‘Riverdale’ Star Vanessa Morgan Teases ‘Hot and Heavy’ Third Season

Riverdale returns to the small screen on Oct. 10, and series star Vanessa Morgan is spilling some secrets.

Morgan stars as Southside Serpent Toni Topaz on the CW’s teen drama, and the 26-year-old has been upgraded to series regular this season after becoming a fan-favorite character in Season 2.

Along with her pink hair and no-cares attitude, Toni’s relationship with Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) was also a favorite of fans, and Morgan told Entertainment Tonight that the pair are definitely on in Season 2.

“We’re going hot and heavy,” she said. “We had a kissing scene last episode that was great. Yeah, we’re getting steamy!”

That scene will show up in episode five, several episodes into Cheryl’s new role as an honorary serpent.

“She’s a badass as a serpent,” Morgan said of Cheryl’s Southside persona. “She’s been taking over and she’s just been like, ‘I’m comfortable here.’ She just, kind of, made it ‘HBIC’ except for with the serpents, you know? She’s fitting in.”

Morgan also told Hollywood Life that Toni and Cheryl are in a “full blown relationship now.”

“I don’t know much yet, but I do know we are going steady and that is good,” she said. “So hopefully the Riverdale fandom gets to see more of that!”

As for what the rest of the season will bring, Morgan teased a “dark” mystery “completely different” from that of the show’s second season, which saw Betty (Lili Reinhart) ultimately unmask her father as the Black Hood serial killer who had been terrorizing the town.

“The storyline is really interesting, it’s a completely different mystery than season two,” Morgan shared. “It’s very dark, but I like it. It’s my vibe.”

Executive producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa added to Entertainment Weekly that this season’s central mystery recalls another detecting-centered show.

“We jokingly call it teen detectives meets True Detective, because we find Betty and Jughead investigating this really disturbing crime that seems to speak to the very twisted history of Riverdale,” he revealed.’

That means that Betty and Jughead (Cole Sprouse) will share plenty of screen time, something fans will be happy to see.

“What made people fall in love with them from the start was seeing them together as this team, a crimefighting duo,” Reinhart said. “You definitely see that within the first few episodes. They take this new killing spree under their belts, which is a lot for two teenagers to do.”

Photo Credit: The CW