When Luke Perry suddenly died in early March, the big question on every Riverdale fan’s lips was how will the series address the sudden disappearance of his character Fred Andrews.
Since Perry’s death, eight episodes have aired and he has yet to be written out of the show.
Every single time I see Fred in an episode it still makes me cry. @CW_Riverdale pic.twitter.com/uEkVB1ynxI
— Lexi (@AlexStP711) May 11, 2019
The actor’s final appearance on the show was in the fourth last episode of season three and after that Archie (KJ Apa) mentions his dad is out of town for some reason and his estranged mother Mary Andrews (Molly Ringwald) fills in at home.
Did Riverdale ever address Luke's death in any way… is Fred on a trip or??? Haven't heard a word.
— KJM (@kristyjmc) May 20, 2019
Now, showrunner Robert Aguirre-Sacasa has confirmed the Riverdale will address his disappearance at the very beginning of season four.
I'm also so glad #Riverdale chose not to handle Fred this season. It would have felt so out of place. Now hopefully he gets a proper send-off next season. if it happens off-screen over the break, though, that's terrible.
— Andrea Reiher (@andrea_reiher) May 16, 2019
Speaking with E! News, Aguirre-Sacasa said he and the writers of the show postponed writing Fred Andrews out of the show because the final episodes of the show had already been heavily plotted and they didn’t want to rush saying goodbye to the character.
“When Luke passed, it was such a shock, and it was devastating and we kind of have to deal with the emotion of that, and then you have to figure out everything that comes next. And we’d already pretty much plotted out the rest of the season. We’d written a bunch of the rest of the season and it felt like rather than try to squeeze something — and for me, something that’s so monumental and so defining… and we didn’t know how we wanted to deal with it. You know, you’re just reacting. So we thought rather than do it quickly or do it wrong, let’s take our time, let’s figure it out, and let’s deal with it at the beginning of Season 4.”
Which makes a lot of sense. Why would you rush writing off a much-loved character from the show when you can give yourself a little time to breathe and figure it out.
Knowing the Riverdale writers, the storyline could end up being a little left of field!