This Tiny Detail On 'Riverdale' Could Reveal Whether Jughead Dies In Season 4

Oh, Jughead. The dark, tortured "weirdo" of the Core Four is really in for some trouble now. While dangerous situations are old hat (er, beanie) for the character, this season of Riverdale is shaping up to be his most dramatic yet. However, despite the show's ominous flash-forwards indicating Jug will go missing — or worse — during spring break of his senior year, fans are pointing out a big clue that Jughead doesn't die in Riverdale Season 4 after all. While nothing is certain in this twisted show, hopefully this nugget of hope will have fans breathing a little easier.

Warning: Spoilers for Riverdale throughout. Jughead's spring break fate was first teased at the very end of the Season 3 finale. A time jump revealed Archie, Veronica, and Betty standing around a bonfire, covered in blood and stripped down to their underthings, while they burned Jughead's signature beanie and swore each other to secrecy about whatever just went down; their fourth pal was nowhere in sight. Recently, Season 4 expanded upon this foreboding future with another flash-forward showing a bunch of Jughead's loved ones on a search party through the woods, calling out his name. Considering all the murder that happens on this show, fans were not wrong to worry that Jughead might die soon.

Thankfully, a new theory circulating the internets has a different answer to what the flash-forwards mean. On Reddit, user @VanGoghNotVanGo points out a teeny, tiny detail — one that you'd have to be both eagle-eyed and well-read to catch — from Season 4 Episode 2 that indicates Jug will be alive and well when spring break rolls around.

The post reads:

So in this latest episode (402) Veronica was reading The Secret History ... The book is about this young man, who comes from somewhat poverty ... who attends this very fancy college and befriends a group of over privileged students. Stuff happens and they end up murdering another student, and covering it up afterwards. This makes me think that the theories about the thing that was alluded to at the end of Season 3 being the gang covering up a murder might be true. I think Jughead is somehow involved in the murder and the rest of the gang merely helps him cover it up. (They probably find him while being on the search party which we saw in this episode.)

ICYMI, here's Ronnie with the book:

TBH, it wouldn't be all that surprising if Riverdale hid a clue about Jughead's fate right in from of viewers' eyes. And when you consider some other small details Season 4 given fans so far, the theory is really driven home:

“Jug’s douchey roommate is named Bret, [likely] after Bret Easton Ellis, who went to [college] with Donna Tartt,” @keine_fragen commented on the original Reddit theory's thread. For those who don't know (aka me up until today), Ellis is the author and screenwriter of the classic American Psycho, and Tartt is the author of The Secret History. And bonus: There's another Stonewall student in Jughead's class whose name is Donna Sweett. Um, coincidence? I think the heck not.

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