasa and series star Vanessa Morgan presenting… Toni Topaz, the Serpent Queen!

In their Instagram posts below, Morgan confirms that she was filming with live snakes late this week (something she looks forward to sharing with her child when they're older) while we can't help but feel like Aguirre-Sacasa knew going into that post the debates it would start among the fans.

In September, Aguirre-Sacasa announced that pre-production on the fifth season was officially underway, offering viewers a look at the script covers for the episodes being run through table reads. Continuing their effective use of panels from the comics to represent the episode, we learned that Episode 501 "Chapter Seventy-Seven: Climax" is written by Ace Hasan and Greg Murray, and directed by Pamela Romanowsky (with an old-school Betty/Jughead prom image). Episode 502 "Chapter Seventy-Eight: The Preppy Murders" is written by Janine Saline Schoenberg and Devon Turner, and directed by Gabriel Correa (with a newer, depressing Archie/Jughead panel).

Now while the third episode is pretty much in line with wrapping up the senior year, "Purgatory" and the image chosen for the cover have us very curious. Are they going to kill Archie (KJ Apa)? Probably not, but they might do an "Archie went missing overseas and was presumed dead" storyline. The image they're using is from the comic book Archie 1941 (writers: Brian Augustyn, Mark Waid; illustrator: Peter Krause), where our red-headed lead joins the military and ends up MIA, presumed dead (see what we mean?).

Erinn Westbrook (The Resident) has also joined the cast for the fifth season as Tabitha Tate, the ambitious, entrepreneurial granddaughter of Pop Tate. Seeing serious business potential in her family's business, Tabitha's come to Riverdale to take over Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe in the hopes of franchising the iconic diner, even as the town around it struggles to survive.

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