Actor Luke Perry attends The 2018 PaleyFest screening of "Riverdale" at the Dolby Theater on March 25, 2018, in Hollywood, California.
Luke Perry's most memorable roles
01:25 - Source: CNN
CNN  — 

The “Riverdale” Season 3 finale offered some surprises, but didn’t answer one question.

The show chose not to address the fate of the Fred Andrews character played by Luke Perry.

Perry died in March after suffering a massive stroke. He was 52.

The series creator and showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa told The Hollywood Reporter: “When Luke passed, we had already broken and written a lot of the end of the season.”

“I mean, it was just devastating,” Aguirre-Sacasa said. “And we wanted to honor Luke, and figure out the best way to handle the character of Fred Andrews in the show, so we sort of said, you know what? Let’s not squeeze, let’s not rush to squeeze something into the finale, or into the last couple of episodes, let’s really think about it, and let’s tell that story at the beginning of season four.”

After Perry’s death, Aguirre-Sacasa said Season 3 was dedicated to the star’s memory.

Luke Perry’s final appearance on ‘Riverdale’ was short and bittersweet

He said Perry, whose character is the father of Archie Andrews, was “one of the hearts of the show.”

“We wanted to take the time to understand how the show will change [without Fred], and how we could best address that,” Aguirre-Sacasa said.

The showrunner also shared that Molly Ringwald, who plays Archie’s mom Mary, offered to be available for more scenes in the wake of Perry’s death, something Aguirre-Sacasa said they took her up on.