Nikolai Witschl, who plays Dr Curdle Jr since season 3 of Riverdale, discussed his mysterious but hilarious character and gave us an inside look on the show!
We at Survived The Shows had the great pleasure of discussing Dr Curdle Jr ‘s journey on Riverdale with actor Nikolai Witschl!
What’s the main element in the character of Dr Curdle Jr and the show in general that fascinates you the most and drew you to join Riverdale?
NIKOLAI WITSCHL: For me I came to Riverdale and I come to Archie through the original Archie Comics. The double digests that I would always see in grocery store aisles and throughout my childhood. That’s kind of like what I knew of Archie and the world of Archie Comics.
So when Riverdale came out, it seemed like it was very much like a gritty reboot of the Archie World. I thought that was kind of a pretty cool idea, especially the way that they were doing it. And by the time that I came on with my character in season three, I had a couple of seasons to kind of like test the waters of what they were doing to really cater my character to that. I really enjoy the Archie Comics and the way that Riverdale turns these characters that we understand and that we know and have known since the 60s into these modern kind of gritty adaptations of it.
There’s a lot more murder in Riverdale than there ever was in the original Archie Comics. I think that’s something that’s really interesting to me, and also is something that I focused on when I was building the character of Doctor Curdle Jr because at least from my perspective, for his character, the show is a comedy where the joke is how serious everything is.
Witschl takes us into building his character
Yeah, I very much try to portray my character in that way and that was one of the really key thrusts of when I was building him of something that I found was really important because Riverdale still has Archie Comics as that like core of where it sprang from. The 1960s Americana comedy is still at the core of this show and so I wanted it to be at the core of my character when I was playing it.
Dr Curdle Jr, and Dr Curdle before him, has always been part of Riverdale and its mysteries even though they were never really involved in first hand. Most of the time, the death cause is pretty crazy. Do you have a favorite moment, or one that stuck with you for how absurd it was?
I’m not going to choose any of the like more supernatural murders that we’ve kind of been getting into. I think my favorites have to be the ones when we were still in the world of more realism where everything was mysterious magical, but in more of a Scooby-Doo way where you could always lift the mask off the villain. And just like, oh, that makes sense.
But the one that I go back to is Baby Teeth. He had all of his teeth taken out and I remember my character specifically says they were removed pre mortem. Which is an interesting way to say when he was alive, but not only that! There was a matchbook hidden in his throat. A bit of a gruesome detail. Which is, I think such a like a noir way of thinking about it. The matchbook and the throat like having monograms and matchbooks from a time when people smoked much more than they do now.
Which was the most fun scene for you to film?
For me that would have to be the Josie and the Pussycat scene where I got to be with the rest of the cast in the audience watching Josie and the Pussycats perform. That was very cool because as I mentioned, my character is funny when he is the most serious. But that was a scene where they kind of like let me off the leash a little bit. Where I got to actually play into the jokes a little bit more.
Betty first sees me. She’s like “Doctor Curdle Junior, why are you here? Did someone die?” And he’s like “I’m a huge fan. I love Josie and the Pussycats.” I really got to lean into the comedy. And then when Tony goes into labor in the middle of the show and they’re like, “oh, is there a doctor in the house?” “I’m a doctor” The comedy in that was very clear and apparent on the page and I loved to play it.
Riverdale recently embraced its supernatural side once and for all. What do you think about this twist? Did you see it coming?
Yeah, as I kind of teased a little bit earlier on, things were, for much of it, very like Scooby-Doo where we thought it might be aliens and mothmen and gargoyle games, but you pull off the mask and it turns out it’s this other thing. But at the start of season six with Rivervale and certainly even getting back into Riverdale after the five episode of it, we really are in the world of supernatural and I personally love it. I love it because I love superheroes. But also I love it because there’s precedent, the comics. I was thinking about this recently. We’ve got Marvel Comics and DC Comics with the two like big comic names when you think about comic books. But Archie really is the 3rd, and they’re the only ones that haven’t like supremely embraced superheroes and superpowers.
