11 Things We Want to See in ‘Riverdale’ Season 5 (And 5 We Don’t)

Riverdale fans have been left in the dark after Season 4 was cut short earlier this year due to COVID safety restrictions. The good news is, production on Season 5 is officially underway!

The new season will begin by wrapping up the end of Season 4’s mysteries before sending the residents of Riverdale several years into the future to begin their next adventure. 

Time jumps can be a really fun way to revitalize a show, and now that Riverdale has been renewed through Season 6, a time jump should give the show lots of room to play.

The kids have aged out of high school and so have their stories — heading into the future allows Riverdale to skip over the chaos of the leads scattering across the country for college and bring them all back for fresh drama as young adults. 

With the promise of the shows return now on the horizon, we asked fans on twitter what they want from the new season. Here are 11 things we want to see in Riverdale Season 5 — and 5 things we’re definitely hoping to avoid. 

WHAT WE WANT:

1. A satisfying ending for the voyeur storyline 

First and foremost, we want to see how the end of the last season was supposed to wrap up. Riverdale Season 4 Episode 19, “Killing Mr. Honey,” wasn’t the intended finale, and we have almost no answers on the most captivating story from Season 4’s most interesting storyline.

The videotapes were woven throughout the season — while the mystery of Jughead’s “death” was at the forefront, these creepy tapes lingered in the back of our minds.

Right as this storyline was reaching a fever pitch, the season was cut short. Before we can really enjoy a new mystery we need to know how this one ends.

Who was sending the tapes? Who helped create them? What was their intention? Are the victims in the recreations actually being killed or is it all just to strike terror into the hearts of the residents of Riverdale? 

2. More Alice Cooper Smith content 

Alice is a fan-favorite character and one of the best parts of Parentdale. We definitely want more Alice content in the future, and with that, we want better storylines for her. 

Alice’s arc during Seasons 1 and 2 of Riverdale was one of the most compelling on the show, her romance with FP Jones and her relationship with Betty, and her ability to cause a scene all make her one of the best parts of the show. 

During Season 3, the quality of Alice’s storyline went down considerably after she was turned into a brainwashed Farmie and then had her redemption arc and her reunion with FP fast-tracked just to have everyone back together and undo Season 3’s mistakes.

In Season 5, we want to see Alice get a good storyline that compliments Betty’s rather than having them at odds just for the sake of drama. It was announced that Skeet Ulrich would be greatly reducing his role in future seasons, and it’s really important that Riverdale continues to place value in Alice’s storyline, even if her love interest isn’t around as much. 

Alice’s backstory is rich with potential and there are so many interesting places that we’d love to see her story go. 

3. Veronica to finally defeat Hiram 

The never-ending standoff between Hiram and Veronica is tired. They’ve been doing this dance since Hiram was first introduced in Season 2 and every time we think it’s over, this storyline rears it’s ugly head like an ex that won’t take no for an answer. 

In Season 5, it would be so refreshing to see Veronica not have to deal with this anymore. Whether Hiram has been put back in jail, or put in his place by Veronica, or even if they’re on good terms somehow — we just want this back and forth to come to an end.

Both of these characters are interesting, but the way they’ve been played off of each other is exhausting and toxic. 

Veronica needs a storyline of her own that doesn’t have anything to do with serving the men in her life. She’s more than just a bank for Archie’s projects and a plaything for Hiram to torture. 

4. To finally explore Barchie 

It’s time to explore Barchie.

Season 4 teased us with a Barchie kiss and the simmering feelings that Betty and Archie have for each other buried under their established relationships. And while that execution wasn’t perfect, we really want to see where this relationship could go. 

Riverdale‘s core four have been paired off in the same couples since Season 1, and while we definitely have love for both Varchie and Bughead, it’s time to shake things up. Betty and Archie have an unrequited love that has yet to be given the space to be fully explored.

The time jump should mix up all of these relationships and give them the room to have Betty and Archie lean into their feelings for each other without cheating on Veronica or Jughead. They could be the childhood friends to lovers excellence we’ve been waiting for and we all deserve the chance to see what happens when they get their timing right. 

