These Pics Of Archie & KO Tease A Brutal 'Riverdale'-'Katy Keene' Crossover
Riverdale's spinoff series Katy Keene may be only a few episodes old, but it has already given fans a bunch of fun crossover moments — but the biggest one is yet to come. New set photos show KJ Apa and Zane Holtz posing together in boxing gear, so it looks like Archie and KO will fight in a Riverdale/Katy Keene crossover pretty soon. But when will this epic match take place? One tiny detail in the new pics may reveal the answer to whether KO will be coming to Riverdale in the past, or a future version of Archie will be entering the ring in KO's hometown of New York City.
Katy Keene has already crossed over with its sister series Riverdale so many times in just its first few episodes. Prior to the spinoff's premiere, Katy met up with her old friend Veronica Lodge in New York on an episode of Riverdale, and more recently, Riverdale's former mayor Sierra McCoy popped up on Katy Keene to visit her daughter Josie. Of course, Josie being a main character on Katy Keene after starring on Riverdale for the first three seasons is the biggest connection of all. Oh, and apparently Hiram Lodge will also be showing up on Katy Keene soon, in case everything else wasn't enough.
The most exciting crossover of all, though, is what appears to be an upcoming boxing match between Archie and KO. Fans immediately suspected something when Katy's boyfriend KO Kelly was first introduced, since his passion for boxing felt very similar to Archie's recent infatuation with the sport. Recently, showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa confirmed a crossover involving the two boxers was on the way by posting a photo of Holtz and Apa on set together.
Set photos also showed Holtz and Apa posing in their boxing gear with fake blood on their faces. The man in the middle is Darcy Hinds, who Riverdale fans might recognize as Archie's former boxing opponent Randy Ronson. Don't expect Ronson to rise from the dead, though; Hinds also helps out with stunt work on the show, and he's a boxer in real life, so he's likely just on set for some behind-the-scenes help.
Holtz also shared a pic of himself as KO prepping for the big fight, putting "#Riverdale" in the caption to let fans know about the crossover yet again.
So now let's address the big question: Will the fight take place on an episode of Riverdale or Katy Keene? While nothing is confirmed, all signs are definitely pointing to KO showing up on an upcoming Riverdale episode to face off against Archie. Not only did Holtz add the Riverdale hashtag to his photo, but Aguirre-Sacasa's post seems to be taken in Archie's gym.
The biggest tell of all, though, is that KO's tattoos are totally gone in the new photos. On Katy Keene, KO is covered in tattoos, but Holtz has no ink at all in the photo from the crossover.
It looks like the crossover will have taken place before KO got his tattoos, and since Season 4 of Riverdale is set five years in the past relative to Katy Keene, it stands to reason that the boxing match will be featured on the original Archieverse series. That means fans will get to see a much younger version of KO Kelly in an upcoming episode, and it's possible the event will also reveal more details about how KO first met Katy.
It's not clear when this crossover boxing match will happen; Riverdale's next new episode (Season 4, Episode 17, airing on April 8) will be the annual musical episode, set to Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which does not really seem like it will include this boxing showdown. Fans will have to stay tuned as Riverdale continues on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.
