As Riverdale comes to a close after seven seasons, Lili Reinhart and Camila Mendes are sharing their thoughts on The CW series constantly being mocked by fans on social media.
In an interview with Vulture, conducted before the actors strike, several cast members looked back at their time on the Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa-created show, seven years and 135 episodes later, including what they won’t miss about it. Reinhart proceeded to admit that it wasn’t easy knowing that “our show is made fun of a lot.”
“People see clips taken out of context [on social media] and are like, ‘What? I thought this was about teenagers.’ And we thought so as well — in season one,” the actress said in the interview published online Tuesday. “But it’s really not been easy to feel that you’re the butt of a joke. We all want to be actors; we’re passionate about what we do. So when the absurdity of our show became a talking point, it was difficult.”
She continued, “It is ‘What the fuck?’ That’s the whole point. When we’re doing our table reads and something ridiculous happens, Roberto is laughing because he understands the absurdity and the campiness.”
Though Riverdale, based on the characters of Archie Comics, was met with a lot of praise following the first season in 2017, as the seasons continued, the storylines got progressively more outlandish. The first season saw teen Archie (K.J. Apa) and his friends Betty (Reinhart), Veronica (Mendes) and Jughead (Cole Sprouse) navigating high school and romance while uncovering dark mysteries within their small town. But by the latter seasons, some of the characters were gaining superpowers, battling alien abductions, getting stuck in the past through time travel and more.
This led to fans posting clips or video compilations of moments from the show on social media, which drew a lot of harsh comments and reactions from people.
Mendes added her take on the show’s quirkiness, comparing it to Marvel and DC projects. “Superhero movies are the main thing at the box office these days, and those are the most absurd stories you could imagine!” she said. “You’ve got a fucking talking raccoon fighting aliens in space! No one’s like, ‘This makes no sense.’ We’re a comic book; it’s supposed to be fun and fictional and weird. If you want to watch a teen show where there’s just a bunch of kids in a high school dealing with relationship drama, there’s a lot out there.”
The actress continued, “But Roberto didn’t want to do that. I think he wanted something that was more outlandish.”
Sprouse also chimed in with a show recommendation for those looking for a typical teen drama: “Go watch Euphoria.”
At the end of the interview, Reinhart added that while they “can all be happy that we had a fucking consistent job for seven years,” she could speak for probably everyone that “we will never again do something that’s 100-plus episodes.”
The series finale of Riverdale airs Aug. 23 on The CW.
