Here's what happens to the Riverdale characters after the time jump

11 February 2021, 13:31

Archie and Betty team up in Riverdale's 5x05 trailer

By Katie Louise Smith

7 years have passed in Riverdale, and everything has changed. Here's what happened to your favourite characters in season 5 episode 4 ('Purgatorio').

The time has come for Riverdale to finally make that time jump. Season 5 has now wrapped up high school life for our fave Riverdale teens and sent them out into the big bad world of college and careers... Only to bring them all back to their wicked little hometown 7 years later.

Riverdale's time jump episode aired last night (Feb 10) and introduced us to a whole new world. In fact, the show is no longer called Riverdale. For the rest of this article, I will only refer to it as Tonidale, in honour of our new president Toni Topaz.

READ MORE: Here's how Riverdale said goodbye to FP Jones and Skeet Ulrich

After years of being a secondary character, often relegated to sub-plots with little dialogue, Toni Thee Topaz is at the front and centre, at long last. When we return to Riverdale Tonidale, we find out that the town is on the verge of complete collapse thanks to Hiram Lodge's petty business shenanigans.

Toni, who has been living in Tonidale with Fangs, Kevin and Sweet Pea, works with Archie (who has just returned from an actual war) to bring the gang back together and drive that no-good, double-crossing, ripped AF, pesky villain outta town once and for all!

Here's your rundown of what happened to everyone over the past 7 years...

Spoilers ahead for Riverdale season 5, episode 4! Obviously!

Riverdale reveals what happens to the characters after the 7 year time jump

Archie Andrews

Archie spent all 7 of his post-high school years serving in the US Army. After experiencing PTSD, he is sent home and told to go and revive the RROTC program. He arrives back in Tonidale and heads straight to Pop's because... obviously. He catches up with Toni, and finds out that the entire town has slipped into disarray because of Hiram Lodge.

In a bid to save his hometown from dying, he calls the rest of the Mystery Gang (Betty, Jughead and Veronica) and asks them to come and help.

Toni Topaz

Serpent Queen Toni Topaz! At last! After high school, Toni and Cheryl broke up. Toni graduated from Highsmith College and ended up becoming the new high school counsellor. Upon her return, she revived the Serpents with Sweet Pea, bought La Bonne Nuit from Hiram and turned it into the new and improved Whyte Wyrm.

Toni is also now out and open with her family! She's pregnant too, but is keeping the baby daddy a secret for now.

Betty Cooper

After proving her sleuthing skills on more than one occasion as a teenager, Betty Cooper made it into the FBI training programme and is on the way to becoming an agent. She's also finally ditched that iconic-and-beyond-reproach ponytail. Betty is living on her own, in a sad apartment, suffering from nightmares thanks to severe PTSD, and is apparently sleeping with her boss.

Betty is also currently in the midst of trying to catch the 'Trash Bag Killer', which is – and I cannot stress this enough – the best villain name on the show to date.

Veronica Lodge

Per Jughead's trailer tease, Veronica apparently did nothing of note except for... getting married. But actually, Ronnie now has a number of impressive credits to her name.

First of all, Veronica Lodge is a Wall Street icon. She was known as The She-Wolf of Wall Street and became one half of the trading floor power couple. Second of all, she's now an Uncut Gems level jeweller. Third, she married a Wall Street guy named Chad Gekko (Chris Mason) one year ago, who is honestly just a budget Hiram.

Veronica and Chad also went through a near-death experience together after their helicopter almost crashed on the way to Marcia's Vineyard.

Cheryl Blossom

Cheryl, Cheryl, Cheryl. Poor baby Cheryl. After high school, Cheryl opted to move back into Thorn Hill and begin renovations, skipping college and essentially becoming a recluse. Cheryl explained that she is trying to avoid the Blossom family curse, citing the plot of the 2018 Helen Mirren horror, Winchester, as her inspiration.

Cheryl spends her time painting masterpieces and beefing with Hiram Lodge, who is desperate to get his hands on the Blossom Maple groves. Nana Rose is also still alive, and is 100% down to start an art forgery side hustle with her granddaughter.

Jughead Jones

Jughead is a published fiction writer, living in New York City with his girlfriend Jessica, but things are not going well for him. He's broke, he drinks too much, he's got writer's block and his relationship is not great! When we catch up with him 7 years later, we find that he's just got rejected from another writing job, evicted from his apartment, and debt collectors are on his tail.

Oh, and while stumbling half-naked through his apartment with a grad student he just met, we find out that he has a CHEST TATTOO.

Kevin Keller

As we knew from his appearance in Katy Keene, Kevin Keller is the drama teacher at the high school. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA and is now in an official relationship with Fangs.

Fangs Fogarty

After high school, Fangs headed to PA with Kevin and later graduated from the University of Pittsburgh. Upon his arrival back in Tonidale, he revived the Serpents alongside Toni and Sweet Pea, and now helps run the Whyte Wyrm. Fangs is in a relationship with Kevin, and the pair live together with Toni.

Sweet Pea

This King? He stayed behind while everyone went to college and basically held down the fort. When Toni returned from Highsmith College, he revived the Serpents alongside her.

Reggie Mantle

In an absolutely devastating but inevitable turn of events, Reggie Mantle is now Hiram Lodge's right hand man! Upsetting!

Hiram Lodge

Still suave, still buff, still loves a sauna (probably) and still causing too much trouble. Over the past 7 years, Hiram has turned the town into a dump, buying and destroying all the businesses in order to boost his SoDale project. He's also a member of the Stonewall Prep board now.

Hermione Lodge

While Marisol Nichols will no longer be a series regular, Hermione will still be appearing in a recurring capacity. She's currently living in New York City, away from Hiram and absolutely thriving on the Real Housewives of New York.

Her tagline? "From small town to big city, my killer instinct always gets me what I want."

Alice Smith

Nothing has been revealed about what Alice is up to 7 years in the future but she does have long hair now, which is a nice new vibe for her!

Before the time jump, we saw her say goodbye to FP after he left town with his daughter JB. As for their relationship 7 years later? Did they break up? Are they still together? Did they get married?! We'll have to wait and see...

READ MORE: The 15 best Alice and FP scenes on Riverdale, ranked