Witschl is a huge fan of superheroes and supernatural
Even Archie Comics have had superheroes in it like Archie has become a superhero himself. I specifically remember a crossover between Archie and Marvel where it’s Archie meets the Punisher. That’s something that I remember from the past, and I bought a comic recently. That’s Betty and Veronica meet Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, so it’s very cool. And not only that, a lot of the other Archie stuff that’s happened, like the Archie’s weird mysteries as a cartoon and that kind of like subgenre of where Archie is gone. As well as Josie and the Pussycats. Even going out into space. Like Archie has gone to these weird places before and these absolutely surreal and unrealistic things.
Not to mention – I can’t believe it took me this long – but even mentioning Sabrina which is now also in the Riverdale universe completely at this point, confirmed and crossed over with the world of the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. So yeah, all of this supernatural stuff that is now in the world of Riverdale has precedent with the world of Archie Comics.
On Riverdale, everyone is slowly getting powers. Will your character have any? What can you tease?
Very good question. I can’t say whether or not I do. We’re still actually in the middle of filming. I was on set yesterday. We were still in the middle of filming and writing our episodes and filming stuff to cap off the season, which I don’t want to spoil for anybody because honestly, the best way of watching it is is seeing how the writers and everyone intended it. It’s such a ride that I wouldn’t want to deprive anybody of that.
What power do you think he would have, or what power would you like your character to have?
But if Doctor Curdle Jr did get powers, I think it has to be related to the dead. Everyone’s power is kind of seem to be related to kind of the things that they deal with.
Archie is super strong and super tough, and he is like the prototypical superhero of the show, even before he became invulnerable. Jughead can read minds because he’s always been a thinker. His mind has always been as great as power. Betty can see aureas because she’s about understanding people and tracking down mysteries. And Veronica as we know now is venomous because of her spitfire personality. I think it works so well for her. So if Doctor Curdle Jr had powers he would have to deal with the dead. Either talking with the dead, being able to speak to his autopsies. That would be very handy too. It’s like “how did you just die?” It would be like cheating in the game of quiz.
But the other thing that I was thinking that might be a little bit more off to the side was would it be if he acted more as like a grim Reaper of sorts and passing souls from one place to another. It’s a little bit more out there.
What’s your favorite season or storyline?
Oh, I really enjoy the Gargoyle King. Yeah, and particularly because I really like Dungeons and Dragons personally. I’ve played a bunch of tabletop RPG’s and I know about that from like the Satanic panic. From the 70s, where people were like “my kids are casting spells in their basement”. And like how truly it is a game about community, but how through people’s worst fears, it can be used for evil purposes, I guess. But I’ve always found Dungeons and Dragons to be a game that brings me closer together with people rather than causing me to murder them.
We asked Witschl wha was it like working with Lili Reinhart, since she’s the actress he has most of his scenes with
Oh, it’s very fun. I think Lili is always a professional. The two of us whenever we do our scenes together, we’re able to, you know, chat about things in each other’s lives at this point, which is really nice to have. But also when the camera rolls, just be able to like sink into our characters and play the scene to give everyone what they want so that we can move on and be able to do the show quickly and efficiently. I know many of the other cast members like KJ in particular are a bit more goofballs on set, which is another good energy to have. But yeah, working with Lili is strongly like friendly and professional affair, I would say.
Talking about the environment on set, we asked him how can he describe his experience with the cast and crew while filming Riverdale and with whom did he grow stronger friendships
Oh yeah, that’s a lovely question. I think I always have fun on set. I’m always very respectful because every time I’m on there I feel like the smallest cog in the machine, it takes so many people to make television work and everybody needs to be able to do their jobs to a high quality and standard for things to be able to move along and to work at all. So I’m always super happy when I’m there.
Because of the way that film works, you mostly only get to see people that you’re in scenes with. There’s not a lot of time to be able to crossover with people from other scenes unless they were filming something previously when you get called in or they’re doing something later on and and it’s always nice to be able to see them in the actors tent. For the most part I’ve gotten more friendly with the people I’ve done scenes with like Lili and Cole. Cole and I in particular talk video games pretty often.
Watch the full interview above to discover more on what Nikolai Witschl said about season 7 – and how it could be interesting to explore the multiverse! He also gave fans some advice if they want to approach the world of acting!
We at Survived the Show are glad we got the chance to talk to Nikolai Witschl and thank him once again for his kindness and his time!
Keep following us to know more on the world of Riverdale!
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