WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Riverdale season three episode nine, No Exit.
Riverdale season three returned this week following a midseason break and dived straight back into the bizarre Gargoyle King mystery.
Episode nine, titled No Exit, also focused on Archie Andrews (played by KJ Apa), who has been living in a cabin in Canada since escaping prison.
When the convict is attacked by a bear in the woods, while out with his dog Vegas, he puts in a distress call.
On the phone in the cabin, Archie is asked how severe his injuries are, and though bleeding heavily, he only says “it’s bad”.
After, he appears to pass out or hallucinate and is suddenly sat in the cabin with deceased Cassidy Bullock (Harrison MacDonald) and three dead men from the mines.
The guys ask him to play Gryphons and Gargoyles, claiming it is the only way he can get back to Riverdale.
First, Archie is tasked with defeating the Black Hood and goes back in time to the moment before the Black Hood shot his father and takes him down.
He then finds himself playing the board game with Warden Norton and is tasked with killing the Gargoyle King.
Believing the Gargoyle King is Hiram Lodge (Mark Consuelous), Archie stabs the father of his former girlfriend Veronica (Camila Mendes).
His actions elevate him to the final level, where he is playing with Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart), Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse) and Veronica.
For his last task, Archie is asked to kill the man who got him into all the trouble – himself.
Suddenly, he finds himself with a bat in his hand in his own bedroom, telling his father he is responsible because he is weak and stupid.
After smashing his own face in, blood is seen pouring out of his body as he lay on his bed with his eyes open.
Has Archie really killed himself? Or is it all just a figment of his imagination, or perhaps he was hallucinating?
Some fans fear he ended his own life, with one writing on Twitter: “I think Archie may have just died, but that can’t happen right?”
Another person tweeted: “Mourning the death of a fictional television character is exhausting. I never got over Derek Shepherd [from Grey’s Anatomy] and now I have to deal with this Archie thing. I can’t.”
However, a fan pointed out that in the episode nine trailer Archie was seen pointing a gun at Hiram and in the preview clip for episode 10 the businessman suffered a bullet wound, suggesting the redhead did not die.
“Archie is not dead. In the episode nine teaser there is a frame with Archie pointing a gun at Hiram in the hospital and in the episode 10 teaser Hiram is shot laying on the floor. Archie is not dead don’t get fooled.”
Riverdale continues next Wednesday on The CW in the US and today on Netflix in the UK.