Camila Mendes on Playing a Different Side of Veronica Lodge in ‘Riverdale’ Season 6 [Interview]

Things in Riverdale are changing. 

After five long years of battling it out, Camila Mendes’ character Veronica finally took down her tyrant father, Hiram Lodge, in Riverdale Season 6. For audiences, it is something that has been long overdue. For Veronica, it’s complicated. 

When we spoke to Mendes on the red carpet at PaleyFest, ahead of the Riverdale panel, she explained how “killing” her onscreen father is much more complex for Veronica than just defeating the bad guy.

“It’s heartbreaking,” she explained. “I mean, it’s a really complex relationship that Veronica has with her father. There’s a lot of complicated feelings there.” 

Mendes is using that challenge as an opportunity to elevate her performance. Her portrayal of Veronica this season — who is stuck between hero and grieving daughter — is unnervingly grounded in the midst of Riverdale’s otherwise outrageous storylines.

Watch the interview with Camila Mendes:

As it turns out, Mendes is just as excited to play those complex moments as an actor as we are to see them on screen. 

“When I read the script, I was more just really excited to get to play that story, because I think Veronica had such a long journey with her father. To be able to play that duality — feeling guilty, but also feeling like it had to be done, is really fun as an actor.”

Life post-Hiram Lodge has just begun, but with Percival Pickins — Riverdale’s newest Big Bad — gliding into town, it seems like the trouble for Veronica has only just begun. 

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Featured image credit: Stuart Cook for the Paley Center

*Additional reporting by Ashley Bissette Sumerel

Riverdale airs Sundays at 8/7c on The CW. 

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