Riverdale lends itself to fan theories pretty easily. When there's a murder involved, everyone's a suspect. And even if none of our favorite characters killed Jason Blossom (Trevor Stines), a lot of people on this show are definitely hiding something.
Does Betty (Lili Reinhart) have dissociative identity disorder, and "Polly" is really just her in a different mental state? Or is Polly a real character, who was pregnant before Jason's death? That said, we've been so focused on personality-based theories that we've ignored clues that could lead to a way bigger reveal.
Reddit user DeCurt1998 suggests that Riverdale might involve a zombie apocalypse, as Buzzfeed discovered. And before you stop reading: It's a lot more plausible than you'd think.
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As DeCurt1998 explains, Riverdale showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa created and wrote the "Afterlife with Archie" comic book series, which involves a zombie apocalypse, so there's reason to believe he might carry some of those ideas over into the TV show.
There have also been subtle hints that could point that way, as DeCurt1998 points out. We're talking about Cheryl's (Madelaine Petsch) dream about a zombie Jason, and her mysterious statement that her brother was "supposed to come back." Could she mean "come back" as in, in zombie form? "This could explain why Cheryl asks Jason if he's scared during the pilot," DeCurt1998 writes on Reddit. "They could both know that he is infected with something."
Plus, there's the weirdness surrounding scout leader Dilton Doiley (Major Curda) and his survivalist instincts. What's he so afraid of, if no one knows about Jason yet? As our Reddit user points out, in the "Afterlife with Archie" series, "Dilton is the first one to come to the conclusion that the animated corpses are zombies."
In the afterlife comics, Jughead (Cole Sprouse) is Patient Zero, Bustle points out. His body may be zombified, but his spirit is with Archie and his pals — is that why he's Riverdale's narrator? That would also help explain Jughead's odd statement about there only being three people in the Pop's booth when he was there with Archie (K.J. Apa), Betty, and Veronica (Camila Mendes). Or, Jason could still be Patient Zero, though there's got to be a connection between him and Jughead in there somewhere.
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If that hasn't convinced you yet, DeCurt1998 also observes that Polly's character suffers a mental breakdown in the "Afterlife with Archie" comic books, which would be in line with Riverdale. Plus, as pop culture has taught us, shooting zombies in the head is a great way to kill them — and Jason's body was found with a bullet to the brain.
And here's one more piece of evidence, courtesy of Buzzfeed. In "Afterlife with Archie" the apocalypse is triggered by Sabrina Spellman, and we've long heard rumors about the teenage witch stopping by the CW show. Sabrina wants to help bring Jughead's dog back to life; instead, she causes serious mayhem for the town.
We didn't peg Riverdale as a zombie show, but anything's possible.