R.I.P Luke Perry

By now, I'm sure everyone has head of Luke Perry's passing :( 

I wanted to take moment to reflect on how the actor was known to me and then speculate what Riverdale might do without Fred Andrews.

Like many and most, as a child, I knew him better as Dylan from 90210:

I wasn't really a huge fan of the show, but enough family members watched it, so I often knew what was going because I was a kid of the 90's. I remember one story where the season finale was Dylan blowing up but when it came back on it was his father and not him. 

Then, I best recalled him in the Buffy the Vampire Movie (that predates the show)

I honestly didn't follow his career and do recall that he appeared on the 90210 (reboot/continuation) that was on the CW before the Arrowverse was a thing.

And finally, this brings us to Riverdale (remember, this my experience with him as an actor, not a career retrospective) as Fred Andrews!

I believe we all loved Fred Andrews, even when he let Archie run wild or run away. He's a single father. I'm not sure how many episodes we have left where he will appear. Sometimes he just drops in. But now the show has halted production to mourn and decide what to do about his passing as Fred is very much a part of the show. Here are the 3 directions where they can go:

Write him Off:

He could always be in the proverbial other room, never appearing on camera, only mentioned by characters when necessary. They could also write him off in the way many soap operas do patriarchs, especially the bad ones: they go to live (or escape) to another country where the character is forever escaping the law or living the best life on a deserted island. I don't think this is the best option, because why would he leave Archie? Archie isn't being written off anytime soon, but Fred could find success and open the door for Molly Ringwald to return as a main character (if the actress is willing).

Recast Him:

This might be the best option to keep the character on screen. It wouldn't be popular, but again soap operas have done this (see Passions Alister Crane who was recast when that actor passed) when the character is an central one and Fred kind of is . . . As for who, I have no idea, but this could really happen and as fan, I'd accept it.

Other:

I don't like to think about and think it would be sort of bad taste, but if they go the Glee route, they could give him a memorial episode or make it a part of the episode and never reveal the cause. Time jumps of days and weeks happen all the time in Riverdale. 

What do you think they will do? What do you hope they do? Fred 2.0? Fred rides off into the sunset? Or something else? Let me know!