Archie Andrews

"I was born alone. I'll die alone. I'll sing alone. I'll be okay."

- Archie to Valerie

Archibald "Archie" Andrews is the main character on Riverdale. He is portrayed by KJ Apa.

Archie is a student at Riverdale High School, a budding musician, and a football player for the Riverdale Bulldogs. His team number is nine, which was Jason Blossom's former number.

Character Description
''An intense, conflicted teen, a high school sophomore who got in shape over summer and now has to handle newfound attention from his female classmates. He struggles balancing his social life with his passion for writing and performing music — against the wishes of his father and his football coach.''

Early life
Archie grew up in Riverdale, the only child of Fred and Mary Andrews. His parents separated two years ago (Age 13) and his mother moved to Chicago, leaving him to be raised by his father. Archie, Betty Cooper, and Jughead Jones are childhood friends, he's know Betty since they were four, they became best friends having always gone to the same schools and been in the same classes. When he was in the 2nd grade, he was having trouble reading, so his teacher suggested that he be kept back a year, however, Betty was so against the thought of her and Archie not being in the same grade, that she took it upon herself to tutor him every day. When he passed, Archie kissed Betty, and asked her to marry him, she told him they were too young, but for him to ask again when they're eighteen, and she'd say yes.

Like his friendship with Betty, things were perfect between Archie and Jughead, that is until they had a recent fall out, temporarily disrupting their friendship. As he entered his adolescence, Archie started attending Riverdale High School, where he joined the football team. He spent the summer before his sophomore year working at his father's company, Andrew's Construction. This proved to be a defining summer for Archie, as he embarked on an illicit affair with his music teacher Geraldine Grundy, and during the course of one of their trysts, was startled by the sound of a gunshot ringing through the morning air. He later discovered that his fellow student Jason Blossom had died under mysterious circumstances. Fearful that their relationship would be discovered, he and Miss Grundy kept what they knew to themselves.

Season 1
The night before returning to school, Archie reunited with Betty after a summer apart at Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe, where he revealed to her that he wanted to pursue his newly-found passion for music. As Betty was on the brink of confessing her romantic feelings for him, he was distracted by the appearance of a new girl; Veronica Lodge. Archie immediately appeared interested, and so Betty stayed silent. At school the next day, Archie approached Josie and the Pussycats with the intention of offering them some songs he had written but was rebuffed. He also asked Ms. Grundy to listen to his songs, but she was wary and wanted to distance herself from him after the events of the past summer.

Archie expressed his uneasiness about what happened to Jason, but they agreed they had to remain silent. At football tryouts, Archie was offered Jason's spot on the varsity team despite only being a sophomore. Archie was reluctant to accept, citing his father's desire for him to help with the construction company as an excuse. He then ran into Betty and Veronica and agreed to go with them to the back to school dance. When he got home, his dad confronted him after receiving a phone call from Coach Clayton, claiming that Archie would be working for construction company, despite the fact that he had earlier told his father he would be playing football.

Archie revealed that he wanted to study music and had no desire to take over the family business. At the dance later that evening, Archie managed to persuade Ms. Grundy to agree to an independent study so he could work on his music. Betty finally revealed her feelings for him, to Archie's dismay, to make matters worse, at the after-party, Cheryl Blossom coerced Archie into playing Seven Minutes in Heaven with Veronica. They ended up kissing against their better judgement, and returned to the party to find that Betty had left in distress. Archie set off in search of her, going first to Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe, where he found Jughead instead.

Jughead told him to talk to her, as it would have worked with him. When Archie eventually returned to Betty's house, he told her that he loved her, but he couldn't give her the answer she wanted as he wasn't good enough for her. The following morning, after the discovery of Jason Blossom's body at Sweetwater River, Archie and Fred stood along side the shore as he was brought in and taken away.

Unable to sleep as his guilty conscious kept him awake, Archie texted Betty, hoping they could talk, unfortunately, she was not yet ready to talk to him after he turned her down the night of the Semi-formal. Despite it being the late hours of the night, Archie made his way to Geraldine's house, where he reminded her of the gunshot that they both heard on July 4th. This could've been the shot that killed Jason Blossom, and since they knew something that the police didn't, which is when it was fired, Archie thought it best to inform the authorities of this detail. However, Geraldine refused to go to the police because that could result her in her arrest and Archie's suspension, she figured they'd be better off leaving it to be discovered by the coroner during Jason's autopsy. The next morning, his dad revealed that he heard Archie sneak out last night, to which Archie explained he was going on a jog, as Jason's death had been weighing on him.

