Archie Andrews

Archibald "Archie" Andrews is the main character on Riverdale. He is portrayed by KJ Apa.

Archie is a student at Riverdale High School, a budding musician, and a football player for the Riverdale Bulldogs. His team number was number nine, given to him by Coach Clayton. This number was originally Jason Blossom's jersey, and so Archie took it upon himself to retire the jersey in Jason's honor and took the number seventeen in its place. Archie used to be the Captain of the football team but decided to defer his status as captain to Reggie Mantle after he felt more of an affinity with his music. Archie has been best friends with Jughead Jones and Betty Cooper since childhood. Betty develops feelings for Archie, in she ends up revealing to him. However, he doesn't reciprocate her feelings and decides to stay just friends with Betty, which causes minor temporary strain in their relationship. He instead is drawn to the new rich girl named Veronica who had just moved to Riverdale from New York following the arrest of her wealthy billionaire father Hiram Lodge after he committed fraud and embezzlement. He also occasionally helps out his father at the construction site at Andrews Construction. He's currently in a relationship with Veronica Lodge, while also being an eyewitness to his father's shooting that recently happened at Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe by an unknown man, known as the Black Hood. Since then, he has founded and currently leads the "The Red Circle", a group formed to hunt down the Black Hood, as he feels that the Sheriff has not been successful in finding his father's shooter, although the group has been inactive since the death of the Black Hood. Since the Black Hood has been terrorizing Riverdale and the Southside Serpents have been causing trouble for him due to his best friend Jughead joining them, Archie has made it his number one mission to make peace and stop any more chaos from happening. He's also determined to protect his loved ones as well as innocents of Riverdale from the tumultuous events that repeatedly keep happening in Riverdale. After he and Betty joined forces to successfully stop the Black Hood, Archie resumed his life as an average teenager, as he hoped to one day start a band of his own.Archie grew up in Riverdale, the only child of Fred and Mary Andrews. At the age of thirteen, two years prior to the beginning of the series, his parents separated and his mother moved to Chicago, leaving him to be raised by his father. Archie, Betty Cooper, and Jughead Jones are childhood friends. Archie has known Betty since they were four and have been best friends ever since. They have always gone to the same schools and been in the same classes. When he was in the second grade, he was having trouble reading, so his teacher suggested that he should be held back a year. However, Betty was so against the thought of her and Archie not being in the same grade that she took it upon herself to tutor him every day. When he passed, Archie kissed Betty and asked her to marry him. She told him they were too young, but to ask again when they are eighteen, and she'd say yes. Like his friendship with Betty, things were fine between Archie and Jughead until they had a recent falling out, which temporarily disrupted their friendship. As he entered his adolescence, Archie started attending Riverdale High School, where he joined the football team. He spent the summer before his sophomore year working at his father's company, Andrews Construction. This proved to be a defining summer for Archie as he embarked on an illicit affair with his music teacher Geraldine Grundy. During one of their trysts, they were startled by the sound of a gunshot ringing through the morning air. He later discovered that his fellow student Jason Blossom had died under mysterious circumstances. Fearful that their relationship would be discovered, he and Miss Grundy kept what they knew secret.