‘Riverdale’ Pays Tribute To Luke Perry In Stand-Alone Season 4 Episode With Shannen Doherty

Luke Perry will be on everyone’s mind when the late actor, who played Fred Andrews since day one of Riverdale, will be remembered on Season 4, Episode 1 of The CW series. The subject of the stand-alone episode (titled “Chapter Fifty-Eight: In Memoriam”), Perry suddenly died due to a massive stroke in March. He was 52.

Riverdale has been planning this special tribute episode ever since the actor passed away. The episode will “reflect Perry’s enduring legacy and the indelible imprint his character” Fred Andrews — the father of JK Apa’s Archie — made on the series, Robert Aquirre-Sacasa, Riverdale‘s executive producer said this past weekend at Comic-Con 2019 in San Diego via Variety.

Aguirre-Sacasa held court in Hall H during the last day of this year’s Comic-Con when he also announced that Shannen Doherty will guest star in the Season 4 opener. As part of the regular cast, Doherty appeared with Perry on Beverly Hills 90210 and they were friends ever since the first of those glory days in the early 1990s.

Perry had been wanting to include Doherty on the series ever since Riverdale debuted in January 2017. He was still hoping to have his colleague and buddy guest star on The CW show up until his untimely death earlier this year, reported TV Line.

“‘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,’ Aguirre-Sacasa said. ‘She read the script and immediately said ‘yes.’ It’s very impactful.”

Although no details about Doherty’s part on Riverdale have been offered, the fact that her character is extremely emotional makes sense since the actress admitted at the time of Perry’s death that she had been “struggling with this loss.”

She also emphasized that “processing” what had happened was “impossible,” according to Variety.

In addition to the upcoming Riverdale tribute, Luke Perry will not be forgotten on the Beverly Hills, 90210 reboot either, stated The Inquisitr.

“The actor, who played teen heartthrob Dylan McKay for seven seasons on the hit 1990s drama series, will be honored by his longtime co-stars when the revival — titled BH90210 — premieres next month.”

Although Perry had not been able to join the seminal show’s reboot “due to his commitments as a star on The CW series Riverdale,” the beloved actor did show interest in appearing on the reboot in some capacity.

Riverdale returns to The CW on October 9 for the special stand-alone Luke Perry tribute episode featuring Shannen Doherty.

BH90210 premieres on August 7 on Fox.