Riverdale’s showrunner has confirmed the season four premiere will be dedicated to Luke Perry, and will be the show’s "most important episode ever".
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa took to Twitter to share a picture of the script for the episode, which is titled "In Memoriam", and the screenwriter admitted he was "thankful for the opportunity" to pay tribute to the late actor – who died in March aged 52 after suffering a stroke – and his character Fred Andrews.
He tweeted: "Probably the most important episode of #Riverdale we’ll do this year, if not ever. A tribute to our fallen friend. Thankful for this opportunity to honor Luke & Fred. (sic)"
Roberto has written the episode, which will be directed by Gabriel Correa.
Luke was last seen on the teen drama series in April, a month after he passed away, but the fate of his alter-ego Fred is yet to have been addressed on screen.
Last month, Roberto confirmed the show was waiting to address Luke’s death in season four because they wanted to "figure out the best way" to honour him.
He said: "When Luke passed, we had already broken and written a lot of the end of the season, and we really wanted to … I mean, it was just devastating.
"And we wanted to honour Luke, and figure out the best way to handle the character of Fred Andrews in the show, so we sort of said, you know what, let’s not squeeze, let’s not rush to squeeze something into the finale, or into the last couple of episodes, let’s really think about it.
"Let’s tell that story at the beginning of season four."
Roberto also admitted it was "wonderful" to focus on the relationship between Fred and the character’s son Archie Andrews, played by KJ Apa, throughout the show.
He added: "Luke was one of the hearts of the show – Luke and KJ, their relationship, and as crazy as things got, we always turned back to them.
"That was so wonderful to have, and so that was part of our thinking too. We wanted to take the time to understand how the show will change [without Fred], and how we could best address that."
Riverdale to dedicate season 4 premiere to Luke Perry