5. Married Choni 

We just know that at least one couple from Riverdale is going to be married on the other side of the time jump, and we want it to be Cheryl and Toni. If anyone deserves to stay together years later, it’s these two. 

Leave the drama to the straight couples, and have Cheryl and Toni be happily married (or engaged) by the time we see them again. 

Relationships do not stop being interesting just because a couple has decided to stay together forever; in fact, that’s when they get the most interesting in reality.

Riverdale could have Choni come back as the only established couple after the time jump, and it would make perfect sense. They’re going to the same college, they’re already living together, and they always come back to each other. 

6. Backstory and a real plotline for Toni 

While we’re on the subject, we need a real plotline for Toni that doesn’t limit her to being little more than an accessory to Cheryl’s wild antics. Don’t get me wrong, we love these two together, and we even love Cheryl’s crazy adventures, but Toni has been sidelined over the course of the last two seasons. 

We deserve another season where Toni is her own character outside of her relationship with Cheryl. 

When Toni was introduced in Season 2, she instantly became a fan favorite and her place in the serpents was interesting and dynamic, aiding in making that one of the show’s best stories. Riverdale is capable of creating good stories for multiple characters and weaving them together in interesting ways. 

Toni deserves to be a major player moving forward. 

7. More Sweet Pea, more Reggie, more himbo content 

Sweet Pea and Reggie are definitely secondary characters on Riverdale but that doesn’t mean we don’t love them. Riverdale has no shortage of himbos and that’s a good thing. We would love to see more of these two in particular. 

Sweet Pea was inexplicably missing from much of Season 4 while Jordan Conner was filming Looking For Alaska, and it didn’t go unnoticed by fans. Reggie hasn’t gone anywhere but we love him and we could always use more of his dumb, sweet smile. 

8. More Southside Serpent stories

In general, we’d love to get the Southside Serpents back in Riverdale‘s spotlight. Season 2 remains the best season so far and a big part of that is because of the found family tropes of the show that came in with the development of the Serpents.

So many of the show’s best characters either came from or later became Southside Serpents. Those characters are all still around, but the gang itself hasn’t really played a role since Season 3. 

Show us Cheryl and Toni as co-serpent queens, show us FP and Alice joining back up as legacy members fighting for the place they came from, show us new serpents taking on new bad guys.

You could even bring back Penny Peabody. The Southside Serpents brought something special to Riverdale that we’ve definitely been missing. 

9. Veronica and Reggie to rekindle their romance 

I may be in the minority on this one, but I really loved Veronica and Reggie together. If we’re mixing up the relationships of the core four and exploring Barchie, there’s no reason we couldn’t have these two get back together too. 

Reggie and Veronica just fit together better than Veronica and Archie.

They make each other better people and actually get something out of their relationship other than just using each other. Having Veronica and Reggie reconnect as adults with the maturity to give their relationship what it needs to thrive would be so good to see. 

This relationship barely got a chance to get off the ground before it got cut short, but it was absolutely full of potential that deserves to be explored. Veronica deserves someone who will treat her right, and Reggie could be that guy.

10. Snakeparents Wedding

Okay yeah, I put this one on the list because I want for myself. And what about it?

With Skeet Ulrich leaving the show after the time jump a few episodes into Season 5, we really want his send off to be done right. And for his exit to still leave Snakeparents fans happy. 

FP and Alice have been playing happy families for a year now and it’s been great. 

I can’t think of a better way to wrap up their relationship arc than by having them get married. Then Riverdale is free to send him on some secret mission out of town or have him simply be mysteriously off-screen (like Polly and the twins) until he reappears if Ulrich chooses to return every now and then. 

Would it be surprising to throw in a wedding in those last few episodes of what once was Season 4? Sure, but it would also give the fans exactly what they want. And there’s nothing wrong with a little fan service from time to time.

11. More Mary Andrews

Molly Ringwald became a regular fixture on Riverdale after the passing of Luke Perry. Mary Andrews lights up any scene she’s in and gives Archie’s story the warmth it would sorely be missing without Fred. 

