As if Riverdale hadn’t already broken every law of storytelling, television, and possibly physics, the Archie gang is about to go full apocalypse. Disney+ is developing ‘Afterlife With Archie’, a zombie horror drama based on Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Francesco Francavilla’s cult comic series. Yes, that means Archie, Betty, Veronica, and Jughead could soon be swapping milkshakes at Pop’s for flesh-eating chaos in a nightmare-fueled Riverdale overrun with the undead.
The project has a script-to-series commitment, which means Disney+ will wait to see how the scripts turn out before officially ordering it. It comes from the same creative team behind Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, with Aguirre-Sacasa adapting his own comic and Greg Berlanti also producing.
For the uninitiated, the Afterlife With Archie comic reimagines the wholesome gang as survivors of a horror apocalypse, with Jughead kicking things off by being zombified (honestly, not the wildest thing that has ever happened to him onscreen). The series quickly became one of Archie Comics’ most beloved horror titles, alongside Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. And now Disney+ wants in on the spooky action, because why let Netflix and The CW have all the weird fun?
Casting has not been announced. According to TVLine, it’s not expected that any of the original Riverdale cast, which included breakout stars KJ Apa (Songbird), Lili Reinhart (Hustlers), Camila Mendes (Do Revenge), and Cole Sprouse (Five Feet Apart), will reprise their roles. Riverdale itself ran for seven seasons between 2017 and 2023, also spawning the short-lived spinoff Katy Keene in 2020.
Deadline reports this marks a significant development for Warner Bros. Television at Disney+. Alongside other projects Aguirre-Sacasa and Berlanti have shepherded, it shows Archie’s weird little universe is not finished with TV just yet.
So yes, Archie and the gang survived seven seasons of bonkers Riverdale storylines that included serial killers, cults, alternate timelines, time travel, and musical numbers that defied human endurance. Now they might have to face the actual zombie apocalypse. Honestly, it sounds like a natural next step.
‘Afterlife With Archie’ is currently in development at Disney+ with a script-to-series commitment. We’ll let you know if we hear more!
1 comment
The comic vanished after ten issues and remains unfinished to this day, so they might want to do that first
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