Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo
person holding bowling balls
person holding bowling balls
Daniel Álvasd/Unsplash
Culture > Entertainment

This ‘Riverdale’ Fan Theory Claims Betty’s Mom Is a Witch, & It’s Actually Not That Far-Fetched

Chelsea Jackson

Hold up: Riverdale‘s Alice Cooper, Betty Cooper’s mom, is low-key a witch, according to a fan theory. The second season of Riverdale just premiered Wednesday night, and everyone’s already making outlandish speculations. But is this theory really that preposterous?

It might have some truth to it, given that a Sabrina the Teenage Witch spinoff is in the works. Tumblr user betty-and-jughead says that Alice might be related to the Spellmans. After all, Alice’s maiden name in the Archie Comics is Smith, but we don’t know what it is on Riverdale. The Tumblr user also points out that Alice is “constantly using terms like ‘brew’ and ‘banish’ and ‘witching hour’.” Could her vocabulary be related to her witchy past, or is it just a coincidence?

BuzzFeed goes even further by suggesting that Polly Cooper’s baby could be Sabrina Spellman. Say what?

The BuzzFeed video elaborates, “In the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina at 16, witches are able to choose between being baptized during a satanic ritual, or skipping out on it to live a life as a mortal.” It says Alice may have chosen to undergo this satanic ritual to remain a witch, but Hal Cooper convinced her to raise Betty and Polly as mortals. Uh, good thing, because I wouldn’t want to see Dark Betty casting any spells.

According to Harper’s Bazaar, Jon Goldwater, the executive producer of Riverdale and the upcoming Sabrina spinoff, told fans at New York Comic Con that they’ve “started casting for Sabrina the character. You’ll be able to meet her soon.” Maybe a crossover will give a glimpse of the other supernatural aspects of the comics.

After all, Entertainment Weekly has already explained that the new Sabrina show will include more of the occult undertones featured in the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina comic. Executive producer of Riverdale and comic book writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa told Entertainment Weekly earlier this year that Sabrina might have a “potential appearance” on Riverdale.

*If* Alice is secretly a witch, does this mean that Betty’s secret, hot AF brother could be a warlock? I mean, he wasn’t raised by the Coopers, so he may have found his spellbinding abilities on his own.

Clearly, we’re going to have to rewatch every episode of Riverdale to thoroughly research this developing theory.

Chelsea is the Health Editor and How She Got There Editor for Her Campus. In addition to editing articles about mental health, women's health and physical health, Chelsea contributes to Her Campus as a Feature Writer, Beauty Writer, Entertainment Writer and News Writer. Some of her unofficial, albeit self-imposed, responsibilities include arguing about the Oxford comma, fangirling about other writers' articles, and pitching Her Campus's editors shamelessly nerdy content (at ambiguously late/early hours, nonetheless). When she isn't writing for Her Campus, she is probably drawing insects, painting with wine or sobbing through "Crimson Peak." Please email any hate, praise, tips, or inquiries to cjackscreate@gmail.com