"Riverdale" Newcomer Hart Denton on Playing Chic Cooper and His New TV Family

There have been a number of characters on Riverdale whose presences were felt long before they ever appeared onscreen. Hiram Lodge, Veronica's nefarious father, for an entire season seemed to always be lurking just outside the camera's view. (He was, of course, in prison for fraud, and it doesn't quite seem he's kicked his corporate-crime ways.) And while we have yet to see Jughead Jones's mom or his little sister Jellybean, or Polly Cooper's twins, Juniper and Dagwood, we did finally meet Chic Cooper, aka Charles Smith. But as with most developments on Riverdale, it's unclear whether Chic is going to help his sister Nancy Drew her way through the town's sordid history — because he seems to have more than a few skeletons in his own closet.

Playing the long-lost Cooper sibling is Hart Denton, who is about as nice as his onscreen counterpart is sinister. Nicer, even! (Which is saying something, given that we won't soon forget that image of Chic staring malevolently down at Betty's bed while she slept.) Teen Vogue caught up with the actor to talk about bonding with his costars, both on- and offscreen, and how he's been developing Dark Chic against Lili Reinhart's Dark Betty. He also opened up about what he really thinks about all of the Riverdale fan theories. And while he wouldn't spill any secrets, you can't say we didn't try.

Teen Vogue: How does it feel to join Riverdale and be part of the family?

Hart Denton: Oh my gosh. "Family" is the perfect word. Coming into this, I completely underestimated the size and strength of the Riverdale community and family. The fans are just the best in the world. It's been amazing.

TV: There was a lot of buzz when it was first announced that you would be playing Chic. What was it like from your perspective?

HD: I mean, honestly, I was the quintessential struggling artist who had less than a dollar in his account and couldn't afford to print out the sides to take to the audition and had to memorize it on my phone. And then my life changed in a matter of three days. It's been a whirlwind, and the most amazing thing I could ever ask for.

TV: Did you watch Riverdale prior to your audition?

HD: I had seen bits and pieces, because I had some roommates that were watching it. Basically, [the studio] called me on a Friday. They said, "You have an audition on . . ." I believe it was a Tuesday. So I watched the entire first season over the weekend. Just studied it inside and out, and fell in love with it, got obsessed with it, went in and felt like I was supposed to be a part of this world. It just clicked, it just fit so well, and now here we are.

TV: What about Chic specifically spoke to you?

HD: Chic has a lot of layers he brings to this show. It's not black and white, it's not good or bad. There are so many different elements to him . . . I can play it so many different ways. He's got such a wild history as far as how he was raised and the type of world he came from. And there were some parallels with myself and Chic, and just a matter of struggling in life at different points, and then being rescued in a sense — metaphorically [for me], by this show, and now being set up into the best position I could have ever possibly hoped for.

TV: We haven't met Chic in past episodes because Betty's mother gave him up for adoption after giving birth, but he was in the foster system until he turned 18. What did you do to prepare for that? Did you do any background work?

HD: Absolutely. I 100% did. I watched a bunch of documentaries on families going through the process of having to give a child up, and how difficult that is. It's never an easy process, no matter who it is. You take the worst situation and there's still such a heartbreaking element to separating from a child and what that can do to that kid. Because if you take a kid and then you put that kid in a total different environment raised in a wonderful, happy family, from what I have seen, you end up with two totally different people. You're a product of your environment in so many ways, and I related to that with Chic; growing up I had different hardships. At the core, [being] a good person with a good heart, so many factors can play into that and inevitably lead to something so much more than anything I could have ever imagined.

TV: How did you work with Lili Reinhart and Mädchen Amick on creating the Cooper family dynamic?

HD: They were the best I could have ever, ever, ever asked for. I essentially came into this not knowing anything. They were so patient and wonderful with me. In between takes, I would look over and I would ask Lili [who plays Betty Cooper] and Mädchen [who plays Alice Cooper], and I'd be like, "What does 'roll sound' mean? And what are different cuts? Why does the director do this?" And they were so gracious, they were so wonderful. We bonded so much. They really took me in from Day One. Most of my scenes have been involved with them because they're my family. It's a very special relationship that we all have. It's been a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful thing for me.

TV: Even in Chic's first few scenes, there are a lot of highs and lows — both with bonding moments, and with Hal Cooper being openly hostile to Chic. What was it like to act out this roller-coaster and then see it played out on TV?

