The time jump in Season 5 of Riverdale poses a few questions but opens up a whole new field of possibilities, such as a potential crossover with Sabrina and Katy Keene according to the showrunner.
The fourth episode of season 5 of Riverdale, broadcast in US + 24 on Netflix in France, sounds like a new beginning for Archie and his friends. Seven years have passed since graduating high school, and the teen drama heroes have gone their separate ways. Archie (KJ Apa) has joined the military and will play flirtatious in Riverdale, Betty (Lili Reinhart) is now an FBI agent traumatized by a creepy affair, Jughead (Cole Sprouse) has become a drifting writer and Veronica (Camila Mendes) married a young wolf from Wall Street and played it Uncut Gems At New York.
A crazy timeline
If this leap in time brings a real breath of fresh air, it also brings its share of inconsistencies, especially on the dates. In a conversation with her husband Chad (Chris Mason), Veronica tells him “we are in 2021”, which means that the plot of the sequel to season 5 takes place in 2021. But the graduation episode suggests that the 2021 class is congratulated and on the grave of Fred Andrews (Luke Perry), Archie’s father, the date of death shown is July 3, 2019!
Asked by AND online, showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa made fun of this inconsistency by citing the fact that Riverdale’s aesthetic is timeless: “It’s a bit disappointing that you don’t have a natural summer break between seasons 4 and 5, it really shows how completely crazy the Riverdale timeline is, but it feels like you’re finally in the present. The aesthetic will hopefully remain as timeless as ever ”. Fans quickly noticed the time inconsistency as the first three episodes of season 5 were supposed to be the last three of season 4, which had to be postponed due to the pandemic that halted filming.
Appearances by Sabrina and Katy Keene?
But this somewhat crazy temporality can allow the showrunner to crossovers with his other series based on the universe of Archie comics: Katy Keene, already seen in Riverdale, and Sabrina! Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is not at all closed to the idea, on the contrary, even if the two series are now over: “We’ve had a lot of conversations to find a way to bring Katy Keene and Sabrina characters to Riverdale, it’s more possible than ever to get that done, I can tell you that.”.
Despite the end of The New Adventures of Sabrina series, Kiernan Shipka, still very attached to her witch character, is up for a head in Riverdale. The actress told blogger Tommy DiDario in his podcast that an appearance of Sabrina in the universe of Archie and Company was possible: “She’s never been to Riverdale and she just might check it out, I’d love to. It’s a possibility. There are plenty of them by the way. I’m totally open to taking on this role again. “.