In the wake of the heartbreaking news of Luke Perry’s death, the cast of Riverdale is banding together. Cole Sprouse, who plays Jughead on the hit CW show, stopped by On Air With Ryan Seacrest on Monday, March 11, with his Five Feet Apart costar Haley Lu Richardson to promote the new film and touched upon the loss of Perry, his Riverdale costar.
The Beverly Hills, 90210 alum passed away after suffering a massive stoke last week. He was 52.
“It’s been a little strange for all of us,” Sprouse shared. “We had a nice little get together all of us over at Mark [Consuelos’] and celebrated his life. He’s definitely the kind of guy that would have preferred us laughing and telling great stories about him. … He was one of those guys that no one had a single bad thing to ever say about him which is an incredibly rare thing in this industry, but his family has asked that we respect their privacy at this time.”
The CW released a statement following Perry’s death, confirming the cast saw him as a father figure.
“We are deeply saddened to learn today about the passing of Luke Perry," the statement read. "A beloved member of the Riverdale, Warner Bros. and CW family, Luke was everything you would hope he would be: An incredibly caring, consummate professional with a giant heart, and a true friend to all. A father figure and mentor to the show’s young cast, Luke was incredibly generous, and he infused the set with love and kindness. Our thoughts are with Luke’s family in this most difficult time."
Sprouse’s latest role finds him playing a teen across Haley Lu Richardson in tear-jerker Five Feet Apart, a love story about two teens who meet in the hospital as they're both being treated for cystic fibrosis
The actor admitted that before signing on to the film, he wanted to make sure he was in alignment with the film’s message.
“It’s a very sensitive topic to be able to deal with in," Sprouse shared. "The first screening process was just meeting with our director ... [It was like] let’s do this as much justice as possible and bring a ton of awareness to a really under represented disease.”
Listen back to the full interview in the audio above for more, including to hear the story behind Sprouse’s Instagram account @camera_duels.
Five Feet Apart hits theaters on Friday, March 15.