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Katy Keene’s Lucy Hale and Ashleigh Murray Reveal Riverdale Crossover Wishlist

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Riverdale’s five-year time jump into Katy Keene’s world just got a wishlist attached to it.

Ahead of its midseason premiere on The CW, Katy Keene stars Lucy Hale and Ashleigh Murray sat down with TV Guide during The CW’s Television Critics Association summer press tour to talk crossovers. The pitch was simple: bring some of Riverdale’s original cast into Katy and Josie’s New York City. Top of the list — Camila Mendes’s Veronica Lodge, and, for laughs, a bearded, five-years-older Archie Andrews.

• Ashleigh Murray, who played Josie McCoy on Riverdale before her character relocated to New York to chase a music career, is one of the driving forces behind the crossover push in the new spin-off.
• Hale and Murray specifically championed a Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes) appearance and joked about seeing KJ Apa’s Archie Andrews show up sporting a beard.
• Executive producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has already confirmed crossovers are planned between Riverdale and Katy Keene, despite the shows being separated by a five-year time jump.

The Josie Connection

Murray’s presence in the wishlist conversation isn’t just casting trivia — it’s the connective tissue between the two shows. Josie McCoy left Riverdale, Kansas for New York to build a solo music career, and that jump forward in time is the entire premise separating Katy Keene from its parent series. Having Murray push publicly for old castmates to show up in her new show signals that the writers’ room, not just the fans, sees the crossover as unfinished business rather than a gimmick.

Veronica And The Bearded Archie Pitch

Hale and Murray didn’t just name-drop Riverdale characters at random — they zeroed in on Veronica Lodge and Archie Andrews specifically. Camila Mendes’s Veronica made the most sense as a crossover candidate given her business instincts would fit naturally into Katy Keene’s fashion-and-hustle setting in Manhattan. The Archie pitch was more of a bit than a serious ask, with the pair leaning into the idea of KJ Apa’s character aging five years and showing up with a beard — a visual joke that played well with the TCA press tour crowd.

An older, bearded Archie Andrews walking into Katy Keene’s New York was the joke Hale and Murray couldn’t resist pitching.

Aguirre-Sacasa Already Confirmed It’s Happening

This wasn’t just actors wishcasting. Executive producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa had already confirmed that crossovers between Riverdale and Katy Keene were in the works, even with the five-year gap built into the timeline separating Riverdale, Kansas from Katy Keene’s New York. That gap is the built-in challenge — any appearance means aging characters up, the way Hale and Murray joked about with Archie — but Aguirre-Sacasa’s confirmation meant the wishlist conversation had real production backing behind it, not just fan-service speculation.

Katy Keene was set to premiere at midseason on The CW, giving fans time to see whether any of Hale and Murray’s picks — Veronica’s shopping trip potential, or that bearded Archie cameo — actually make it to screen once the spin-off gets rolling.