'Riverdale' Cast Another Fine-As-Hell Asian As Reggie And Fans Already Love Him

Fans of the CW teen drama “Riverdale” were understandably shaken when it was announced that Ross Butler ― who played jock Reggie Mantle ― would be leaving the show due to scheduling conflicts related to his work on Netflix’s “13 Reasons Why.”

After all, it was pretty refreshing to have an Asian-American actor portray Reggie, a high school jock who was originally drawn as a white guy.

Plus, Butler LOOKED LIKE THIS:

Come. On:

Fan reaction generally went something like this:

Luckily, the CW listened and took to heart how important it was to keep the cast of “Riverdale” as diverse and representative as possible.

Not only is Reggie still Asian, he’s also just as hot as Butler. Ladies and gentlemen, meet your new Reggie Mantle, 26-year-old Korean-American actor Charles Melton:

Is this real life?

Is this just fantasy?

We assure you, guys, this is real life and the hot dude above is, in fact, your new Reggie:

Melton seems to be settling in just fine with the rest of the cast. Over the weekend, Camila Mendes (aka Veronica Lodge) posted a group pic of her, Melton, and KJ Apa (who plays Archie Andrews) enjoying a ~shirtless pizza party~ together, as one does:

Melton also tweeted this last month, immediately endearing him to fans:

Other “Riverdale” fans have tweeted about how excited they are that Reggie is still Asian:

Truly, the world is a better place with #AsianReggie in it.

😍 😍