Kiernan Shipka Almost Played Betty Cooper on 'Riverdale' Instead of Lili Reinhart

Kiernan Shipka Almost Played Betty Cooper on 'Riverdale' Instead of Lili Reinhart

It’s hard to imagine anyone except Lili Reinhart playing Riverdale‘s Betty Cooper, but it almost wasn’t so!

Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa originally seriously considered Kiernan Shipka for the role as well, EW reports.

Kiernan was iconic in Mad Men, and I had even thought about her, I was like, ‘Oh I wonder if she’d ever do Betty,’” he said.

“When [Sabrina] moved from CW to Netflix, our casting director David Rapaport said, ‘By the way this is something Kiernan might be interested in,’” Roberto added. “There was no script at the time, but from the second he said that, for me it was sort of like, ‘Okay she’s Sabrina. I’m writing this for Kiernan.’”

“She felt like the right actor at the right age at the right point in her career and someone who was up for the challenge, because it’s grueling,” he shared. “She’s in practically every scene. But for me, Sabrina had to stand up to the Dark Lord, the devil, and these very formidable opponents and someone like Kiernan has the gravitas and the assuredness to be able to do that. I’d say she was my first choice for sure. For sure.”

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina premieres on Netflix on October 26.

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