Cole Sprouse Says Keeping Jughead Asexual Is “Severely Important”

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Cole Sprouse plays Jughead Jones in the CW’s upcoming Riverdale, a new show reimagining the Archie comic series. Based on the character’s repeated, emphasized disinterest in girls, Jughead has been the focal point of much speculation regarding his sexuality over the course of the comics’ eight decades of publication. As recently as last year, the characters was revealed to be canonically asexual.

With the aging comics’ relevance revitalized via the CW’s Riverdale, many fans are wondering just how much the underrepresented sexuality (or rather, absence of) would be specifically emphasized. And there’s no greater advocate than the character’s actor himself.

“I hope that huge corporations like the CW recognize that this kind of representation is rare and severely important to people who resonate with it,” Sprouse tells Teen Vogue, “That demands representation. It would be a wonderful thing if that were the case.”

Sprouse does reveal that the first season of Riverdale will not directly touch on asexuality; however, he does call the show an origin story, where the characters will learn, grow, and discover who they are. In the meantime, Sprouse says he will “keep fighting for this pretty heavily.”

Riverdale airs Thursdays at 9 on the CW.