Riverdale fans should keep their eyes open for Easter eggs — and potential guest star cameos — in Vanessa Morgan‘s newest CW show Wild Cards.
During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly on Tuesday, January 30, Morgan, 31, broke down the unplanned nods at Riverdale, which almost started with her character’s name.
“When I was cast as Max, her original name was Toni. That didn’t change until a few days before I started filming,” she shared. “So I almost in a way felt like I was still playing Toni for a bit and I think that made the transition that much smoother.”
In addition to Max’s original moniker, Morgan previously revealed that the house her character lives in also served as the Blossom family’s Thornhill residence on Riverdale. Morgan confirmed that there will be more Easter eggs for fans to look forward to as season 1 of Wild Cards continues.
“There’s one episode where we’re filming and there’s what was the actual Pop’s [restaurant] in the background. They just changed the name to Nonna’s. People might see that as the Easter egg,” she teased to Us. “We actually have Pop Tate [Alvin Sanders], who was the owner of Pop’s, in one of our episodes. So yeah, definitely some Easter eggs in there where it definitely feels like the metaverse of Riverdale is all coming together.”
Before taking on the role of Max on Wild Cards, Morgan played Toni Topaz on Riverdale. The hit series, which was based on Archie Comics, ran for seven seasons and was known for its out-of-the-box plotlines. Throughout the seasons, Toni found her place in Riverdale as a Serpent, a mother and a soulmate for Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch).
Morgan didn’t have a lot of time to say goodbye to Toni before she started preparing to bring a new character to life.
“Obviously saying goodbye to Toni was so sad. It felt like a death of someone that I loved so much [because I would] never get to play her on screen again. But because it was such a short window of time — I literally had three weeks before I was in prep for Wild Cards — it almost made the transition that much simpler,” Morgan explained. “I didn’t even really have the time to mourn. I just had to prep this other character, [which I booked] before I even wrapped on Riverdale.”
Wild Cards, which premiered earlier this month on The CW, is a police procedural that follows a demoted water-cop named Ellis (Giacomo Gianniotti) who is offered an opportunity at redemption if he works with con woman Max to help solve crimes.
“It was fun because there’s these mysteries you’re solving in the episode. But it was also the comedy aspect with it, which I personally really loved,” Morgan told Us. “It’s not like your typical procedural — it has that lightheartedness to it. It’s kind of like going to an escape room. You kind of have what you need to solve [the mystery], and it is a fun journey that you get to watch on screen.”
The actress gushed over her character’s scene-stealing presence, adding, “There is so much depth to Max. She’s so funny and she’s like this alter ego that I just love to play.”
Wild Cards hasn’t yet offered viewers a full picture of Max, but her relationship with her father (Jason Priestley) is definitely a driving force.
“Obviously, her father is in jail, and they’re super close. You can kind of guess that the main motive is to get out of there at whatever cost,” Morgan noted. “Max is very family-first, and the big tease there is, ‘What are the lengths they’ll go to to get out of prison and get out of trouble?’ And if that involves other people maybe getting thrown in by them, that might have to be the case.”
Morgan also weighed in on how the show’s case-of-the-week structure allows for many new faces — including from the Riverdale cast.
“I would absolutely love [for the Riverdale cast to be guest stars]. Maybe in season 2 we can get — I would love it if Mads came in an episode, but we’ll see,” she told Us. “There’s going to be so many roles and so many parts. I know we film in Canada, and they all live in the United States. [But] I’m sure my show would love to have them if any of them wanted to pop in for a guest star [appearance].”
Wild Cards airs on The CW Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
