Spoilers ahead for Episode 13 of Riverdale Season 7, called "The Crucible."
The 1950s action continued on Riverdale in "The Crucible" when – unsurprisingly, given the title of the episode – the high school went through a mini Red Scare of its own with communism claims made against the English teacher. Mark Consuelos and Marisol Nichols reprised their roles as Hiram and Hermione Lodge to complicate Veronica's life, a '50s version of Miss Grundy turned up, Archie gave his all in an Arthur Miller monologue, Betty got to do more than lust after her peers... and not even Jughead's storyline gave an indication that the show is leaving the past behind. Actress Mädchen Amick has now addressed whether the show will go back to the future, and her comments are complicated.
Mädchen Amick has been part of the Riverdale cast from the beginning as Alice, Betty Cooper's mom, and wearing '50s fashion like the others all season. She has also directed three episodes of The CW show, including "The Crucible," and spoke with Decider about the seventh and final season. When asked if the entire season will be set in the '50s, the actress/director had a surprising answer:
I don’t know if I should answer it. [pause] No, we don’t get out of the 1950s. So I guess that is a big spoiler. I will say you do experience the characters in three different… dimensions, that you get to see a lot of closures that are outside of the 1950s. I can tease it that way. I think that’s safe enough.
I'm not sure which surprised me more when I first read Mädchen Amick's comments: the fact that Riverdale isn't going back to the future before the final credits role on the series or the fact that Amick actually came out and said as much when there are still seven episodes left to go in the 2023 TV schedule. Of course, she didn't stop at just saying that they don't get out of the 1950s, and she was vague enough about the different "dimensions" outside of the '50s that there's plenty of room to speculate... even if it now seems like a safe bet that Riverdale won't be going back to how Season 6 ended.
Her mention of three different dimensions is particularly interesting, as Riverdale previously introduced "Rivervale" as a killer parallel universe back in the Season 6 arc that brought Chilling Adventures of Sabrina's Sabrina Spellman (played by Kiernan Shipka in a reprisal of her Netflix role) into the mix. Could Season 7 touch on Rivervale and present day while remaining in the '50s to explain what Mädchen Amick previewed?
Theres no saying with any certainty at this point, although I can't help but wonder if having three different dimensions is Riverdale's way of trying to please all the fans by serving several different endgames for characters. Archie and Betty arguably became the main relationship of the show after their climactic Season 4 kiss and the time jump that followed, but almost four seasons of Archie/Veronica and Betty/Jughead undoubtedly mean that there are still plenty of fans of those pairings crossing their fingers for an endgame.
All bets are off in Season 7 when none of the characters remember their relationships – and in Betty and Archie's case, their engagement – from the end of Season 6, and I wouldn't be shocked if we're in for several different endgame reveals without ever leaving the '50s. I can't say that I'm thrilled at the idea that there evidently isn't going to be payoff on the '50s plot in the form of seeing the original versions of the characters back in the present again, but when has Riverdale ever been entirely predictable?
I just wish that I could count on seeing new episodes set back in the present timeline again, instead of just revisiting that timeline with the first six seasons streaming with a Netflix subscription. For now, we can all just wait and see what the show has in store with the final musical episode coming up next. Check out the trailer:
New episodes of Riverdale's seventh and final season will continue airing on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on The CW. There's still time for the show to deliver plots wild enough to rival any of the entries on our ranking of Riverdale's craziest plot twists!