Before leaving, Archie received a surprise visit from Betty, who asked him to walk her to school. She explained her emotional state, and where she'd like to go from that point on in their friendship, Archie was relieved to learn that she wanted to remain friends. On his way to class, Archie stopped by the display case, which featured Jason in his Riverdale Bulldogs uniform, he then nervously looked away from Mr. Weatherbee as they announced to the school that Jason's death would be treated as a homicide. He was then confronted by Jughead, who explained that they were suppose to go on a road trip over the 4th of July weekend. which Archie bailed on at the last minute, Jughead wondered if Archie had possibly been hiding something.

Archie asked to be partnered with Cheryl during class in order to talk to her alone, notably, they hadn't talked since the summer, but Archie wanted to give his condolences on the loss of her brother. He asked if the police had any leads in the case, unfortunately they didn't, but Cheryl's twin tuition was telling her that it was someone they all knew. Archie was joined at lunch by Betty, Veronica and Kevin as he wrote one of his songs, which both Veronica and Betty insisted that he play for them. At their request, Archie performed his song for everyone in attendance, sadly, it struck an unforeseen nerve in Betty, in which she left the lunch table crying. The current rift in their relationship overwhelmed Betty, she could no longer pretend that the previous weekend never happen, before he could get a word in, Mr. Weather be called him over, hoping to talk about the look they had earlier exchanged.

Archie claimed that he was distracted and wasn't feeling well, but Weatherbee wasn't buying it, he told Archie if there was something he wanted to get off his chest, perhaps about Jason, he'd be there to listen. Archie immediately ran to Geraldine, and informed her of his latest encounter, but he wanted to know from her if what they had was real, because if it wasn't, he didn't know what he was protecting. Geraldine sensually grabbed his hand, claiming that what they had was indeed real, even if it wasn't right, she then told him that if he ever told Weatherbee the truth, they could never see each other again. That evening, he ran into Veronica as he picked up an order from Pop's shoppe, he then met Hermione Lodge, Veronica's mother and an old friend of his father. Before leaving, Hermione volunteered Archie to walk Veronica home, they talked about their mutually disintegrating friendships with Betty.

He told Veronica about his past with Betty, how they first met, and how she'd always been there for him in his time of need, so he hated that he hurt her. After dropping Veronica off, Archie discovered Jughead waiting for him on his front porch, who revealed to Archie that he knew about his affair with Ms. Grundy. Archie explained that he liked her, and that their relationship had been going on since the summer, he then went on to tell Jughead that they were at Sweetwater River on July 4th, and they heard the gun shot that potentially killed Jason Blossom. Informing the police would get Geraldine in trouble, which Archie could not do, as they cared for each other, but Jughead surmised that she only cared about herself. Archie shut Jughead down as he tried to offer some friendly advice, the Archie he knew wasn't perfect, but he at least always tried to do the right thing.

In the student lounge, Archie and Reggie got into a fist fight after Reggie threatened Jughead, unfortunately for Archie, he was on the losing side off the fight, left with nothing but a black eye. Once home, he told his father that the black eye was from Reggie, and that the argument Fred had stumbled upon the previous night between him and Jughead was over a girl. Archie thought they should do something, and it's the right thing, but if Archie does it, the girl says it would ruin what they have. Fred explained that he has to do the right thing at whatever the cost, even if it'll potentially ruin his relationship. During the Pep Rally, Archie approached Geraldine to tell her that he would be coming clean to Weatherbee and Sheriff Keller about the gun shot, although he respected her choice to stay out of it, he couldn't sit back and do nothing.

After talking to Geraldine. Archie went over to Jughead, and informed him that he'd be telling Weatherbee about the gun shot on July 4th. He then apologized for for the crap he said to him the other night. This was the beginning of a long road to mending their friendship. Following the pep-rally, Archie and Jughead joined Betty and Veronica in a booth at Pop's shoppe. The next morning, Archie prepared to come forward about the gun shot at Sweetwater, however, Sheriff Keller and Weatherbee were more concerned with Cheryl, as she admitted to be guilty.

The following morning, after Cheryl had explained what she meant by being guilty, Archie finally decided to tell the police that he'd also heard the gunshot that morning by the lakeside, which backed up Cheryl's claim of hearing gun fire as well. However, as promised, he didn't include Ms. Grundy in the confession, his cover story was that he was there with his dog, working on some songs that early morning. When he returned home that evening, his father had learned about his confession and confronted him on it. Fred assumed that he had been lied to as Archie claimed that he and Jughead would be on a road trip that July 4th, but Archie explained that he didn't want to drag his father into it. Which was an error in judgement as their argument resulted in Archie being grounded for two weeks.

