Welcome to Girl on the Rise, our recurring interview series featuring our favorite newcomers on the verge of stardom.



The CW's twisty, atmospheric teen murder mystery Riverdale is one of the buzziest new shows of the year, living up to and exceeding its "Gossip Girl meets Twin Peaks" hype largely thanks to the strength of its character writing and the chemistry of its young cast. Based very (very) loosely on the Archie Comics characters, the show takes place in a small town full of dark secrets and ancient family feuds, and begins as Camila Mendes's mysterious new girl Veronica Lodge arrives to start a new life.

Polished, sharp-tongued and unshakably confident (all while dressed in an endless assortment of designer clothes), Veronica looks like the prototypical teenage queen bee. But she's also wise beyond her years, having lived the Upper East Side party girl life in New York—and seen it all fall apart, thanks to a financial scandal that landed her father in jail. Below, Mendes talks tonight's season finale, Riverdale's decision to take an early stand against slut-shaming, and why fans shipping Veronica with her best friend Betty (Lili Reinhart) shouldn't lose hope.

Veronica subverts the stereotype of a spoiled, popular rich girl, since she's already been down that path in her past.

“I love that we’re catching Veronica at a moment where she’s reinventing herself. She comes into Riverdale as a new girl and she has such a strong attitude about this as a fresh start. I think if we met Veronica a month before the show started, she’d be in a very different place, but she’s gone through this trauma with her family and the embarrassment of her father going to jail, and because of all that she has such a positive attitude. So by helping Betty and Cheryl [Blossom, played by Madelaine Petsch] overcome their fears, Veronica feels like she’s becoming a better person.”

Mendes as Veronica Lodge with KJ Apa as Archie Andrews and Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper The CW

Mendes was inspired by another feisty, straight-talking, reformed mean girl from a beloved teen drama.

“Summer Roberts from The O.C. was a huge inspiration for me. I’ve watched that entire series about seven times, and I was obsessed with Rachel Bilson’s performance as Summer. She was the popular girl, but she also had such a groundedness to her, and she was so kind and such a three-dimensional character. It’s easy to fall into that stereotype of a popular bitch character, and both Summer and Veronica are so much more than that.”

Mendes was nervous about the season's potent third episode, in which Betty and Veronica team up to take down a school slut-shamer.

"We just didn't know how that was going to come across. We were worried it would be a little strong for three episodes in, but we were so happy because everybody responded so well to it, and that happened to be one of our fans' favorite episodes. I was worried it might be too much, to have such a strong message so early on, but it wasn’t at all. It’s nice to have those moments of realizing, no, people want powerful women on television!"

"I’m not gonna sit here and be like ‘Veronica is one hundred percent straight,' because who knows?"

The cast didn’t learn how the murder mystery would conclude until the last possible moment.

“They waited until they absolutely had to tell us, which was at the table read [for Episode 12, in which the murderer is revealed]. It was the most exciting table read I’ve ever sat through! And even when we did find out, it was like ‘well, is it gonna change on the next page?’ I’m glad they kept it that way, because you don’t necessarily want to have more information than your character has. I think they were trying to make sure that none of us would reveal parts of the story through acting, and make it too obvious.”

With Cole Sprouse as Jughead Jones and Casey Cott as Kevin Keller The CW

“The finale is really where we focus on character. It's less about plot and more about what these characters are going through."

Mendes is on board for a Betty/Veronica love story down the line.

“At the end of the day, sexuality is a spectrum. I’m not gonna sit here and be like ‘Veronica is one hundred percent straight,' because who knows? She’s figuring it out, everyone’s figuring it out, and these are teenagers, they're still discovering their sexuality. So when I hear people are shipping Betty and Veronica, or Archie and Jughead, I get it. When people say 'How can you deny that Betty and Veronica have so much chemistry? They belong together!' I agree, I do think we have chemistry! Do I think it's necessarily a sexual chemistry? That’s not how I was playing it, but you can interpret it however you want. The story of Betty and Veronica falling in love is a story that might work one day on our show, but as of right now, I don’t see it happening. I would love it, though. I think it would be an incredible story to play, and very real.”

Veronica's relationship with her father will be central to Season 2.

“Hiram Lodge coming back in Season 2, I feel, is symbolically Veronica’s past coming back to her. He represents this life she used to live with her family in New York, which I’m sure she looks back on as a perfect time in her life, when everything was handed to her, her family was united, she had all these friends. But now Veronica is a different person, and her father coming to Riverdale frightens her. We’re going to really dive into her relationship with her father, and who she becomes when he comes home. I’m sure there’s an element of daddy's little girl that is going to reveal itself through Season 2.”

With Cole Sprouse as Jughead and Lili Reinhart as Betty in Episode 13, "The Sweet Hereafter" The CW

Tonight's finale will bring rich character development, a huge twist—and a new mystery.

"I was so happy that Lee Toland Krieger, who directed the first three episodes, came back for the finale. He was originally going to direct [last week's episode], but the finale is really where we focus on character. It's less about plot and more about what these characters are going through now that Jason's murderer has been revealed. That trauma brings everyone together, and you really start to see why these people are friends with each other.

"Lastly, there's a huge reveal at the end, a huge twist that really sets off Season 2. It's kind of crazy, and we didn't know it was coming. It was a shock for all of us. Our show always needs to have that mysterious element, because that's the world we live in. So the murder has been solved, but there's a whole new mystery brewing."

The Season 1 finale of Riverdale airs tonight on The CW.

Emma Dibdin Contributor Emma Dibdin writes about television, movies, and podcasts, with coverage including opinion essays, news posts, episodic reviews and in-depth interviews with creatives.

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