The CW’s Riverdale, a tumultuous and frequently mememed teen drama, is wrapping off its sixth season. Even show creator and executive producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa couldn’t have predicted the tumultuous ride that Archie Comics has taken since the death of Jason Blossom in the first season, which shook the tiny, anachronistic town to its core. Aguirre-Sacasa recently spoke with Collider’s Christina Radish about the surprising twists and turns that Riverdale has undergone over the course of its five-year run on television.
This season will be the final one for the show, and they have a few secrets up their sleeve. The question of whether or not a once-teen drama series would inevitably wind up containing witches, parallel realms, and the occasional necromancer was posed by Radish to Aguirre-Sacasa. His response was, “I’ll be honest with you, I don’t believe anyone knew that.” The showrunner even went so far as to admit that he “never anticipated Riverdale would be getting to Season 7” if he stated he hadn’t lied.
In today’s competitive television market, if your show doesn’t pull in high numbers for the network, it’s probably going to be axed off the schedule. Even as Archie and the rest of the gang’s pranks have gotten more and more outrageous, Riverdale has maintained its consistent popularity. Katy Keene and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, two other Archie Comics spinoffs handled by Aguirre-Sacasa, have both lasted longer than this series. The first season of Riverdale was an effort at prestige drama, but the show’s campier features have subsequently pushed into the absurd speech and the dramatic musical performances.
“Extremely really enthusiastic about the finale of Season 6,” stated Aguirre-Sacasa in the interview. Season 7 is set to premiere this autumn on The CW, as he teased further: “For the time being, we have a few more episodes to run until Season 7 begins. And while it is not exactly what I had in mind, it’s still a very good fit. I’m ecstatic because it’s both unexpected and inevitable, and I’m looking forward to it. As far as the last season goes, I won’t lie to you: I had a concept of where it would finish, and we were heading there, but while we were closing up season 6 and talking about season 7, a whole new notion came into play.”
A new Riverdale episode airs every Sunday at 8 PM ET on The CW, and Season 6 will come to an end on July 31 with an all-new episode.