Vanessa Morgan in Wild Cards (Photo: The CW)
Vanessa Morgan isn’t saying goodbye to The CW any time soon. After spending over six years portraying Southside Serpent Toni Topaz on the network’s quirky Archie Comics-inspired teen drama Riverdale, the actress has found a home on a new CW series: Wild Cards.
The Canadian-American series, which is co-produced with CBS and currently airs weekly, is part crime-solving procedural, part comedy, and part will-they/won’t-they? romance. Morgan stars as Max Mitchell, a clever and charismatic con artist who teams up with no-nonsense cop Cole Ellis (Giacomo Gianniotti) to solve crimes in exchange for staying out of jail.
At the 2024 Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour, Morgan — who’s previously appeared on shows like Finding Carter, Degrassi: The Next Generation, A.N.T. Farm, and The Shannara Chronicles — described her Wild Cards character Max as a “dream role.” “I would say every kind of role prepared me for this one,” she told journalists.
“Toni will always be a part of me, playing her for six years,” she added. “But this one's a bit more fun, because there's so much more depth to her character. I have a father [Jason Priestley]. I didn't have parents on Riverdale. There's a whole backstory that we're slowly starting to see.”
Primetimer spoke with Morgan at TCA about playing a con artist on Wild Cards, moving on from high school roles, and the Riverdale series finale.
What first drew you to Wild Cards as a project?
Max was originally [named] Toni. So at first I was like, “Oh my gosh, I gotta play Toni again!” I secretly liked it because I wasn’t ready to let go yet. And yeah, just how funny and likable the character was, how much depth she had, and finally being able to play a lead role and such a strong woman who wasn’t a teenager. I think that’s what really drew me to playing Max.
Max feels unlike any other character you’ve played before. And she's, like you said, very layered and has a lot of depth. How do you even begin to approach playing a character like that?
You kind of have to channel your alter ego. I feel like there's lots of me in Max. She's just the more awkward version of me. I [also] watched a lot of Ocean’s 11 and Catch Me If You Can to see how con artists like that work.
In the last season of Riverdale, your character Toni was literally a teenager again. How has it been going from these young adult shows and playing teens to taking on more adult shows and roles?
It's definitely a transition, for sure. There's a bit of mourning, because I feel like I finally graduated from high school. It's like this weird thing to say, right? You know, as an adult woman now, that I finally graduated from high school. It's nostalgic to miss high school sometimes, [but] I never had that feeling because I always felt like, “Oh, I go to work and I'm in high school again.” So it was kind of just that mourning of finally closing the chapter on high school. Who knows, maybe I'll go to high school again a couple more times. But yeah, I'm a mother, so getting to play somebody my age is really nice. It just makes more sense at this stage of my life. I can relate to more things.
What's it like being back at The CW? I mean, you never really left, but still.
I like it because they're so sweet and they're treating me really well. It was kind of an easy transition for me from Toni to Max, knowing that I'm not switching networks or anything. Even though you're saying goodbye to one thing and your friends, you’re still with the same company, just in a different aspect.
I have to ask, is it weird to have a new love interest after so many years of Toni and Cheryl [Madelaine Petsch]?
Choni will always be so close to my heart and probably my favorite. With that said, you know, it's always different. I haven't had to do that in so long. But [I’m] very blessed to have such a great co-star. Giacomo is so nice. We get along so great as friends. I feel like it's a slow build, Max and Ellis. The fact that we already have chemistry makes it so much easier as an actor to transition into that.
Did you and Giacamo have a chemistry read?
Yeah, it was a chemistry read over Zoom, which is so hard. But obviously they liked it and saw what it could be, and clearly it resonated with a lot of people. People tell us that they think we have great chemistry on screen.
Can you tease a little bit about what fans can expect from Max and Ellis as their dynamic grows?
I think they're just going to get closer. I guess it's up to the writers what happens after that. And I think Max is going to have some hard decisions to make as to whether she wants to be on the good team or the bad team, the good or bad side of the law.
What's it been like having Jason Priestley play your father on Wild Cards?
He's so great, obviously, like an iconic professional actor. He's so kind, no ego. I was very blessed to have him as my father. Because again, great chemistry and such a good man. It's so fun to do scenes with him.
Are we going to meet any of Max's other family members?
I was told that we might. I was definitely excited to hear that that's a possibility.
Jumping back to Riverdale, you’ve said that Toni will always be a part of you. How did you feel about Toni and Cheryl's ending?
The ending was very special to me. I do wish there were a bit more Choni scenes together [in the finale], but I think it was really beautifully done in the sense that my son [River] got to play [Cheryl and Toni’s son] Dale. I'll have that memory for the rest of my life.
Was it your idea to have River play Cheryl and Toni’s son?
It was my idea. I've always said I wasn't going to put River in Riverdale, but he comes to set with me all the time, he was already a part of the cast. It didn't feel right ending it without him. When Choni finally had a kid, and I was like, it has to be River. It had to be him. And then [Choni] ending as endgame was important to me and to have [for] the fans.
You were on another teen show, Finding Carter, which is coming up on 10 years this year. Obviously Wild Cards is very different in tone, but with both shows being crime related, do you feel like there are any similarities between Max and your Finding Carter character, Bird?
I feel like there's similarities between Bird and Max and Toni. They're all badass characters in different ways. Max is definitely more likable [than Bird], though — she’s very friendly and wants to get to know people and very chatty. But I like how they were both confident female characters.
Looking ahead to the rest of this season of Wild Cards, what are you most excited about?
“Dead of Night” is really fun. Ashley Greene from Twilight is in the episode. We get to follow a cast, a cast like Riverdale for example, like an ensemble cast of a successful show, and there's a crime. And Max's character is a huge fan girl of the show. I'm really excited for people to see that. I think it's so great. Every episode to the end is just really fun, and I'm excited for people to see more behind Max, more of her motive. Basically more of the mystery is going to be solved.
Wild Cards is a little bit different from a standard procedural in that it also has comedic aspects and romance, but it's still a procedural. These types of shows never really seem to go out of style. Why do you think that is?
I feel like people love solving the mystery of things that do happen in [real] life. People like trying to watch and seeing if they can solve it, knowing that the crime is going to be solved at the end. I feel like people really want to challenge themselves to see if that mystery can be solved. Like, it was that person, or it was that person. They don't go out of style because people want to know if they can solve a crime.
Finally, as an actor, is there a particular genre you haven't gotten to explore yet that you would love to take on in the future?
I would love to do an action superhero movie like Marvel. Like a Catwoman type of role.
This interview has been condensed for length and clarity.
Wild Cards airs Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET on The CW, with episodes streaming next-day on The CW app. Join the discussion about the show in our forums.
Kelly Martinez is an entertainment freelance writer covering all things TV, movies, and fandoms. She is based in Los Angeles.
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