This ‘Riverdale’ Theory About Cheryl & Jason Will Have You Seeing Triple

For those who have been watching Riverdale for a while now, it should be pretty obvious that no plot twist or fan theory is too outlandish to be true. However, even the most seasoned fans can still get caught off guard by a new revelation every now and then. This is likely the case for many after the show’s Oct. 23 episode, in which something Nana Rose let slip has fans doing a double (or, cough, triple) take and wondering: Are Cheryl and Jason triplets on Riverdale? TBH, much weirder things have happened, even just in this episode.

Warning: Spoilers for Season 4 Episode 3 of Riverdale, “Dog Day Afternoon” ahead. The third episode of the season shows most of the teens on their own journeys, but for this specific theory, let’s forget about Jughead’s new prep school misadventures and Betty’s mission to destroy The Farm (including Edgar Evernever’s wild rocket ship getaway plan) and focus on our girl Cheryl. So far this season, Cheryl has been occupied by her feud with Mr. Honey and her dead brother’s corpse she’s keeping in the basement of Thistlehouse. Now in Episode 3, she’s also taking on the issues of strange noises in her family’s old manor, and the ravings of her grandma, who is — and I cannot stress this enough — creepier than ever.

Cheryl's storyline this episode kicks off with her and Toni finding Nana Rose staring into a roaring fireplace in the middle of the night. Nana was super out of it, and mistook Cheryl for Penelope, but that’s by far not the strangest part: She also told her granddaughter she thought she saw “the triplets” being burned in the fire, much to Cheryl's bewilderment.

First of all, that’s horrifying, and second of all, what triplets could this woman have been talking about? Cheryl assumed Nana meant the twins, Juniper and Dagwood, and corrected her as such, but this little moment was almost definitely more than a slip-up made by an elderly woman: Either Juniper and Dagwood secretly have another brother or sister, or Nana Rose was referring to a different set of siblings entirely.

For anyone super familiar with the Archieverse (or those who simply know their way around Reddit), the answer might be pretty obvious. In the Archie Horror miniseries Blossoms 666, it's revealed that Cheryl and Jason actually shared the womb with a third sibling named Julian, who was taken away by a cult and later killed by his own brother and sister. This comic-book spinoff is in an alternate reality from the main Archie Comics, but that doesn't mean Riverdale couldn't bring this character into its reality.

If you want to be even more convinced Julian is one of the triplets Nana was talking about, look no further than the Riverdale Season 4 NYCC trailer. In it, Cheryl, Toni, and Nana Rose are shown using an Ouija board to connect with Jason, and Toni remarks that it's not Jason moving the planchette. Nana responds: "Antoinette's right. It's Julia," and points at the creepy doll propped up at the table with them. Considering all the stretches Riverdale makes on a regular basis, Nana could actually be referring to the third Blossom sibling, whose name is only one letter away from the doll's.

Even if this triplet theory is true, it's unclear whether Julian would be alive or dead in this scenario. However, if he was alive, and hiding somewhere in Thistlehouse, this would explain not only the mysterious bumps in the night Cheryl and Toni were hearing, but it would also explain how Jason's corpse was mysteriously moved to the other side of the room when Cheryl went to check on him during the latest episode. Or, in an even twistier twist, if there really is a triplet, who’s to say Jason isn’t still alive, and it was the other brother who was killed way back at the start of all this?

Honestly, the possibilities are endless here. Fans will just have to stick around to find out exactly which triplets Nara Rose was talking about.

Riverdale continues on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on the CW.