Kevin Keller and Fangs Fogarty form a gay couple whose engagement includes an open-relationship phase and a surrogate-family arrangement with bisexual Toni Topaz; Toni and Cheryl Blossom's lesbian relationship, known as Choni, incorporates an ancestral conflict subplot rooted in historical Blossom-Topaz violence. These threads generate concrete story beats such as the key-party episode and the surrogate-announcement sequence, all folded into the season's soap-opera mysteries and town-revival framework. Creator intent and casting decisions further shape the season's profile.

After prior diversity criticism, showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa expanded the role of Black character Toni Topaz, played by Vanessa Morgan, elevating her to Serpent Queen, guidance counselor, and town council member; Morgan had publicly called out tokenism. The resulting diverse casting and relationships remain integrated into the established mystery and revival arcs instead of driving an identity-politics core narrative.