On Season 4, Riverdale revealed that Mary has a girlfriend. And her girlfriend, Brooke Rivers, is actually a big influence on why Archie is set to join the military after he graduates from Riverdale High. Seeing Mary and Brooke in Season 5, even just a little bit, would be a delight.  

Losing Fred had a huge impact on Archie and it would be a shame to lose the power that Fred has in Archie’s story. Bringing Mary back is a way to keep Fred’s memory alive, and continue to give Archie a safe place to come home to. 

WHAT WE DON’T WANT:

1. A Snakeparents break-up 

While we can’t fault Ulrich for wanting to try new things creatively, we’re certainly going to miss having FP Jones around. FP and Alice have both been underused during the past two seasons, but their relationship is a huge fan favorite. If we have to lose FP as a regular character, we don’t want it to mean the end of Snakeparents. 

After an angsty backstory and then a chaotic breakup, FP and Alice finally got to be together in Season 4. Ending their relationship would feel like a huge waste of potential, and it would let fans down to see them go their separate ways after everything they went through to be together in the first place. 

Riverdale showrunner, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, confirmed in an interview with TVLine that he won’t be writing off FP by killing the character and that Ulrich is welcome to come back any time. “My hope is that they are a part of Riverdale in a real way as long as there’s a Riverdale.” 

2. Losing all of Parent-dale 

At the same time that it was announced Ulrich would be leaving, we learned that Marisol Nichols would make her departure from the show as well.

But in Nichols’ case, the news was reversed. That definitely gives us hope, but with Ulrich leaving and the time jump aging up the main cast into their mid-twenties, there are valid concerns that we might lose parent-dale. 

While we know that this is a show about Betty, Archie, Jughead, and Veronica, their parents have all brought a complicated, messy, and interesting dynamic to the second layer of the show that many fans can’t get enough of. 

We really hope that Riverdale Season 5 still has room for these characters and the way that they add to the story. 

3. Having another parent be the big bad

Every Season of Riverdale so far has had one of the kid’s parents revealed as the big bad — Season 4’s unsolved mystery notwithstanding. While fun at first to pull their masks off at the end of the arc Scooby-doo style, the pattern is making the show predictable. 

We aren’t asking that all of the parents suddenly become good guys — Penelope and Hiram are two of our favorite baddies — but let’s mix it up for the season-long supervillain.

If it’s always one of their parents we’re going to run out of bad guys pretty soon, and we’re going to have guessed who it is before the end of the season. 

4. Charles being confirmed as a villain

Way back at the beginning of Riverdale Season 4, we got a cliffhanger style reveal that Charles was still dating Chic (who is now in prison). The implication of that scene made audiences question if Charles is a good guy or if he’s secretly playing his whole family the way that Chic did. And it was never brought up again for the rest of the season.

We already did that story when Chic was introduced. Having Charles revealed as a villain would only hurt the whole Cooper-Jones family, especially Alice.

Charles didn’t show up in Riverdale until the end of Season 3, but we’ve known about him since Season 1 when a secret baby comes out in Alice’s tragic backstory. When Season 2 confirmed that he was also FP’s kid, fans couldn’t help but love him when he turned up alive.

His origins are very soap-opera but we don’t really need to continue that energy if it only hurts the other characters that we love and causes nothing but the bad kind of drama. 

5. Bughead on bad terms 

We may be all for exploring Barchie, but not if it means Bughead are on bad terms. We’ve got no ill will toward the relationship between Betty and Jughead here; we’re just ready to try something new. If we’re going to explore Barchie we want to see a Bughead that have parted ways amicably. 

Seeing Betty and Jughead come back and be angry at each other or have negative feelings for each other would feel like a slap in the face to the fans that love their relationship. We could easily see these two going to different colleges and simply growing apart as they grow into adulthood through time and distance.

If they’re going to be broken up on the other side of the time jump, it would be much more satisfying to see them as friends again rather than bitter exes. 

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What are your hopes for the next season of Riverdale? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below, and be sure to catch up with our review of the Season 4 finale.

Riverdale will return to The CW in 2021.

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