'Riverdale' Season 4: With the focus completely on the core four now, whatever happened to Reginald Mantle?
'Riverdale' Season 4 has been all about the core four — Archie Andrews (KJ Apa), Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes), Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse) and Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart).
Each of these characters has solid storylines and the 13 episodes that have aired so far leave very little room for supporting characters to make an impact. Madelaine Petsch's Chery Blossom is an exception though as she pops in with a continued storyline time and again with girlfriend, Toni Topaz (Vanessa Morgan).
However, the notable absentee or rather a character with very little to do this season is Reggie Mantle (Charles Melton).
For someone who's been actively involved with taking care of La Bonne Nuit with Ronnie and an integral part of the Riverdale Bulldogs, the slick and suave Reggie has been a bit of a no-show in most episodes.
Barring the one episode where he speaks out about being physically abused by his dad and is helped by Archie to get over the trauma and supporting Ronnie occasionally, it's been a forgettable season for the character.
Reggie fans would be disappointed. Surely, you can't promise him a fling with Ronnie in Season 3, propel him to one of the most-valuable characters and then suddenly leave him in the lurch.
And with the whole Jughead death plot going on, it's highly unlikely we'll see more of Melton in the season. Leading us to the all-important question: What will happen to Reggie in Season 5. Although it is pretty early to talk about the series, it remains unclear if the writers have something major planned for him.
Unsurprisingly, it isn't just Reggie who's been sidelined. Casy Cott's Kevin Keller, a majority of the Serpent characters, and even the actors who play the parents have been strangely MIA.
Mary Andrews (Molly Ringwald), Hermoine Lodge (Marisol Nicholls) and Siera McCoy (Robin Givens) have all had sporadic appearances. And it makes sense. There was a lot of news and buildup surrounding the season ahead of its debut and in a way, the scripts have been dished out to make sure the spotlight is on the core four.
There have been speculations doing the rounds that Melton and Mendes' breakup last year (they started dating in 2018) could be one of the causes, but again, the theory might not really hold true.
A source told E!: "They are still in touch and both understand they need to be cordial while on set and throughout press for the show." The source added, "They have been filming together while being split and things have been normal."
And while some of us are still thinking about good ol' Reg, 'Riverdale' is gearing up to drop a heck of shocker in the days to come. The CW's top-rated teen drama airs Wednesdays at 8 pm.
