'Riverdale' Creator Reveals When Luke Perry's Death Will Be Addressed in Series

The Riverdale season finale is fast approaching, and fans are wondering when the show will address the death of actor Luke Perry.

The actor behind patriarch Fred Andrews passed away in March after suffering a massive stroke. The show quickly paid tribute to the actor's legacy with series creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa revealing every episode moving forward would be dedicated to his name.

Other than a mention in a recent episode that Fred left town on business, the CW teen drama has not addressed Perry's death yet, and Aguirre-Sacasa revealed to Entertainment Tonight the special tribute will come early in Season 4.

"We knew we had to honor Luke and address Luke's death on the show," Aguirre-Sacasa said on Friday. "When Luke had passed, we had already pretty much plotted out the end of this season and written the end of this season. Rather than try to squeeze something in and potentially not get it right, we thought let's take a beat and let's figure out really what would be the best way to honor Luke and to honor the character of Fred, and let's do it at the top of season four."

"Luckily, Molly [Ringwald] was already slated to come, so we kind of just reflected and wanted to give ourselves the time to do those things right," he continued.

While details on how the show will address Perry's exit remain a mystery, Aguirre-Sacasa says the writers are currently plotting the beginning of Season 4, and "have an idea' of how it will go down.

"Honestly though, things may change over the next month and I'd rather not say for fear of it changing," he admitted.

Riverdale fans were touched by Perry's final appearance on the show on Episode 19 of Season 3, where he shared a heartwarming scene with Archie (KJ Apa). Since then, Ringwald reprised her role as Archie's mother Mary to take care of him while Fred is out of town.

Aguirre-Sacasa also confirmed that Ringwald will take a bigger part in the show moving forward.

"We love Molly and we always love having her," he told the outlet. "I think she's going to be a bigger presence next season for sure."

Apa recently teased Ringwald's expanded role on the show, telling ET: "We're definitely gonna obviously have to address it at some point. Whether that's Molly stepping in as more of an active parent for Archie — again, that depends on the availability of the actors around us. So we'll do what we can."

The Riverdale Season 3 finale will air Wednesday at 8 p.m. on The CW. The show is expected to return for Season 4 in fall 2019.