They were going to crucify Cheryl if Archie didn't assist by corroborating her story about the gun shot, which is what he tried to explain to Geraldine the next day. He left her name out, so he didn't see the big deal, but to Geraldine it was a very big deal, because of his do-gooder tendency, he was currently wrapped up in a murder case, meaning if Sheriff Keller decided to dig, he could find out about them. With that in mind, Geraldine suspended their lessons. Cheryl thanked Archie in class for coming forward about the gun shot, in return she granted him one wish, which Archie took her up on, he wanted Josie's assistance in helping him with his music. Cheryl came through on her end, as Josie met up with Archie in the student lounge, she explained that the Pussycats would be rehearsing every night that week in preparation for the Taste of Riverdale, Archie was welcome to quietly sit in.

Despite being grounded, Archie crept out the house that night to attend the Pussycats' rehearsal. Upon Josie's arrival, he explained that he wanted them to record and play his songs, make them better, which Josie found to be quite amusing as she didn't believe that he was qualified the write for the Pussycats, who are “divas of color”. He was reminded by Josie that while Riverdale was opening up, there were still a lot of close minded people. He learned that they were called the Pussycats because they had to claw their way into the same rooms that someone like Archie could just walk into, so he couldn't possibly write her experience. But Archie may have managed to win her over with his suggestions on tweaking their song.

Fred caught Archie sneaking back into the house after a night at rehearsal with the Pussycats. Archie was scolded him for breaking curfew, which led to a heated argument as Fred wouldn't allow him to attend the Taste of Riverdale event. Archie wasn't happy that his father didn't understand his interest in music, as Fred would have pardoned him if he had a football game that night, but he wouldn't do the same for his music. Despite his father being perfectly clear on Archie not attending the Taste of Riverdale, he sneaked in anyways, and watched from the second floor with Jughead, as Josie and the Pussycats performed a song that he helped work on. In the distance, he saw Fred engaging in a conversation with his music teacher, Ms. Grundy.

They talked about Archie's music skills, in which Ms. Grundy assured Fred of his son's talents and how he's was a "special kid". Upon hearing this, the next day, Fred made the garage soundproof for Archie to continue practicing his music. Thrilled that his father finally believed in his passion, Archie went to thank Ms. Grundy for talking his dad into respecting his choice to pursue music and he asked if they could restart their music lessons, which then resulted in sex.

Archie and Fred attended Ms. Grundy's cello performance, thereafter, they congratulated her on the on the beautiful playing, and invited her out to diner, which Archie wasn't too keen on. Upon their arrival at Pop's shoppe, Archie was approached by Betty, who asked to speak with him alone as she confronted Archie on his love affair with Grundy. At that moment, Veronica walked into the conversation, just as shocked by the scandal as anyone else. Archie looked to Ronnie for back up, however, she was on Betty's side, agreeing that ethically, what he and Ms. Grundy were doing was wrong. He lied to Sheriff Keller and all of his friends in order to protect Geraldine, as she believed in him when no one else did.

The next day at school, Archie asked Jughead how hard it would've been for a heads-up, and if Betty would be writing about him and Grundy in the paper, like she did with Chuck Clayton. Archie wasn't sure what would happen in the long run with him and Grundy, but he wanted to hold onto what they had for as long as he could. He sat down at Pop's shoppe with Betty and Veronica, both of whom had done online research on Geraldine. They discovered that one year ago, she apparently appeared out of thin air, all her social media accounts only date back one year. Before that, there was no record of her existence, the only Geraldine Grundy they could find was an elderly woman that died 7 years prior.

Archie wondered if they "cyber-stalked" Ms. Grundy before or after Betty had her fake interview with her. He wasn't in any danger, so he questioned why Betty was so concerned when he wasn't, saying that if she was really his friend, she would let it go. Archie spent his night with Geraldine, watching old movies at her place, after his conversation with Betty and Veronica, he wanted to know more about her, such as if she'd always wanted to be a teacher. She told him that she had a dream of playing at major symphonies, but some times that's all they ever are; dreams. Archie then asked if they had was a dream, to which Geraldine asked what it be so bad if it was, because she thought of it as a nice dream, but Archie couldn't help but wonder where it would all end.

Archie approached his home to find Betty and Veronica waiting for him, they found a gun in Grundy's car, and an ID with the name Jennifer Gibson. This, along with the fact that she taught Jason Blossom and asked Archie to lie for her was more than enough for Betty to suspect her as the possible killer. Even in spite of all the evidence, Archie still defended Geraldine, but he wasn't quite why. The next day, with so many questions weighing on him, Archie finally decided to ask Geraldine about her past, starting with her real name, and why she even moved to Riverdale. Geraldine told him that she had a drunk abusive husband; one night he beat her to the point where she was in the ER with broken ribs and a shattered collar bone, he promised it wouldn't happen again, but when it did, she divorced him, changed her name and moved to Riverdale.

