Charles Melton IS Our (New) Reggie Mantle

[Sawyer]

Riverdale Recast: Meet the New Reggie

Archie, you have a new archrival.

The CW’s Riverdale has cast Charles Melton to play the role of Reggie, TVLine has learned exclusively. Melton, who will recur in Season 2, has previous TV credits on FX’s American Horror Story: Hotel (as the womanizing Mr. Wu) and Fox’s Glee.

Melton takes over for Ross Butler, who played Reggie in Season 1. Reggie — a loudmouth bully who’s constantly in competition with Archie — is a core character in the original comics, but he was rarely seen on Riverdale due to Butler’s busy schedule. Butler is a series regular on Netflix’s teen drama 13 Reasons Why, and with that show getting a Season 2 renewal, Riverdale was forced to search for a new Reggie.

“We love what Ross did with the role of Reggie [this season], but because of his commitments to other projects, we couldn’t use him nearly as much as we would have liked,” creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa told TVLine last month when the recasting was first announced.

Good Gawd

[Primal Slayer]

Who the hell was he in Glee?

I prefer Ross but he's decent.

[Sawyer]

Unhhnh...





*hits floor*

[Sawyer]

As for Glee, no idea. Probably a later season, since I've blocked out as much of that mess as possible.

[Primal Slayer]

Apparently he was a background model in S5/6 when Sam tried his hand at modeling.

His body is on point and some pics do it for me.

[Best]

Where are all these half-asians coming from? They're everywhere now.

[Primal Slayer]

Hollywood is slightly less racist and allowing them to actually work.

[Best]

Originally Posted by Primal Slayer

Hollywood is slightly less racist and allowing them to actually work.

I'd like to say it's progress... but, it's only slightly better/worse.

As I said, it seems to be more half-asians than full-blooded in these new roles. The slightest drop of white DNA in these kids? The stereotyping is thrown out the window, both for the casting process and the characters themselves.

Ross Butler gets to play the jock- no mention of his race. Daniel Henney gets to play the bad guy, cop or CEO-- no mention of his race.

But Ken Jeong getting to play the teacher... and his race becomes one of if not the sole focus of his character. And in the typical comedic manner.

I'm not saying these mixed guys aren't Asian just because they're half-- it's great to see some representation in that aspect, but being half seems to be one of the only ways Asians can really "get in" Hollywood. Without being degraded, that is.

[jed]

Just want to say this new Reggie Mantle (Charles Melton) is so hot and gorgeous.

He is even hotter than Ross Butler.

Great job on the casting.

[Osiris-Rex]

Originally Posted by Best

Where are all these half-asians coming from? They're everywhere now.

Is calling someone of mixed race a Eurasian no longer politically correct? half-asian seems like an odd term. I've never heard someone of mixed race called that before.

[Sawyer]

Looking on Tumblr, I'm kind of surprised to find that anyone would miss Ross in this role. Not that he did badly or anything, but aside from a handful of episodes, he was kind of a non-entity to me, and when he was there, he never felt fully Reggie to me.

I'm kind of hoping the recast leads to a bit of change in characterization. Less jock stereotype, more borderline sociopath set on ruining Archie Andrews.

[jed]

It makes sense why Ross Butler choose "13 Reasons Why" and left this.

He has a much bigger role in "13 Reasons Why" than "Riverdale".

And I highly doubt the writers are going to develop the character of Reggie Mantle.

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by jed

It makes sense why Ross Butler choose "13 Reasons Why" and left this.

He has a much bigger role in "13 Reasons Why" than "Riverdale".

And I highly doubt the writers are going to develop the character of Reggie Mantle.

So that makes perfect sense of why they'd go to the trouble of finding a new actor instead of just dropping the character entirely.

[Sawyer]

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Osiris-Rex

Is calling someone of mixed race a Eurasian no longer politically correct? half-asian seems like an odd term. I've never heard someone of mixed race called that before.

We say ‘half white or half black’. So what’s the problem ?

[Steelsheen]

Asians have always been around, but unless its a stunt-heavy character or a yellow-face ( ) Asians are rarely given a chance to act onscreen. until lately when the community started to complain LOUDLY about the lack of representation.

about bloody time i gotta say.

Originally Posted by Osiris-Rex

Is calling someone of mixed race a Eurasian no longer politically correct? half-asian seems like an odd term. I've never heard someone of mixed race called that before.

Eurasian, strictly speaking, is a person of Asian and European heritage. if part of the heritage is American (given the melting pot that that identity already is) then usually the term is Asian-American or Amerasian. or Hapa if you wanna sound hip

Originally Posted by Sawyer

Looking on Tumblr, I'm kind of surprised to find that anyone would miss Ross in this role. Not that he did badly or anything, but aside from a handful of episodes, he was kind of a non-entity to me, and when he was there, he never felt fully Reggie to me.

i read on an article that part of the reason why we didnt see much of Reggie in S1 was because Ross had to divide his time between 13 Reasons Why and Riverdale. it was a struggle to get his scheduling to line up with the rest of the cast so writing Reggie in kinda fell into a wayside if not reassigned completely to another character.

but fans noticed and made themselves heard about the lack of Reggie-- who is really an integral part of the core five of Archieverse-- so Roberto and Co. promised Reggie will be integrated more this season. they said that to Ross and Ross had to choose. so he left and we got a recast.

Originally Posted by jed

It makes sense why Ross Butler choose "13 Reasons Why" and left this.

He has a much bigger role in "13 Reasons Why" than "Riverdale".

And I highly doubt the writers are going to develop the character of Reggie Mantle.

nope. refer to my reply above.