Riverdale has finally concluded with its seventh season, and the end of the programme has been a long time coming.
The hit CW series, which reigned supreme on Netflix for six years, starred KJ Apa as Archie Andrews, Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper, Camila Mendes as Veronica Lodge, Cole Sprouse as Jughead Jones, Madelaine Petsch as Cheryl Blossom, Luke Perry as Fred Andrews, and Vanessa Morgan as Toni Topaz.
With multiversal madness, cults, gangs, and reincarnation galore — the teen drama had morphed into a beast of its own kind by the end. However, to last for seven seasons is an achievement in itself at a time when shows get cancelled untimely all the time.
The series, which often felt like a fever dream, concluded its final chapter with closure for almost all its characters.
Ending explained of Riverdale season seven:
An 86-year-old Betty, played by Michele Scarabelli, emerged as the last survivor among the core group. In her final days, Jughead materialised and extended an offer to Betty—an opportunity to revisit her high school days.
The setting is roughly a year after the events of the preceding episode, which revealed the core four were in a polyamorous “quad relationship” with Archie, Jughead, and Veronica throughout their senior year.
On Betty’s journey through the town, as she connected with old friends and acquaintances, Jughead served as her guide. He reminisced about the lives they led and the fates that befell them, even their eventual demise.
The episode chronicled Betty’s day. It included her signing yearbooks, attending Cheryl and Toni’s unique art exhibit, sharing final moments with her friends during an emotional after-party, and a pilgrimage to Pop’s grave.
In the ‘present day’, Betty’s granddaughter, Alice (Cecilia Grace Deacon), accompanies her to Riverdale for a farewell. Betty’s peaceful passing outside of Pop’s leads her to a kind of celestial realm, where she reunites with all her departed friends.
Jughead, acting as both narrator and tour guide through time, fittingly concludes the series, leaving the characters eternally young, forever 17, because that’s how you do it with young adult fiction.
What happened to each character at the end of Riverdale season seven?
Archie Andrews: Archie moved to California, married, settled in Modesto, and had a family. When he died, he was buried alongside his father, Fred Andrews, in Riverdale.
Betty Cooper: Betty pursued her passion for writing and published the Teenage Mystique. She freelanced in New York before creating the feminist zine, She Says. She didn’t get married but adopted a daughter named Carla and a granddaughter named Alice.
Jughead Jones: Jughead became the creator of Madhouse Magazine, a comic institution that garnered fans for many generations to come. He died an old man, at the grand old age of 84. Like Betty, Jughead and also never married.
Veronica Lodge: After graduating high school, Veronica traversed to Hollywood and became an assistant at Silver Shield Studios. Like a true girl boss, she was running the place within a few years. Veronica, known for her inclination to nurture raw, natural talent, produced some of “the most iconic films of our time”, winning two Oscars. She is buried at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Reggie Mantle: Reggie goes to Kansas State to play basketball, later to be drafted by the Lakers before eventually returning to coach at Riverdale High. He is survived by two sons, who run Mantle Motors.
Cheryl Blossom and Toni Topaz: Cheryl ends up as a successful painter. Her work finds a place in galleries and museums across the world. Toni also became an artist and an activist. They stayed together, eventually settling in Oakland Hills. After living “full, gorgeous, sexy” lives, Cheryl and Toni died peacefully, survived by their son, Dale, named after Riverdale…no, seriously.
Kevin Keller and Clay Walker: Kevin and Clay moved to New York and settled above Harlem’s Apollo Theater. Clay taught at Columbia University, while Kevin had his own off-Broadway theatre company. Kevin and Clay died within a few weeks of each other, well into their 80s.
Fangs Fogarty and Midge: Achieving rock stardom and uniting with Midge, Fangs produces the hit track ‘Pixie Girl’, which hits number eight on the charts. However, mirroring the fate of rock legend Ritchie Valens, Fangs’ promising life meets an untimely end during a tragic bus accident early into his domestic tour — leaving no survivors. Midge and their daughter find solace in the residuals of Fangs’ musical legacy.
Alice Cooper: Alice finally divorces Hal Cooper, who was a serial killer in the original timeline and a controlling philanderer in the 1950s timeline. She becomes a flight attendant and ends up performing a miraculous plane landing. Through this job, she falls in love with a passenger, gets married, and sends Betty postcards from their travels.
Polly Cooper: Polly finally gives birth to twins Juniper and Dagwood, ditches her burlesque alter-ego, Polly Amorous, and lives happily ever after raising her kids.
Mary Andrews: After meeting a kind woman named Brooke at her boutique, Mary’s life took a different path from the original timeline. Brooke eventually became her partner, residing in the Andrews household and sharing a lifelong journey together.
Tom Keller and Frank Andrews: Tom and Frank’s lives are cut short as they get murdered by Chic, who is a hustler in this timeline.
Julian Blossom: Julian dies in Vietnam at 28.
Principal Principal Waldo Weatherbee and Mrs. Thornton: These two end up married to each other.
Nana Rose Blossom: Nana gets reincarnated multiple times, obviously.