After leaving her house, Archie informed Betty of all he had learned from Geraldine, all of which explained why she had a fake identity and a gun. Archie claimed that he was going to deal with the situation involving Geraldine, but on his terms, not Betty's. That night, Archie payed Geraldine a surprise visit at school, he gave her an expensive cello bow as a thank you, for all her help. While he didn't want to end their lessons, that's exactly what he thought they should do, the bow was a "don't forget me" gift. Moments later, Alice Cooper came bursting into the classroom, with Fred and Betty, all three fully aware of what had actually been going on between Archie and Geraldine.

Alice wanted to turn the situation over to Sheriff Keller, which Archie refused to allow, everything that happened, he wanted to happen. Betty asked why her mother was putting Geraldine on trial, in which Alice explained it was more about Archie, and her wanting to expose him for the person that he was. Archie admitted that he was selfish and stupid, but he pleaded with Alice to leave Grundy alone, however, there was no getting through to her, Alice even threatened to inform the neighbors. Had she done that, Betty would've told the town how she robbed Geraldine and made up the story of her affair with Archie, which would lead everyone to think what many already believe, which is that crazy runs in the Cooper family. Alice agreed to keep quiet so long as Geraldine quit her job and left town, unfortunately, Archie wasn't too satisfied with.

Archie sat in his father's truck crying as they pulled up to the house, Fred told him that he was none of those things he said, and that it wasn't his fault, he then hugged him. A little later, he received a text from Betty, saying I'm sorry, he texted back, telling her it was okay.

Archie pounded on a punching bag all night long in an effort to get back in fighting shape for football. With Coach Clayton preparing to set a starting line up, and name a new team captain, Archie needed to be at the top of his game, as football would get him a scholarship to college, where he could then study music. The next morning during practice, Archie took a hard hit on the field due to his lack in focus, which Coach wasn't too pleased with. He called over Reggie, who also had his eye on team captain, and pitted the two players against each other, whoever impressed him the most within a week would be named the next team captain. Archie attempted to smooth things over with Reggie, but he wasn't interested, claiming that he was the only one deserving of wearing Jason Blossom's jersey.

Archie was joined by Betty, Jughead, Veronica, and Kevin as he sat in the bleachers studying his index cards that were labeled with football plays. Veronica asked how his life was in the PG (post Grundy) world, but with his eye on the spot as Varsity captain, Archie wasn't concerning himself with much else. Betty wondered if he was throwing himself into football in order to avoid his feelings. Archie claimed that he wasn't avoiding anything, that he was only trying to get his life back on track, which Valerie offered to help with since she knew of amazing song writer from New York, Oscar Castillo, who at that time was assisting at Carson College. She told Oscar about Archie, as he did some coaching on the side, and was willing to mentor Archie if possible, but with football season coming up it would be difficult, Archie thanked Val nonetheless.

Cheryl then showed up, and invited each of them to Jason Blossom's Memorial. In the locker room, after some reflecting, Archie decided to take Valerie up on her offer, and contact Oscar Castillo. Archie informed him that he began writing songs that summer, after a kid at his school died, the first song he wrote was about him. Archie only writes a couple hours a day, but he planned to do more once football season ended. Archie then handed Oscar a USB drive with his music, however, he was expecting sheet music. Oscar didn't teach performance, for them to even proceed in a constructive way, they needed to be on the same page.

Archie spent that night in his room writing down his music with Valerie, she was surprised with how quick he caught on. Fred entered the room, surprised by Valerie's presence, as he wasn't aware she was there, which led to a lot of rambling on from Fred, until Archie stopped him, saying that they were busy working on his music. Back on the field, Archie struggled to remember the plays, having to write them on his arm, which wasn't much help as he was still clueless during practice, meaning he didn't stand a chance against Reggie, who unintentionally injured Archie's hand. Fortunately, Archie managed to pull off one successful play, but as Reggie helped him up, he realized that Archie's hand was busted yet Archie refused to sit out. Veronica found him sitting on a bench, wrapping his playing hand, she assisted him, while at the same time wondering if he was punishing himself.

