Earlier in the year, we lost actor Luke Perry very suddenly at age 52 due to complications after a stroke. Perry’s loss that was felt across multiple generations due to his 30-plus years an actor. At the time of his death, Perry was starring on The CW show Riverdale playing Archie’s father Fred Andrews, and many were wondering how the series would address his loss. At San Deigo Comic-Con it was shared that his longtime friend and former 90210 costar Shannen Doherty will guest star in a special role in the season four premiere, which will serve as a to tribute Perry.
Entitled “Chapter Fifty-Eight: In Memoriam,” the season premiere will reflect Luke Perry’s special legacy and the enduring mark his character, Fred Andrews, had on Riverdale.
According to the CW press release sent out after this was announced at comic con, the casting of Doherty continues her long association with Perry, and that Perry and showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa had long planned for Doherty to appear on Riverdale before his passing.
Her presence on the series “is something that Luke wanted to happen since season one,” said Aguirre-Sacasa. “They were such good friends, and when we were putting together this tribute episode, we wanted to make it as special as possible, and so we asked Shannen to do a pivotal, super-emotional role. She read the script and immediately said ‘yes.’ It’s very impactful.”
Doherty also made a post on Instagram saying “I am deeply honored to pay tribute to Luke on Riverdale. The care in which this show takes in honoring his memory is beautiful. He is missed. Today. Tomorrow. Forever.”
As someone who was a huge fan of Perry, a huge fan of Doherty, and will always root for Beverly Hills, 90210‘s Brenda/Dylan, this is a really sweet and powerful shout out to the show and relationship that helped make Perry a pop culture icon. I can’t imagine anyone else who could be brought in for this kind of pop culture/entertainment tribute to Perry and I hope that this was a healthy and cathartic experience for everyone involved.
The show will return October 9 and we will sadly have to experience a Riverdale without Luke Perry’s solid, fatherly presence, but at least we got to see him be the kind of father that Dylan would have wanted for himself. From TV’s bad boy to one of TV’s best dads is a pretty solid full circle, even if it was cut short much much much too soon. Perry’s final big cinematic role will be Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which comes out later this year.
(via Screen Rant, image: Fox)
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