In Riverdale's 100th episode, "The Jughead Paradox," Jughead discovers the truth about the seemingly alternate dimension of Rivervale. In its sixth season, Riverdale kicked off with a reality-bending event set in the supernatural town of Rivervale. Things here are not like Riverdale. Audiences have seen Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) sacrifice Archie (KJ Apa) by stabbing him to death and ripping out his heart, and the Devil making deals with the locals and collecting lost souls. In Season 6, Episode 5, Jughead solves the town's mysterious origin.

"The Jughead Paradox" is the show's final chapter in its five-episode Rivervale event. Jughead starts to suspect that something is wrong in Rivervale when a version of himself lands in the morgue and is grasping a comic book that details the life of Riverdale's Jughead. The horror-themed episode follows Jughead investigating the strange happenings in town and learning how this reality has changed his friends and town. Cole Sprouse, who portrays Jughead, spoke to CBR about celebrating Riverdale's 100th episode, what it's been like starring in the reality-bending Rivervale event, and reflected on how the role of Jughead has shaped his career.

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Riverdale -- "Chapter One Hundred: The Jughead Paradox" -- Image Number: RVD605fg_0026r.jpg -- Pictured: Cole Sprouse as Jughead Jones -- Photo: The CW -- © 2021 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

CBR: "The Jughead Paradox" should be applauded as one of Riverdale's best episodes.

Cole Sprouse: I'll agree with you. It's definitely one of my favorites, too. It does a really stellar job at informing the audience why the show is the way it is. I loved filming it. I thought it was really well done, nice tongue and cheek, but also still the same Riverdale campiness that we’ve seen. I had a really good time shooting it.

Filming one hundred episodes is no small feat in television. What do you attribute to Riverdale’s longevity?

A viewing audience. That's the only way anything continues to be made. When we started the show, it wasn't before the pinnacle of the streaming services' success, but it was still in the initial stages. The truth is syndication, which is the model we had used for so long within the television industry, is just something that doesn't really happen too much anymore unless you are a sitcom. For a network hour-long television show to make it to 100 episodes, in my opinion, in the next five to 10 years will become an extinct breed. I think this is a model that we might not see for too much longer within the actual technical landscape of the entertainment industry. I am honored to say that we could, or could not be, one of the last of those types.

I don't know how much it means for the industry. Or I don't know how much it means for us as a program. At least, in a boots-on-the-ground sort of way, we've all just been marching along, doing our thing without any real conception of reaching 100. It snuck up on us. It's an honor, nonetheless. Say what you will, but regardless if a show of this type, an hour-long specifically, reaches 100 episodes, that's generally a vote of confidence for how people view it.

RELATED: Riverdale: Sabrina Hints at Her Own Resurrection in Rivervale Event

Riverdale -- "Chapter One Hundred: The Jughead Paradox" -- Image Number: RVD605b_0041r.jpg -- Pictured (L-R): Alvin Sanders as Pop Tate and Cole Sprouse as Jughead Jones -- Photo: Kailey Schwerman/The CW -- © 2021 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Riverdale can get dark, but were you surprised just how dark this episode went?

Oh, not at all. I feel like we were primed over the past six seasons to really just go, ''Yep, this makes sense.'' All of us are very used to its campy or abstract nature at this point. The way that I have viewed this show, the way that has made the most sense to me, is that the Archie comic-book characters get dragged and dropped in various circumstances -- whether it's in written form or on a show. Regardless of the circumstances, they are dragged and dropped, and you see how it goes. Even if it doesn't to some people, to me, all of it makes sense. We are just being thrown at new circumstances and seeing how the characters adjust.

In this alternate Rivervale reality, Jughead has been on the down-low. But that changes in "The Jughead Paradox." How pleased were you that this is such a Jughead-centric episode, and that he's the one who unravels this big mystery?

It's nice. I am not going to lie. It also feels like something we have been setting up since Season 1. I think Jughead, positioned as the narrator of the show from its inception, has qualified him to be the one to have discussions in a more meta sense. It felt nice to honor the lineage of the show, especially the 100th episode, and to be the person doing that.

RELATED: Riverdale: Kiernan Shipka Introduces Her Older, More Playful Sabrina Spellman

Riverdale -- "Chapter One Hundred: The Jughead Paradox" -- Image Number: RVD605b_0124r.jpg -- Pictured (L-R): Drew Ray Tanner as Fangs Fogarty and Casey Cott as Kevin Keller -- Photo: Kailey Schwerman/The CW -- © 2021 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

In Rivervale, nobody stays dead long. How was it reuniting with some of the characters and actors we haven't seen in a while?

It was great. I always loved working with Shannon Purser. I always loved working with Major. I haven't seen Major, who plays Dilton Doiley, in some time. It's been great catching up with him. I haven't seen Shannon in some time, either. Ross Butler and I just finished a movie down in Atlanta, so he and I were hanging out quite a bit. But it was nice to see him in Vancouver. This whole episode is very much a love letter to the audience. It does a really good job of acknowledging where we came from and why the show is the way it is. To honor that, we brought in a lot of the actors that had played these iconic characters... I think that's awesome.

Speaking of love letters, how was it filming that very retro, old-school scene in Pop’s, where the characters are dressed in their iconic threads?

