This 'Riverdale' Photo Of Archie & Betty As Kids Teases A Flashback Episode

In Season 3, Riverdale rewound time for a special flashback episode centered on the town's adults, and now it appears Season 4 has another exciting time-jump in store for fans. This time, instead of seeing Riverdale's parents as high schoolers, viewers will get to see the Core Four as children... well, at least Archie and Betty. It seems like this Riverdale photo of Archie and Betty as kids is a first look at an adorable flashback scene to come.

Showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa tweeted out a photo of a young boy and girl lying on the floor next to a record player, and captured every fan's attention by captioning it, "#Riverdale, the early years." Although there was no indication of whether this flashback would take up an entire episode or just a few minutes, the message seemed to be that Season 4 will have its own flashback episode similar to Season 3's "The Midnight Club," which showed Fred Andrews, Alice Cooper, F. P. Jones, Penelope Blossom, Hermione Lodge, Hiram Lodge, Sierra McCoy, and Tom Keller all discovering Griffins & Gargoyles as high school students. While that episode had the fun, meta casting of all the young actors playing their own character's parent, this new flashback episode will clearly bring in younger actors to play members of the Riverdale High group as kids.

It's pretty clear the young girl in the photo is meant to be Betty as a child — she's got Betty's blonde hair and is rocking her iconic ponytail, after all. Fans are a bit divided on who the boy next to Betty might be, though. Some think it could possibly be Jughead, while others point out how close Betty and Kevin have been for so long. But, of course, the most likely option is that the boy is a young Archie, given that he and Betty have been neighbors forever and he's even dressed in the laid-back style that is signature Archie. This focus on Archie and Betty's bond has also been a big part of recent Riverdale episodes, particularly a flash-forward seemingly teasing that Betty and Archie may rekindle their romance in the future.

There's also a mysterious third person in the photo. Someone wearing a pair of black boots is standing over Archie and Betty. This could be young Jughead, since he has a darker sense of style.

That just leaves on pressing question: Will we see a younger version of Veronica in this upcoming episode? It's a tricky question, considering Veronica grew up in New York City while Archie, Betty, and Jughead were all friends in Riverdale as kids. Despite the geographical roadblock, it would still feel a bit off for the flashback episode to include kid version of only three members of the Core Four, so maybe the show will find some way to include a little Ronnie too.

It is not clear when this flashback episode will air, but it is definitely one to get excited for. Riverdale Season 4 premieres new episodes each Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.