Jughead’s not dead: The hottest ‘Riverdale’ S4 theories

We all know Riverdale is the best kind of guilty pleasure show, sucking you into twists and turns full of murder, sex, and mystery. It’s no surprise that Riverdale is The CW’s biggest show for the past three seasons, and still giving the network big numbers this season. But with a twist coming forward like this season’s, of course everyone’s tuning in.

At the end of season three, Betty (Lili Reinhart), Archie (KJ Apa), and Veronica (Camila Mendes) were seen burning Jughead’s (Cole Sprouse) hat and clothes with blood across Archie’s chest. Since then, season four of Riverdale has had several flash-forward moments showing the repercussions of Jughead’s disappearance and possible murder. 

Last week’s episode “Witness for the Prosecution” solidified the idea of Jughead’s murder. Betty, Veronica, and Archie get arrested by police and FP (Skeet Ulrich) for Jughead’s murder. But with a show like Riverdale, fans know to expect the unexpected, and they have a real good idea of what’s actually happening. 

Jughead isn’t dead; he’s just writing his own murder.

Also in “Witness for the Prosecution”, we found out Jughead’s writing class got an assignment to write a story. The topic? “The Perfect Murder”. What if all these flash-forwards are just peeks at Jughead’s story? It’s right up Jughead’s alley to write a story about his own murder, considering his narration of the entire series. 

Plus, the last thing anyone would want to see is Jughead actually getting killed off. The question is: in Jughead’s story, who would he pick as his murderer? In “Witness for the Prosecution” Betty finds out that within her blood are “serial killer genes”. Our money is that she ends up being revealed as the murderer, and then Veronica and Archie helped clean up the mess.

Dylan Sprouse’s time to shine

Of course, that’s not the only theory going on. Within the Archie Comics universe, Jughead has two people who have dressed up as him or look exactly like him: his cousins Nathan and Souphead. So what if this is all real, but on the table is Souphead or Nathan? Then Jughead gets the chance to leave town and follow the trail of his grandfather’s legacy.

As you may know, Cole Sprouse also has a twin, Dylan. So if Riverdale decides to pull a “secret twin” twist, this is the perfect excuse to get Dylan on the show. Or, Cole could carry the weight of two characters. But with the amount of secret half-siblings on Riverdale, it’s not a stretch to assume secret twin cousins will come out of the woodwork. 

Jughead’s actually dead. (Cue the tears.)

Of course, we could all just be trying to find excuses to cover for the fact that Jughead is 100% dead. After all, the biggest twist ever would be killing off Riverdale’s narrator and having him tell the story from beyond the grave. But if that’s the case, is it Archie, Veronica, or Betty who actually kills Jughead?

The murder trail points to Betty being involved. But the more likely suspect would be Jughead and Betty’s half brother, Charles (Wyatt Nash), who not only has the serial killer gene but also reveals he joined the FBI to “escape his dark past”. Naturally, this means Betty will go digging into her half brother’s past, with Jughead by her side. 

If anyone has motive to murder Jughead, it’ll be Charles trying to keep his dark secrets in the dark. Betty gets Veronica and Archie involved to stop him, but they’re too late – so they have to clean up the mess Charles left behind. 

—

If you have a different theory on what’s going on with Jughead, tweet us and let us know. We want to solve the mystery before the mystery solves itself.