Riverdale to Have Significant Time Jump Early in Season 5, EP Confirms
Riverdale‘s teens won’t be teens much longer.
The CW drama will have a significant time jump early on in the upcoming Season 5, TVLine has confirmed. The exact length of the time jump and other details are still being worked out by the writers, but the jump — originally planned for the end of Season 4 — is expected to cover several years, which will allow the cast of young actors to play closer to their actual ages and skip the time when Archie and the gang would be separated while away at college.
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“We’ve been talking and planning on doing a time jump,” executive producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa tells TVLine, “and of course, usually time jumps happen in between seasons, because there’s a tease at the very end.” But because the coronavirus pandemic shut down production and ended Season 4 early, “it felt like maybe what we’ll do is start with the last three episodes” intended for Season 4, including the gang’s senior prom and high school graduation. “So what we’re doing is picking up right where we left off for the first three episodes, and then doing a time jump… after those three episodes.”
Riverdale ended its fourth season last week with an early finale that was originally slated to be the season’s 19th episode. (For more on how the Riverdale EPs approached ending the season early, click here.) The series was renewed for a fifth season back in January.
Cast member Madchen Amick, who plays Betty’s mom Alice Cooper, also alluded to a time jump in a recent chat with TVLine: “I don’t know what they have planned [for Season 5], but I can only imagine there’s something that’s going to bring them back to town. If they’re all off going to these different colleges, I think that they had a time jump planned, that something brings them back. So what that is, who knows? But something clearly is going to bring all our favorite characters back to town and involved in some new thrilling adventure, I’m sure.”
For those of you keeping track at home: Yes, Riverdale is the answer to TVLine’s blind item from February teasing a “significant, season-ending, narrative-altering time jump” for “an established series.” That report said that “the length of the time jump being considered is in the neighborhood of five years,” which would take the Riverdale gang past their college years.
Alright, Riverdale fans, have at it: Are you excited to see a slightly older Archie and company in Season 5? Drop your thoughts, theories and/or predictions in a comment below.
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