KJ Apa Opens Up About What Painful Loss Of Luke Perry Means For Riverdale

Immediately after actor Luke Perry unexpectedly passed away in early March, the cast of Riverdale (and all of Hollywood) was in mourning. Right now, more than a month immediately after his death, co-star KJ Apa (Archie Andrews) has opened up about how the show will just be dealing with the fact that he's no longer around.


Entertainment Tonight discussed with Apa, who played Perry's onscreen son on the show while in a recent press tour for his upcoming Netflix romantic comedy The Last Summer, discussing the abrupt and devastating loss and also how it will effect Riverdale as a whole.


"His legacy is gonna live on in the lives around him, that he worked with, you know?" Mentioned Apa. "I'm never gonna forget him and I think it's still very fresh and we're all still dealing with it."


Perry passed away at 52 soon after a massive stroke. Immediately after his untimely death, support poured in from the Riverdale cast, viewers, and actors from far and wide while in the industry expressing their condolences and why much they'd miss Perry. The cast and crew are still mourning, case in point, as it's been exceedingly hard to deal with losing such a crucial friend and member of the team.


In terms of Riverdale's continuity, Perry's character Fred Andrews is now out of town. His spouse Mary Andrews (Molly Ringwald) is in town, and might potentially just be playing a much larger role than previously imagined.


"We're certainly gonna of course have to address it at some point," Apa continued. "Possibly, that demonstrates Molly stepping in as more of a mobile parent for Archie, although that all depends on the availability of the actors around us. So, you know, we'll do what we can."


Perry's final episode aired on Wednesday (April 24), though the Riverdale crew has nevertheless to divulge how they officially count on moving forward. Although while the show will have to move on sometime for the sake of holding the narrative with each other, one thing's for sure: It will take much, much longer for the cast to heal.