That's my favorite. That's always been my favorite. Even in the earlier seasons, that's my favorite. The way I viewed it, that's Jughead, that's Archie, that's Betty (Lili Reinhart), that's Veronica (Camila Mendes), that's Reggie (Charles Melton), that's Ethel (Purser), and that's Kevin (Casey Cott). Those are the actual characters. That's where they really exist. The second they step outside those doors, wherever they are going, whether it's into a digest or into Riverdale or Rivervale, they are putting on a new costume and playing that part. When you get to see those characters at Pop's, you actually get to see the real characters. That's who they really are. I love when we play into that because that's how our society knows the characters… In those outfits, with that crown, inside of Pop's. That's who they really are. I love those sequences the most.

RELATED: Riverdale Star Says the Show Is Probably Ending With Season 7

Riverdale -- "Chapter One Hundred: The Jughead Paradox" -- Image Number: RVD605fg_0058r.jpg -- Pictured (L-R): Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper, KJ Apa as Archie Andrews and Camila Mendes as Veronica Lodge -- Photo: The CW -- © 2021 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

What, if anything, can viewers take away from the time spent with the Rivervale Jughead and apply it to his Riverdale counterpart?

I'd say not much. The Riverdale and the Rivervale Jugheads are functionally pretty similar. Pretty moody. Pretty broody. Introspective, but they are very much in line with the tone we have established for the show over the last six seasons. They are not mirror images of each other, but they are pretty functionally identical.

That being said, the circumstances of Rivervale are very different. I don't know how much overlap we can pull from the circumstances that occur within this five-episode special and say, ''Hey, wait a minute. Does Riverdale Jughead know anything about this?'' Probably not. I will also say that when we leave the five-episode special, we pick up pretty much exactly where we left off at the end of Season 5. The five-episode special, thus far, has not been acknowledged too much.

Just to clarify, there will be no ripple effect once everything returns to normal?

Nope. Betty and Jughead solved it. The universes didn't crash. Everything stays good. I don't know too much. I had a conversation with showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, and I heard a little bit that he was thinking perhaps Rivervale would rear its head again. But we're not informed too much about what happens in the later episodes as actors. I couldn't really tell you.

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Riverdale -- "Chapter One Hundred: The Jughead Paradox" -- Image Number: RVD605fg_0047r.jpg -- Pictured (L-R): Erinn Westbrook as Tabitha Tate, Alvin Sanders as Pop Tate and Cole Sprouse as Jughead Jones -- Photo: The CW -- © 2021 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

What can you tease about the next block of episodes?

We have this explosion, which primarily affects the three people involved in it -- Betty, Archie, and Jughead. They are all grappling with the side effects of this explosion. Jughead goes through quite a sensory experience in Episodes 6 and 7. Then, in Episode 8, we introduce the big narrative for the latter half of this entire season. It is directly connected to the explosion.

What's ahead for Tabitha and Jughead? And what makes them good for each other?

Erinn Westbrook and I talk about this a lot. In distinction to Betty and Jughead, Tabitha and Jughead are very much this tempered love, this easy domesticity that ends up becoming the currency of a really healthy relationship. That sits in distinction to Betty and Jughead, who at least in the earlier part of the season, were going through so much. There were ups and downs, passion and flame. The beautiful simplicity of Jughead and Tabitha is what makes it special. They care for each other in a very real and physical and grounded way, just to ensure that they are both OK.

Tabitha is a go-getter and really driven. Jughead is looking for someone who understands him and understands his process and his method. They both really care for each other. In the first couple of episodes this season, it's par for the course. They end up in an apartment together. Everything seems to be working out well.

RELATED: Chilling Adventures Star Expects More Sabrina in Riverdale's Future

Riverdale -- “Chapter One Hundred: The Jughead Paradox” -- Image Number: RVD605_BTS_0001r -- Pictured: Vanessa Morgan, Charles Melton, Camila Mendes, Lili Reinhart, K.J. Apa, Cole Sprouse, Casey Cott, Madelaine Petsch, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Erinn Westbrook and Drew Ray Tanner -- Photo: Michael Simon/The CW -- © 2021 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

You’ve previously said that Riverdale pulled you back into acting, Hollywood, and the limelight. How rewarding has it been staying with this character so long? And how has it shaped you as a person and an actor?

It’s been interesting for me. I have a very love/hate relationship with this industry. I love acting. The privilege to perform is incredible. But I will admit… I do not like celebrity culture. This is something I have always grappled with pretty roughly since I was a child. The opportunity to be on a soundstage and perform with other people and make entertainment, that takes people outside of the burdens of their own lives, even for two seconds, is a real privilege. I'm lucky enough to say I have been able to do that for as long as I have.

But I am a firm believer that fame and celebrity is real trauma. I have watched, over the last 29 years of my life, people grapple with that psychologically -- and myself grapple with that psychologically. I am very lucky and privileged to have the financial stability that has come, maybe from the only job security that exists as an actor, which is a television show. But I have been reminded that acting, unless you are a fundamental part of the creative process, which is oftentimes not the case on network shows, is a profession where you don't have a lot of creative control. You are ultimately bound by the writing, the directing, and most of all, the editing. I’ve had a hard time grappling with that loss of control over the way people view me, the way you are being sold.

When the show finishes, I will end up becoming just as introspective as when The Suite Life finished. I am hoping I will be afforded the luxury of time to be able to sit down and go, ''Ok. What does it mean to have received this blessing in success and in the show? What does it mean financially? What does it mean psychologically? What does it mean professionally'?' And then to be able to take a step back and go, ''Ok, this is what it was.''

Watch Jughead uncover Rivervale's mystery in Riverdale's 100th episode, "The Jughead Paradox," airing Dec. 14 on The CW at 9 pm ET/PT.

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