New Zealander KJ Apa and American actor slash model Madelyn Cline may be making their first project together (the romantic drama The Map That Leads to You), but the road that brought them to this present moment (filled with much fancamming) has been years in the making. The stars, who both famously played teens in long-running series — Apa in Riverdale as Archie, and Cline as Sarah in Outer Banks — have appeared in teen dramas that’ve propelled them to stardom. So if you’re taking a moment or two to catch your breath midswoon on their latest project, or biding your time till Cline returns to OBX in 2026, here are some other shows and movies featuring the two actors to fuel your starry-eyed daydreams.
In the horror series Stranger Things, Cline plays Tina, a Hawkins high school student interested in the ever-antagonistic Billy (Dacre Montgomery). When Tina throws a Halloween bash where she dresses up as Madonna, Billy’s bad attitude causes Steve (Joe Keery) a major headache.
In all seven seasons of the genre-defying teen series Riverdale, Apa plays Archie Andrews. A gritty take on the wholesome Archie comics, the series follows a group of teens who take on evil after one of their own is murdered. As Archie, Apa gets caught in the Betty (Lili Reinhart) and Veronica (Camila Mendes) love triangle. But he also gets attacked by a bear, framed for murder, and ends up with superpowers.
For four seasons, Cline plays Sarah Cameron in Outer Banks, which centers on John B. Routledge (Chase Stokes), who’s leading a search for legendary treasure that’s closely linked to his father’s disappearance. Sarah, known as the “Kook princess,” — a wealthy seasonal resident of the North Carolina coastal town — begins dating John and becomes an integral part of his treasure-hunting crew — made up of the town’s working-class residents called the Pogues.
In the rom-com The Last Summer, Apa plays Griffin, an aspiring musician who’s headed to Columbia University in his father’s footsteps to reluctantly study business. At a party, he runs into longtime crush Phoebe (Maia Mitchell) and offers to help her make a documentary over the summer — with hopes of a spark between them. The 2019 film follows Griffin, Phoebe, and their friends as they embark on a transformative summer break before heading off to college.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, the sequel to the Rian Johnson murder mystery Knives Out, follows Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) as he infiltrates a Grecian getaway hosted by billionaire tech bro Miles Bron (Edward Norton) at his private-island mansion. His friend group, known as the Disruptors, is a mix of both confidantes and enemies. Cline plays an influencer named Whiskey, the girlfriend — and subordinate — of men’s rights activist Duke Cody (Dave Bautista).
