Luke Perry's Last 'Riverdale' Episode Airs This Week
"Riverdale" is saying its final farewell to Luke Perry.
The late actor died March 4 after suffering a massive stroke. This week brings his final appearance on The CW's Archie comics drama.
"Riverdale" showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa revealed on Twitter that Wednesday’s episode will be the last time viewers Perry play Fred Andrews, Archie's father.
Aguirre-Sacasa has not elaborated on how the show plans to write out Perry. Cast member Cole Sprouse did say there are plans to address Perry's death.
“I can’t go too much into the spoilers of it, but we do have something planned narratively,” he said. “We dedicated some of the episodes to him.”
Fred Andrews was a wise mentor to his son, but it was a role that Perry had to fight for. "Initially we were afraid of casting former teen idols because we thought that would be too kitschy,” casting director David Rapaport recently told EW. “But Luke [Perry] came in and fought for the role [of Archie’s dad]. We had to make a decision: Do we do this or do we not do this. Part of the show is there’s so much nostalgia involved, so there is something about having a former heartthrob play the father of a heartthrob."
Perry's last film appearance comes in Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," opening July 26.