You Don't Know Lili

Is she more “good betty” or “dark betty”? The riverdale star is a beautiful, complicated mix of both.

- Anna Moeslein

LILI REINHART IS SITTING IN A VICTORIAN GARDEN in Irvington, New York. The birds are chirping, and the sun is shining on her blond hair. It’s a scene that makes it laughably easy to conflate real-life Lili with her onscreen alter ego, Riverdale’s perennial “good girl,” Betty Cooper. But the actress wants to make something clear: You may feel you know Betty—but you don’t know Lili. “I’m a very open book about a lot of things,” Reinhart says, “but at the end of the day, if I don’t know you, you’re a stranger.”

Riverdale, for the uninitiated, is the CW’s noir, modern-day adaptation of the midcentury Archie Comics universe. Betty still has her uniform of saccharine colors and a perky ponytail, but this version has a lot more agency. No more fighting with Veronica over Archie’s attention— Reinhart’s Betty is too busy catching serial killers.

It’s Reinhart’s first major role, and it catapulted the 22-year-old Cleveland native to Hollywood next-gen status with a passionate teenage fan base. She’s recognized as Betty everywhere she goes: in Vancouver, where Riverdale films; in North Carolina, visiting her parents; and at difficult, private moments, like a memorial service with her family in Massachusetts. And most encounters share one element. “It’s never like, ‘Are you that person from Riverdale?’ ” she says. “It’s ‘I know who you are.’”