Kelly Ripa joins Riverdale, will shake things up as Hiram Lodge's secret mistress

Note: This post reveals plot points from tonight’s episode of Riverdale.

From secret long-lost babies to secret potentially fatal board games to not-so-secret turf wars between the north and south sides, Riverdale is full of twists. And it’s thrown another interesting one into the mix by casting TV host/actress Kelly Ripa to play Hiram Lodge’s mistress on the hit CW show. Yesterday, Ripa announced via her Instagram that she would be playing an unnamed mistress to the oh-so-slimy Hiram Lodge—played by her real-life husband Mark Consuelos—saying that her casting would be “a family affair.”

But the family reunion doesn’t stop there! In tonight’s fourth episode of season three of Riverdale, we get a blast from the past as the parents (played by their kids) get engrossed in a short-lived game of Gryphons and Gargoyles. We see Lili Reinhardt as her mother Alice, Cole Sprouse as his father F.P., KJ Apa as his father Fred—and, yes, even see Michael Consuelos, Mark’s real-life son, as Hiram. Talk about inception.

It’s hard to imagine when Hiram found time to cheat on Hermione Lodge in between making Archie and Veronica’s (but mostly Archie’s) life a total hell. There’s no word yet on the name of Ripa’s character or when she will show up on the show, but it’s safe to say that she will probably stir up a lot of mayhem.