Credits: Seventeen

Say Goodbye to Hiram Lodge, maybe forever! The 'daddy' of the Riverdale series has decided to exit the show and apparently won't be making a comeback. 

The news was recently confirmed by the Riverdale showrunner Robert Aguirre-Sacasa. He said that Mark Consuelos, the actor aged 50 years, will no longer be a regular part of the series. The news comes after the series' fifth season came to an end on Wednesday, October 6.  

Talking with Deadline, Aguirre-Sacasa said, "So tonight's episode is Mark's swan song playing our hunky villain Hiram Lodge on Riverdale after four insane, glorious years." The actor had made a debut in the season at the beginning of the second season and had since played the role of a quite handsome villain. 

Aguirre-Sacasa continued, "From the moment Mark joined us, he was up for literally anything, a hundred percent committed to making Archie's life a living hell. And what's funny is, Mark couldn't be more different from Hiram. A classy pro and the sweetest guy, always looking out for everyone. We wish Mark the best and hope this isn't the last we've seen of Hiram Lodge."

The on-screen portrayal of Consuelos' character Hiram Lodge was a chilling presentation of his relationship with his daughter Veronica, played by Camila Mendes, and her on-again, off-again sweetheart and jock boyfriend Archie Andrews, played by KJ Apa. Hiram is usually in the midst of the thickest of battles with Veronica as they both vow to throw the other off their success. He is always at odds with Archie, and they both never find common ground despite their few episodes together where Archie takes after Hiram as a mentor. 

Finally, as the young couple realizes that Hiram has committed murder, they resort to chasing him and driving him out of the town, possibly never to come back. Now, the Wednesday season finale episode of the show served to be the final showcasing of Hiram. 

But the show creators weren't so sure if Hiram was to be left alive in the series or if Archie and Veronica would choose something much more sinister to get rid of her father finally. Ultimately, they decided on the driving-out season over first-degree murder. 

The show creator said: "The other thing we considered was killing Hiram off. And we had fun imagining the ways that might happen. The two versions of Hiram's death we were seriously entertaining late into the breaking of the episode were that Archie would take Hiram into the woods … and only Archie would come back, like something out of The Sopranos. And the strong implication (never confirmed) would be that Archie had murdered Hiram and buried his body somewhere in Swedlow Swamp."

Their second take on the final moments of Hiram was to bury him alive in wet cement, which would have totally fit in Riverdale's many bizarre happenings. Hence, Aguirre-Sacasa revealed, "The other thing we talked about is that Veronica and Archie would take Hiram to one of his construction sites and entomb him in wet cement in the building's foundation. In the end, though, our love of Mark Consuelos and our hope that he'll always be a part of Riverdale won out … by a very narrow margin."

However, now that Hiram is driven out of the town, he just couldn't leave the town without a (quite literal) bang, could he? The questionable father and old man chose to plant a bomb under Archie's bed before the 5th season ended. It is now just a matter of the 6th season to roll in until Hiram announces his metaphorical presence to his nemesis, Archie. 

Talking about the scene could affect the ongoings of the coming seasons and also the lives of the characters, Aguirre-Sacasa said, "That will have a huge, immediate, and lasting impact on our characters and storylines moving into season 6." The writers of the show revealed that they couldn't do without a last parting action from Hiram, saying, "As we were writing the season finale, it felt like we needed one last parting shot from Hiram, and we joked that earlier, this season Hiram blew up his jail, then he blew up the Blossom mines … and don't these things usually come in threes? What if, after all these years, Hiram was finally like, 'Screw this, I'm just gonna bomb Archie's house,' and then he does exactly that. Of course, it happens just as Archie and Betty are finally getting together …"

Credits: Den of Geek

Mark Consuelos shared how grateful he was for being the "incredible opportunity" to be a part of the series and especially that the series also cast his eldest son Michael with his wife Kelly Ripa to portray Hiram's younger version in the series. 

In his Thank You speech, he said, "Never before has playing a character that was so bad felt so good. Huge thanks to the Riverdale fandom, to the brilliant crew and amazing cast, whom I consider dear friends and family."

The actor has now advanced to find himself another great role and has already been cast as Ryan Seacrest on Live With Kelly and Ryan. Riverdale, for its part, has already readied for the premiere for season 6 and will be available on your screens from Tuesday, November 16 this year on CW.