When we head to the all-American town of Riverdale in the CW's new TV show of the same name, we're not going to be the only new kids in town. Veronica Lodge will be moving in, too.
But she won't be the spoiled raven-haired rich girl that so many people know her to be in the comic books. Instead, this Veronica, played by Hollywood newcomer Camila Mendes, has a complex history all her own. (It's hinted that her father, the once doting Hiram Lodge, has been arrested for fraud.) And while she tries to shed the persona that plagued her in New York City, she gets tangled up in a whole new host of problems — and finds that you can't always escape your past.
"She wants to have a clean slate, but at the same time, everyone at the school knows about her situation," Camila tells Teen Vogue about how she approached Veronica's uneven footing as the new girl at Riverdale High. "Everyone's still skeptical about her, but at least she's around new people and she still has a chance to prove everybody wrong about who she is."
Camila adds that "in the comics, Veronica doesn't really have much conflict. Her onsets are very trivial, like 'What shoes am I going to wear to the ball?' It's very material kind of conflict, or conflicts that revolve around Archie. Now she's gone through this traumatic event — having her father being arrested for fraud on a very public level — and having that bring shame to her life. It's completely humbled her." She adds that Veronica is "more grounded now and wants to take life into her own hands."
For starters: "becoming a nice girl, trying to break away from the bad rep that the family has given her, and trying to establish her own identity," she says. And she'll do so with the help of Betty and Archie, who, in the classic comics, were two thirds of Veronica's love triangle. Instead, one person will ultimately matter more to Veronica, and it's not who you think.
"It was really important for us that Betty and Veronica were friends," Camila notes, echoing the sentiments of costar Lili Reinhart, who plays Betty. That isn't to say that conflict isn't there; as Camila recounts the opening scene in which we meet our three protagonists, she's quick to point out that "Archie is clearly infatuated by Veronica, and Veronica's completely disregarding Betty and giving all the attention to Archie." But once "Veronica finds out that Betty is in love with him, she immediately backs off... for the majority of the episode."
Anyone trying to fix bad habits would relate to the fact that Veronica falters here and there, but Camila insists that her intentions as a friend are true. According to her, the mistakes made along the way aren't "the defining factor of Veronica's character. Like, 'Don't judge me for my lapse of judgment. It's just, I'm working on it.' After that, Betty and Veronica are inseparable."
It's a far cry from the world of Betty versus Veronica that many people grew up with, but a necessary update for our modern times. After all, pitting women against each other is a pretty tired trope, and over what — a boy? No, thanks.
Betty isn't the only person with whom Veronica will find common ground; she and her mother, Hermione Lodge, are left to navigate Hermione's hometown of Riverdale together — along with ever-faithful butler Smithers, of course. For Camila, the scenes she shot with Marisol Nichols, who plays her mother, were some of the most fulfilling. "That's my favorite part of the show, honestly," she says of the dynamic. She adds that the Lodge women are "going through a really tough time, and they're doing it together. At times, they team up together and realize things together, and then at other times, they start to branch off and they're on completely different pages. Veronica's rebelling, and defying her mother, or disagreeing with her, betraying her, turning away from her. It's a very rocky relationship, and it's full of passion."
Of course, viewers are likely to pick up on the fact that Veronica and her mother are Latina, and in a way that feels natural. (Hermione calls her daughter "m'hija" in one scene, a nickname that will resonate with many Latinx viewers.) That isn't lost on Camila, who is Brazilian, and sees the show's cast as a major moment. "It's inclusive without even trying to be," she points out. K.J. Apa's Archie, she cites as a prime example. "Archie — your most all-American character — is being played by a New Zealand native, who's also half-Samoan. That's the world we're trying to live in."
Josie and her fellow Pussycats are also played by Ashleigh Murray, Hayley Law, and Asha Bromfield — all black actresses — and Camila could not be more excited for them. "Some kids will see Josie and that'll be the only Josie they know," she adds of Ashleigh's portrayal of the iconic teenage rock star. "I think that's a very beautiful thing to think that way. It's a reminder that things are changing. Slowly, but surely."
As for the murder-mystery that launches the series when Jason Blossom's body washes ashore, Camila is here for the dark reboot. "I think that it's what needed to happen to keep these characters alive," she says. "As the creators of the show bring this back to life, they're trying to find what's interesting about these characters, what's different about them now. All these characters are also trying to break away from their molds, and trying to figure out what makes them different from their parents, what makes them different from each other. That all plays into the coming-of-age story."
"These characters are timeless, they're universal, but that doesn't mean we can't play with them, and reinvent them, and tell their stories in a different context," she says. What does all of this add up to? The fact that when you tune into Riverdale, you're likely going to want to stay a while.
