Riverdale's Season 2 Trailer Turns Up Its Dark & Murdery Vibe

If you thought the murder of Jason Blossom on season 1 of Riverdale was deliciously creepy, it's looking like season 2 will go way past that — like, possibly underworld-level, spine-chilling levels of darkness. It will also have all the good teen-soapy stuff we love about it. Or, at least, that's what we have gathered from the trailer and panel discussion on the show that took place at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday.

"People will look back at this as the exact moment that last bit of Riverdale's innocence finally died," Jughead (Cole Sprouse) says in voiceover of the trailer, echoing the way he began the Riverdale series premiere. That immediately puts into question whether we are also about to see Archie's father, Fred (Luke Perry) die, too. As Archie (KJ Apa), covered in his dad's blood, pulls his dad into the hospital, things don't look good.

Or maybe Fred will live and the innocent thing that will die is everyone's trust in Archie. Because when he describes his father being shot at Pop's, he doesn't seem entirely straightforward.

"I came out of the bathroom and there was this man wearing a hood, with a gun at Pop Tate, and then he pointed it at my dad and fired, and then he...," Archie says, trailing off. Jughead tries to get him to finish that thought later, to no avail.

Pop Tate (Alvin Sanders) gives us a little more to go on, if you believe him, that this gunman is "like the angel of death come to Riverdale."

But maybe the show isn't going full Vampire Diaries just yet. Inthe panel, according to Entertainment Weekly, producers Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Sarah Schechter, and the cast spoke a lot about more earthly dangers. One possible source is Veronica's shady dad, Hiram Lodge, played by Mark Consuelos.

"He’s just so calm and collected because at the end of the day, he’s a businessman and he knows how to put on a face and charm people, but the whole time, I’m still suspicious," Camila Mendes said of her character's father. Could Hiram have ordered a hit on Fred, his wife's former flame?

Lower down on the crime ladder is another new character, Toni Topaz (Vanessa Morgan), a new student and member of the Serpents who befriends Jughead.

“We jokingly say that she’s got a lot of the same interests as Jughead, so it’s almost like she’s a female Jughead," Aguirre-Sacasa said of the character. "She’s trouble! I think she’s trouble, getting Jughead into this gang."

The producer said Toni wouldn't just threaten Jughead and Betty's relationship, she's also going to be bisexual, like she is in the comic books. "So, it’ll be trouble for a lot of the people on this panel.”

None of that explains the last moment of the trailer, in which the always-creepy Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch), comforts her bandaged mother, "Things are going to be different now Mommy. Better. You'll see."

Eep! We'll all see on October 11, when Riverdale returns.