SPOILER WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for the midseason finale of Riverdale, "Silent Night, Deadly Night," which as of publication has not yet aired on the west coast.


All season long on Riverdale, the mysterious serial killer known as The Black Hood has been on a path of destruction -- but that ended on tonight's midseason finale, along with the revelation of exactly who was under that hood.

As the waning minutes of "Silent Night, Deadly Night" revealed, the Black Hood is -- well, was -- in fact Joseph Svenson, Riverdale High's janitor. (Or so it seems at this point, at least.) It was a surprise to the characters on the show -- given that Svenson's family was a victim of a killer, the Riverdale Reaper -- and certainly to Archie Comics fans. In the comic books, Mr. Svenson is as goofy as Archie characters get, a bumbling custodian best known for his comically over-the-top Swedish accent and the catchphrase "By Yiminy!"

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Yet on Riverdale, Svenson was the scariest character Archie and the gang have encountered thus far, with his victims including Miss Grundy and Jingle Jangle pusher/Southside High teacher The Sugar Man. Archie's beloved dad, Fred Andrews (Luke Perry), barely survived his encounter with the Black Hood in the first season finale. The Black Hood was finally stopped in tonight's episode by a well-timed gunshot from Sheriff Keller (Martin Cummins), who was on many people's list of suspects earlier this season.

CBR spoke with Riverdale showrunner and executive producer (and Archie Comics Chief Creative Officer) Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa about the decision to turn Mr. Svenson into a murderer, how the Black Hood may be gone but not forgotten, that kiss between Archie (KJ Apa) and Betty (Lili Reinhart), Jughead's (Cole Sprouse) ongoing descent into darkness and what to expect when the show returns in January.

CBR: Roberto, let's start with the big reveal -- that Mr. Svenson is the Black Hood. Or was, given that he's shot and killed by the end of the episode. How did you arrive at using that character in this way? And as a longtime Archie fan, was there an extra layer of fun in taking one of the goofiest Archie characters and making him scariest?

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa: We definitely always like our Easter eggs on Riverdale. There had been a small but steady contingent of fans who kept asking us to bring Mr. Svenson to the halls of Riverdale. It was something that we tried to do on and off for a few months. Then when we were talking about the Black Hood, and who the Black Hood could be, we made a list of all the likely suspects -- or the most unlikely suspects -- and Mr. Svenson was at the top of the list. We were like, "We better start introducing him immediately if this is going to happen, or people are going to be like, 'Who?'"

So when the Black Hood was originally conceived for this season, his identity was not necessarily established?

When we introduced the Black Hood as the guy who shot Fred, we did not know conclusively who his identity was going to be. Very early on we started coming up with different possibilities and different scenarios.

At the end of the episode the Black Hood is shot and killed. There is the tease there with Betty grabbing the hood from the fire, but how settled is the Black Hood issue at this point? How much will it reverberate when the show returns for the second half of Season 2?

Definitely the fallout from everything that's happened over the last couple of episodes will continue into the second half of the season. As for whether or not the Black Hood is finished, I kind of say what I say whenever someone dies on Riverdale: No one ever stays dead forever on Riverdale. The Black Hood may be a victim or a part of that.

Another rather significant part of the episode is that we see Archie and Betty kiss, though by the end of the episode Archie and Veronica are back on solid ground. The show has held back on exploring the classic Archie/Betty/Veronica love triangle dynamic, but is it moving towards a place where that becomes more of an overt thing?

I feel like that kiss happened under very heightened, intense, unlikely circumstances. I don't think Betty and Archie even quite know what it means, because they're in the middle of this investigation, and this mad hunt for the Black Hood. I think that there's definitely going to be things to unpack from that kiss, and what it means, and what doors it opens, and, perhaps, what doors it closes.

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This season has been a fascinating one for Jughead, as he's taken very big steps in embracing his place in the Southside Serpents -- down to running Penny Peabody out of town in this episode. How much further deep into this are we going to see him get? And did he really do what it looks like he did to Penny's arm?

It's very dark. He basically was cutting off her Serpent tattoo.

As for how much darker Jughead is going to go, it's like, I don't know how much darker he can go. It feels pretty, pretty dark in episode 9. It feels like that's a journey we've been building to since the finale last season, when FP said to Archie, "Please look out for Jughead, he's got a darkness within in him, I'm afraid he's gonna go there." This is sort of the fruition of that.

That brings to mind a philosophical issue that I'm curious about a lot while watching Riverdale. Obviously a big part of the fun is seeing these characters in different contexts and pushed in different directions than you'd typically see in Archie Comics, but the show has done an impressive job of retaining familiar elements so it never feels like it's not the characters. It's similar to how Batman and Superman get reinvented all the time. How much of an ongoing matter is that for you and the writing staff -- seeing how far you can push these characters, while still saying, "OK, this is still Jughead, this is stilll Betty," no matter how out there things get?

The tension of the show is pushing these characters into extreme or crime or noir situations, and seeing how they act, and how they sometimes handle them, and sometimes fall victim to them. I think that's kind of the DNA and the formula of the show. We definitely push the envelope, but we try to always do it in a way that feels like it's coming out of the story; as opposed to, we're imposing it.

When Jughead does that to Penny, it feels like that's an answer to a story that started way back in episode 2 of this season, when Penny helped Jughead get FP's sentence reduced.

Look for Kevin to play a bigger role when Riverdale Season 2 returns.

Riverdale has only gotten bigger in terms of number of characters in Season 2. We've seen classics like Midge introduced, and a lot more of Reggie. When the show is back from break, what are some characters viewers will see explored in more detail?

I think we're going to see more Josie, I think we're going to see more Cheryl, and I think we're going to see more Toni, for sure. And more Kevin. I'm trying to think if we introduce anyone new -- but I don't think we do, actually. We see those characters come into the fore, and we see some people who have left come back. But those are spoilers.

With the Black Hood matter seemingly closed, at least largely, in this episode, what are some of the big questions and events that propel the series forward when the show returns?

There will always be a crime or noir element to the show, and that will be true of season 2. I don't want to give away what that is.

The other thing I can say is, the Black Hood was a really intense, big, sprawling story, and he cast a very long shadow. One thing that I love about the second half of the season, which we're working on right now, is it kind of shifts back to Riverdale High in a way that we had first season, that we've moved a little off of. We're back in the school a lot.

Fair to say things are comparatively more grounded? Or maybe the tone is a little lighter?

I don't know -- it gets pretty dark as well. But I'd say there's a little more fun and character stuff, especially at the start of the second half of the season.

Riverdale returns with new episodes on The CW on Jan. 17.