First Look: Mark Consuelos as the Inscrutable, Morally Ambiguous Hiram Lodge

Throughout Riverdale Season 1, Veronica’s father, the mysterious Hiram Lodge, was the unabated talk of the town. His illegal business dealings, family problems and rivalry with Clifford Blossom and Fred Andrews became the center of Riverdale’s countless subplots. His very influence inspires intrigue. An iconic, beloved character from the comics, Hiram Lodge is infamously known as the guy who hates Archie Andrews, and would stop at nothing to keep him away from his daughter. Stern and uptight, he was the Mr. Paul Stevens to Archie’s Ross Geller. Fans waited throughout Season 1 for Mr. Lodge to make his timely appearance, but it was to no avail.

Fortunately, a few months ago, #Riverdale announced that Hiram Lodge would finally be appearing in Season 2, played by All My Children’s Mark Consuelos. He was promoted to series regular shortly after.

Here's our first look at Veronica’s much-publicized father, posted by #Archie Comics earlier today:

No Mustache?

The #CW decided to do away with Mr. Lodge’s trademark snowy white mustache for Riverdale, an odd departure from previous designs that portrayed Hiram as more of an old man. The mildly-receding white hair is gone, replaced instead by a full head of hair — dark and boyishly handsome like Mark Consuelos himself. I think it’s a reasonable change given Veronica’s age: if his daughter is in her mid-teens, logically he should probably be around 40 to 55 years of age. Unless his character is beset with premature graying, Mark Consuelos’s Hiram should be around that mark and therefore matches that description quite well.

Overall, the Lodges seem to fit one another quite nicely as a family. It would be interesting to see how this plays out in their dynamic once Season 2 premieres and we get to meet this version of Mr. Lodge for the first time.