'Riverdale' Spinoff 'Katy Keene' Just Cast 2 More Lead Roles
The Riverdale universe is growing with two more new faces. Up until now, the only actor that fans knew was going to star in the teen drama's New York City-based spinoff series Katy Keene was Ashleigh Murray, who will be bringing her Riverdale character of Josie McCoy over to the new show. Now, we know who Josie will be trying to make it big in NYC with. The Katy Keene cast just added two new members, and their roles make it clear that the new spinoff will have a lot more edge to it than Riverdale.
Although Katy Keene has yet to cast its eponymous role, the upcoming drama has filled out the rest of its main cast. The new show will follow four twentysomethings struggling to make their dreams come true in New York City. Of course, we know Josie McCoy will be pursuing her passion for singing in the big city, and the character of Katy Keene is all about fashion. The other two members of this foursome are Jorge Lopez and Pepper Smith. Deadline has revealed that Jorge will be played by Jonny Beauchamp (Penny Dreadful) and Pepper will be played by Julia Chan (Saving Hope).
The character of Jorge Lopez works at his family's bodega by day, but at night he transforms into his drag queen persona of Ginger Lopez, and he bartends and performs at a local club. Jorge has dreams of making it big on Broadway, and also of taking his drag career to the next level. Pepper Smith is described a New York City's trendsetting "It Girl" who wants to open her own version of Andy Warhol's Factory, but behind her life-of-the-party magnetism, it is unclear where she gets her money from... or if she even has any.
Riverdale and Katy Keene showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa welcomed Jonny Beauchamp and Julia Chan to the new show by posting a photo of them in character as Jorge and Pepper.
Katy Keene is currently in production, and although no premiere date has been set, it is expected to possibly premiere at the end of 2019 on the CW. The new show will mark the second spinoff of Riverdale, following last year's debut of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix. Both Riverdale and Sabrina have recently been picked up through four seasons.
One of the big questions surrounding all these new spinoff is whether there will be any crossovers between them. After all, they are all produced by Greg Berlanti, whose several other CW series (Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, and Black Lightning) form the Arrow-verse are known for constant crossovers with one another. Although there is still some promise that Riverdale and Sabrina may cross over in the future, fans should not expect Katy Keene to have a crossover. The reason for that is that Katy Keene will actually be set several years in the future from Riverdale's current timeline, since Josie is a teenager in Riverdale and will be aged up to her mid-twenties in Katy Keene.
Look for more details about Katy Keene to start coming out as the series continues its production.
