Ashleigh Murray Teases Which ‘Riverdale’ Characters She Wants to Come to ‘Katy Keene’

Josie McCoy may have left Riverdale, but as Ashleigh Murray proves in the CW’s upcoming Katy Keene, she’s still very much in the spotlight. At the Television Critics Association’s 2019 summer tour, the (former) head of Josie and the Pussycats spoke to Decider exclusively about what it was like to take her beloved character to a whole new, brighter show. Murray also spoke about why it was important that she return for Riverdale‘s upcoming Luke Perry tribute episode.

“It’s definitely easier,” Murray said when asked what it’s like playing Josie closer to her own age. Katy Keene follows a group of aspiring artists in their early-20s as they try to make it in New York City, not high school. “I’m excited to see what parts of my life I’m going to get to relive and how it’s going to be different with Josie. Even though I relate to her so much there are things about her that are just not me, and I have to be OK with making decisions that I wouldn’t make because it’s not me. It’s hard sometimes, because I do align with her so much.”

Though Murray considers herself to be maternal toward her friend group, Josie has proven she has little problems ditching friendships. “The difference I see mainly is sometimes she can be harsher than I normally would, and even though she’s very strong I’m realizing now that one of her weaknesses is vulnerability. That manifested itself into abandoning her friendships,” Murray explained.

Katy Keene takes place five years after Riverdale, when Josie is now a young adult. According to the actress, the musical comedy-drama won’t show what Josie’s been up to during this half a decade gap, but Murray has some ideas about what’s happened in her character’s life.

“Essentially she was growing up with her dad, in a sense. She went away with him on tour and was getting a chance to see what it’s like to be that type of musician — this thing that her mom always kind of chastised him about — and what she could fall in love with. And also possibly building a better relationship with her dad,” Murray said. “Definitely being stronger in her own right as a musician and performer and singer and then taking that big leap of actually doing it on her own.”

And there is a whole lot of singing in Katy Keene. At the time of the interview Murray didn’t know if every episode of the show would feature her singing, but the pilot makes excellent use of her impressive vocals. In addition to performing a Carly Rae Jepsen song, which Murray said was “so hard,” she is set to perform at least one original song in the show’s first season.

“I definitely want to have those elements of where she might just be working through a song or just rehearsing somewhere, just having that real-life moment of walking in on someone who is that type of performer,” Murray said. “I think we’ll be able to balance it out between myself and Jonny [Beauchamp].”

Similarly, Murray has been kept in the dark so far about which Riverdale characters might be making a surprise appearance; but she does have an idea about who she wants to see.

“I think it would make sense to have Kevin Keller come, and also Veronica Lodge,” Murray said. Since Josie meets Katy through their mutual friendship with Veronica (Camila Mendes) it would make sense for Veronica to pop in for a visit. Likewise, Kevin Keller (Casey Cott) would be a natural fit in this universe between his Broadway ambitions and his friendship with Josie. But there’s one Riverdale character Murray really wants to appear: Archie himself (KJ Apa).

“Maybe he’s playing some little Sunday night jam session in a restaurant and we sing together and there’s some accidental light inappropriateness,” Murray teased. “You just never know.”

The actress also opened up about her decision to return to Riverdale for the series’ upcoming tribute to Luke Perry. The beloved actor passed away in March. An episode in this upcoming season titled “Chapter Fifty-Eight: In Memoriam” is set to honor his incredible legacy. “From a storyline aspect it had to do with the fact that Josie knows the Andrews and has met Fred on many occasions. During that time when she and Archie were involved, we can assume that Fred was home. So why wouldn’t she be there?” Murray explained.

“And then the other half was for me, personally, I wanted to be a part of it,” Murray said. “I made sure to make it known that whenever they did anything for Luke, I wanted to be there. I was thankful that they did it at the very beginning because obviously it would be more difficult once we got into the throes of production for Katy.”

But overall Murray seems to be happy with her old role on a brand new show. “It’s been really healthy,” Murray said about switching from Riverdale to Katy Keene. “Where we are with Katy Keene is kind of where we started with Riverdale in Season 1. It’s very low-key, very low maintenance when it comes to homicides, just super normal. And I like that we are 100 percent more likely to stay in that lane rather than being derailed by, like, crazy tree men kidnapping children.”

Katy Keene premieres on the CW in winter/spring of 2020.

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