Archie explained he hurt his hand because he didn't know the play, and he didn't know the play because he was up writing music all night, instead of studying. She finished wrapping his hand, and told him to take better care of it since it would be worth millions one day. Archie met with Oscar as planned, who described Archie's songs as juvenile and repetitive, which is why he didn't think he had anything to offer Archie. That weekend, Archie attended Jason's memorial, along with Jughead, Betty, Veronica, Kevin and Valerie. Unexpectedly, he approached Penelope Blossom, giving his condolences then handing over Jason's jersey, but Penelope couldn't see past how much he looked like Jason, she stroked his hair before apologizing and thanking Archie for the kind gesture.

Following the memorial, Archie and Valerie grabbed a booth at Pop's shoppe, Archie wondered if Ms. Grundy had possibly lied to him about his talent, but Val didn't understand why he was questioning himself. She explained that doing what they're doing is hard, almost impossible, but Valerie wondered if it wasn't his coach, his father, or Oscar holding him back, maybe it was himself. One week had past, and as promised, Coach was ready pick a new captain, he chose Archie after that stunt he pulled with giving the Blossom family Jason's jersey, which Coach believed to be the showing of a good leader. However, Archie turned down the role as team captain because he needed to focus that part of him into music, but he still wanted to be on the team.

Archie appeared in Jughead's dream, where he claimed Jughead stabbed him in his back, as he literally had a kitchen knife sticking out of his back. That morning, he ran into Jugead after showering in the boys locker room at the High School. Archie wondered what Jughead was doing there so early, he came to find out that Jughead had been living of a forgotten closet under a staircase, and that he had been living at the Twilight Drive-In before that, his home situation wasn't too good. Jughead's dad fell off the wagon after being fired by Archie's dad. Archie then did what any best friend would do, he offered Jughead to stay at his house, which Jughead declined as as his situation was only temporary.

In the student lounge, Archie noticed a moment shared between Jughead and Betty, where he put his arm around her as she told them about the current situation with Polly. Despite her parents not wanting to go the police, Archie suggested that Betty do it anyways, but Betty decided against it. Afterwards, Archie caught up with Jughead, and confronted him about a comment he had earlier made about not telling Betty about his living situation. Archie surmised that this was due to the fact that Jughead and Betty were a couple, which Jughead admitted was true. He then went on to say that his father was willing to give Jughead's father another chance, but only if FP wanted it. Archie thought it would be a good idea if Jughead went to talk to his father as well.

Archie assisted in the search party throughout Eversgreen Forest for Polly, they initially headed East, towards Sweetwater River. He apologized to Betty for not being there to help with her sister, which Betty said was okay, as he was there helping at that moment. In celebration of FP's first successful day back at Andrews Construction, Archie, Fred, Jughead and FP went out to eat at Pop's shoppe, where the two fathers told stories about their younger years. After diner, Archie, Jughead and FP rocked out in the garage, FP complemented him on his skills, claiming Archie was far better than his father. Before he could leave, Archie asked FP what he meant when he had earlier said that Fred owed him, to which FP explained that he got into trouble after working some odd jobs to support his family, Fred bailed him out, however, he wanted nothing to do with FP afterwards.

Following his jam session with FP, Archie confronted Fred with the story he previously heard that night. Fred explained that FP was stealing from the company and selling things on the side, Fred gave him many chances, but FP insisted on screwing up every time. Fred told Archie that you can't save someone from drowning if they're going to drag you down with them, but Archie didn't believe it was fair for Jughead to drown with FP. The next day, Archie, Betty and Fred headed down to the Sheriff Station as Jughead was taken into custody and interrogated. To Archie's surprise, his father lied to Sheriff Keller, claiming that Jughead was tearing down drywall for Andrews construction on July 11th, which Fred later falsified a time card to prove, Archie was shocked at how good his father was at falsifying work documents, as if he had done it before.

After a tearful moment between FP and Jughead, after leaving the station, Archie once again extended an invitation for Jughead to live with him, as FP got himself together. Jughead initially said no, but later ended up staying there anyways. Archie then apologized about how things went with his father and Jughead's.

Physical Appearance
Archie is a tall, muscular teenage guy with pale skin, messy, light red hair and brown eyes. While we haven't seen Archie's build before the start of the series, he got 'hot' (according to Kevin) during the summer, as he was working at his father's construction company. Now that he's in shape, he must maintain that appearance in order to keep his position on the Riverdale Bulldogs.

Relationships

 * Archie and Jughead
 * Archie and Betty
 * Archie and Veronica
 * Archie and Josie
 * Archie and Valerie
 * Archie and Reggie
 * Archie and Geraldine
 * Archie and Cheryl
 * Archie and Fred
 * Archie and Mary

Trivia

 * Archie appears to be a big fan of the American comic book publisher, . He had two posters plastered in his room, one of and another of the