HD: Well, it's very surreal. After watching the first season and seeing them act, and having a bit of background on who they were, it was tough then to go into this, because I had to look at myself and throw a lot of this away. My character wouldn't have known these different quirks and mannerisms and characteristics of these people that I had fallen in love with over a season. I had watched them and been like, "Wow. I love these people," but then I had to erase all of that, essentially, and start from scratch because Chic is coming in from the outside. I've never had to do that before, and it's been so challenging, and it's taught me a lot about being in life in general. Because every once in a while, there are people [who] need that undoing of certain things that we know about them or have learned about them. And people deserve a clean slate sometimes. It's taught me so much just as a human.

TV: That actually speaks to the way Chic has been introduced; it seems the show wants to plant a not-insignificant amount of judgment against him as a darker character. What do you hope viewers' reactions are to Chic?

HD: It's interesting, because in this day and age we're in right now, we have morphed into a world of people who can quickly judge, are ready to point fingers, and so quickly put a final stamp on someone. My biggest hope is that people allow an open heart to understand him from a perspective of him coming from a very rough upbringing and having no one, having nothing, having to make it on his own. A lot of people wanna go, "Oh he's bad," or "Oh he's good," or "He's up to something." I just hope that there's a bit of patience with that.

TV: But there is something not-great in him, and he and Betty bond over it when they talk about the darkness inside her and the darkness inside him. How did you approach that for Chic? And especially compared against the infamous "Dark Betty," how will those story lines progress?

HD: To play into that darkness a bit, I bought a journal when this [season] started. It was specifically for Chic-based thoughts and things that he would truly think, and things that he would go through, and emotions he would have to deal with. That alone made me [have] a whole new perspective of him. It's so rewarding to look at it because I didn't grow up in an orphanage, or a foster care system, or have to have absolutely no one. I have had similar situations, but nothing near what Chic has had to go through. To dive into that was something truly special to me. It showed me a lot, and it's helped me develop this character as who he is.

Lili and I talk a lot in between scenes about how [Betty and Chic] come from the same blood. You can take people and put them in different situations, and I do think they ultimately come out a bit different as far as their personality is, but there also is a working of DNA that certain people just have concrete elements to their personality. It's been very interesting to work through these scenes as a character who came from a very rough place and has a dark side, to do them across from someone who came up from a very privileged place, but also has a dark side.

TV: The Riverdale cast is notorious for bonding on social media. How has it been working with everybody just in general?

HD: It's so great. It's so organic. I have friends on other shows; they're dumbfounded when I tell them how close we all are with one another. We genuinely love spending time together. Vancouver is such a removed place from where most of us grew up or came from, so we've been pulled out of our habitats of comfort. We're exploring this city and finding things, and going different places, and getting to know one another. It's been the most incredible thing I could ever ask for.

[The cast] was ultragenerous in allowing me into this family. And we all say that to one another, that we truly are family. We feel so close, and we all have each other's backs. This world can be a very nasty place, especially when there is a microscope on things that we do or say. We've found so much comfort in being . . . family. That's all it is. We really are. It's more than just friends, and it's more than just coworkers or acquaintances. It is actually a family, and it's been the best thing I could ever hope for and ask for.

TV: Have they prepared you for all the fan theories that are going to come your way?

HD: I was speaking with Madelaine [Petsch, who plays Cheryl Blossom] the other day, and we were talking about some of [the theories] with Chic and Cheryl. Casey [Cott, who plays Kevin Keller] and I have talked as well [about] Chic and Kevin. We see these posts that people make and put together. We all laugh about it and we love it, because we love how invested these people are. We want more of it. We want more of them to do stuff like that because it makes us even go, "Huh. I hadn't thought about that. That's interesting."

Then we talk to the writers and they'll be like, "No, no, no. You can't listen to that stuff. You can't get invested in what certain people are saying," but it bonds us. We sit there and we joke about different circumstances and what can happen. We all love it. It's all taken with a grain of salt, because it doesn't necessarily influence certain things. But we really enjoy fantasizing about different situations and what could happen.

TV: I think the biggest Chic theory right now is whether or not FP Jones is his father. Do you know anything about that?

HD: [Laughs] I know a tiny bit, but I gotta lock my lips on that part.

TV: What is it like to keep all of these secrets, and to have fans know that you know, but you can't say anything?

HD: Oh my gosh, it's so hard. It's very difficult because I love talking to people. I try to respond to as many fans as I can through social media, and I try to keep it, "Thank you guys so much, sending love. Thanks for the support." They'll ask me certain questions, and I just can't answer them. I'm aware that Riverdale is much bigger than one thing here and there. I have to be very careful with how I work around certain things, and I can't say so much. It's really hard to bite my lip, but it's also very exciting.

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