Lili Reinhart Wants You To Stop Missing the Point of Riverdale

[Warning: The following contains spoilers for the Riverdale Season 7 premiere. Read at your own risk!]

"You never know what you're getting into when you go back for a season of Riverdale." That's true for both the viewers and the actors, who might find themselves escaping from a cult or fighting off a serial killer or performing an elaborate, not-safe-for-high-school musical number. Compared to some of the things these kids have been through, high school in the 1950s is a piece of cake, regardless of how it may first appear. "When I first heard we're going back to high school, I was like, why? What does that mean? It's going to be so weird, but it actually really works and makes sense," star Lili Reinhart tells TV Guide. "In a way, being in the 50s and being back in high school feels like coming home for these kids, and for the viewers who have been around since Season 1. I think it's just a fun way of saying goodbye to these people." 

Reinhart has played Betty Cooper since the pilot, and has ushered the girl next door through some pretty life-changing journeys. She discovered that her dad was a serial killer and struggled with her own darker instincts, and she became an FBI agent who specialized in tracking down serial killers. She briefly joined a coven of witches, and last we saw her, she was getting apocalypse-engaged to Archie Andrews (KJ Apa). Now, she's a teen girl who knows nothing about serial killers and just wishes her boyfriend Kevin (Casey Cott) would show any interest in her whatsoever. Sorry Betty, but you're not actually his type.

The season premiere spent most of its time establishing that in order to eventually restore the present day timeline and save Riverdale from the comet that was hurtling towards it, the kids would have to live out their lives in the 1950s, using their emotional memories to be their true selves at a time when that was frowned upon. As creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa described it after the Season 6 finale, it's Euphoria in the 50s, and it's even more fun than that sounds. And while people on the outside may hear that description and be looking over at broadcast's strangest drama going, "What on earth is happening?" and "How is that still on?," Reinhart says they've "missed the point." "Riverdale is camp. Riverdale is WTF, and that's what keeps it interesting and crazy. We are not a grounded-in-reality show. I think the performances and the relationships are grounded, and I think we have really wonderful talented actors who are on our show and who take this craziness and bring it to life," she says. "It's easy to judge the show from the outside as f–king bizarre, but that's because it is, and that's when we're like, okay, you clearly don't understand camp, because that is what we are, and it's been f–king fun and a blast and I wouldn't want to be on a normal high school television show anyways." 

She's not wrong, either. Those who get Riverdale get it, and those who don't are simply missing out. 

Below, Reinhart tells TV Guide all about saying goodbye with a season in which Betty gets to be real horny, and offers a warning to all the shippers out there: You might want to head into the rest of the season ready to let go of your ship.

What excited you the most about being able to take Betty back to high school, to her roots? 
Lili Reinhart: Honestly, I'll say this for Roberto. He is obsessed with color, and he's very involved in our wardrobe, and he could not f–king stand my FBI agent wardrobe. It was so formal, like work attire, and he was like, "One of the main reasons we needed to go back to the 50s is so I can see you wearing sweaters again." So I like to say we went back to the 50s because Roberto wanted me to wear color again, but it's definitely more than that. I love period pieces in general, so playing the 50s is super fun, but also just playing the innocence of the time, playing a young woman who is trying to figure out her sexuality and explore her sexuality in an environment where people are telling her not to is super, super fun. It's been a great season-long arc for Betty being horny, basically, and it's fun to watch and super fun to play. I've had a great time. 

What's it like for you to explore being a woman in a time like that? 
Reinhart: It's the physicality of it as well, playing a 15 or 16 year-old at the time, making sure my mannerisms are a little less confident and more insecure, a little bit more shy. She's unsure of herself. The way we speak is different, so that's been fun. And obviously none of us are trying to take it too seriously. I think you can tell that we're having fun, especially KJ. It's just been fun to play a young woman who is trying to break out of her shell in a world where people are telling her to be quiet and stay in line and be a good girl. Betty's not. We know deep down. We've seen her for six seasons, and [we know] she's not the girl next door. She really is a lot more than that, and her budding sexuality really takes the forefront of her storyline this season, and of course that's been fun and exciting to play as an actor. 

Like you said, we've seen her grow so much from that girl next door, so how does this season still represent that growth even as she's back in high school with no memories, especially since it's the end of the story? 
Reinhart: I think in a way, it's just showing a different side of her. It's the same Betty. You can definitely feel and sense that it's the same Betty — the younger Betty who's a little less sure of herself, but it's still the Betty that stands up to her mom and doesn't take her mom's s–t. I've worked with Madchen a lot and had a lot of those classic Betty/Alice fight scenes. I think in that regard, you see that it's the same Betty, she's just put in a repressed sort of box. And when that happens, you do see her sexuality come out, and you can tell that there was like this inner…I don't know what you would call it. This inner sexy woman, like when that black wig came out, there's that side of her that has always existed. So to put that in the 50s and say hey, this is just a woman who's very in touch with her sexuality and wants to get to know herself sexually in an environment where she's told that she can't, so of course it becomes her main focus as a young woman. She'll find herself through her sexuality, and I think it all ties in very beautifully to the Betty we've seen for six years. It still feels like her, it's just her in a different era and a different setting, and a new side of her personality. She's still a fighter, you know? 

I know you don't yet know how the show ends, but do you have hopes for Betty's ending? 
Reinhart: I don't know. I think there's a bunch of different ways it could end, and we all have this idea of how we want things to end. And you know, people are holding out for certain couples to end up together, and I just don't want to crush people's dreams, but I would say maybe go into this season letting go of that a bit. Just kind of enjoy the characters and the show for what it is, and not necessarily for the ships that they want to end up together, because at the end of the day, these characters are not defined by their relationships. I think that's a big point we're trying to make in this last season, because everyone's kind of dipping their toe in a bunch of different situations. It's not just one couple. I don't know how the show's going to end, but don't get your hopes up. I'm just trying to cushion the blow for people who want certain people to end up together, because I don't know if anyone's going to end up with anyone. I just have no idea. 

I mean, last we saw, Riverdale was destroyed by a comet and now you're in the 50s dating Kevin. 
Reinhart: Right! Casey and I both had a blast, we really did. We're both from Cleveland. We're Cleveland people. We've been close for seven years, and like, I went to this man's wedding last year. I had a great time shooting with him at the beginning of this season when Betty and Kevin were figuring out their relationship. It was fun because we hadn't seen that yet.

What was the vibe like when you got back to set for this final season? 
Reinhart: I mean, it's been an adjustment playing these 50s characters, but it has also been a really nice refresh and restart, because I don't know where we would have gone after Season 6 had it not been back in time. I'm just not sure what we would have done, so I think it was the right thing to do. And coming all back together, I think we were obviously all aware that this was our last season together, and I try to remember that and hold on to that when I show up for work, and I'm grateful when we're all in a scene together and we can all hang out. I'm trying to spend as much time with the girls as I can. We're going on a little girls weekend trip together, so it's like we're really trying to enjoy this last season for what it is and take advantage of our time together. There's a nice sense of family and appreciation for each other. 

Riverdale airs Wednesdays on The CW. Seasons 1-6 are now available on Netflix.