The cast of The CW’s hit series Riverdale were back on set and ready to work Thursday in Vancouver.
The series lead KJ Apa was joined on set by the mystery series’ principal cast, including Lili Reinhhart, Camila Mendes, Cole Sprouse, Madeline Petsch, Vanessa Morgan and Charles Melton.
The on-screen reunion follows a shutdown of more than a week due to a bottleneck in COVID-19 testing in the Canadian city.
Back to work: The stars of Riverdale, including KJ Apa, Lili Reinhart, Camila Mendes, Madeline Petsch and Cole Sprouse, were back on set Thursday in Vancouver after the show shut down due to a testing shortage
KJ, who stars as Archie in the series, had his hair dyed for the role and sported an olive jacket over a blue shirt.
He was joined by Madeline Petsch, who plays Cheryl Blossom, was unmissable in a stylish scarlet short sleeve dress with blue trim and a blue belt.
Cole Sprouse, best known as Jughead on the series, was dressed in a checker button-up shirt tucked into his dark jeans.
Vanessa Morgan was seen for the first time since she announced her pregnancy in July, a month after her Chicago White Sox pitcher husband Michael Kopech had filed for divorce.
Charles Melton’s character Reggie Mantle was dressed more casually than some of the other actors with a red T-shirt and a plaid shirt tied around his waist.
Classic: Lili Reinhart, who makes up one-third of the show’s iconic love triangle as Betty, rocked a retro look with a green mini dress over a sheer white top covered in floral designs
Stunner: Camila Mendes competes with her on the series as Veronica, and she added a sultry air to the scene with a blue and white checker crop top tied off just below her cleavage
Lili Reinhart, who makes up one-third of the show’s iconic love triangle as Betty, rocked a retro look with a green mini dress over a sheer white top covered in floral designs.
Camila Mendes competes with her on the series as Veronica, and she added a sultry air to the scene with a blue and white checker crop top tied off just below her cleavage.
She highlighted her trim tummy above a matching skirt that also showcased her toned legs.
The cast seemed to be happy to be back at work and got a bit playful on set.
Between takes, KJ and is costar Casey Cott, who plays Kevin Keller, shared a joking kiss while the cameras were resetting.
Casey, who was promoted to a series regular in the show’s second season, plays the first openly gay character in the extended Archie universe.
Having a laugh: KJ, who stars as Archie in the series, had his hair dyed for the role and sported an olive jacket over a blue shirt. He playfully kissed Casey Cott between takes
Following its months-long pandemic shutdown, Riverdale returned to filming on September 15 with new industry safety protocols.
Despite their best efforts, it wasn’t enough to keep the show running, as the Vancouver lab the show used to do its COVID-19 testing ran into a backlog, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Amid a surge in cases in Vancouver, the lab ramped up its testing and began focusing on public testing, leaving the private testing to Riverdale and other CW shows in a bottle neck.
The laboratory in question said it was ‘hiring more technicians to boost its capacity’ so that it could get results within 48 hours, per Hollywood standards.
‘We are making additional investments to expand out testing capacity and anticipate returning to our standard turnaround times by the end of the week,’ said LifeLabs in a statement
Safety first: Riverdale resumed on September 15, but shut down at the end of the month after a Vancouver lab couldn’t keep up with testing
The series, along with Nancy Drew, Charmed, Supergirl and DC Legends Of Tomorrow, all shut down at the end of September until testing could get up to speed.
Crucially, the shutdown wasn’t because any cast or crew members had tested positive.
Riverdale, which debuted on The CW in 2017, is currently filming its fifth season.
Coming soon: The series, which debuted on The CW in 2017, is currently filming its fifth season