After debuting in 2017, the Riverdale series aired its final episode earlier in August this year, bringing to a close a six-year journey and a seven-series-spanning TV franchise. Whilst fans were left feeling a mixture of catharsis and heartbreak, it was generally accepted that ‘Chapter One-Hundred Thirty-Seven: Goodbye, Riverdale’ ended the show on a high.
Originally based on the Archie comics from the 1940s, the CW series began to take some pretty drastic turns after the first season, slowly threading in elements of thriller and horror – before making concepts such as time travel, angels and evil sorcerers crucial to the events of the plot.
For many, it was a natural way for the show to forge its own path and identify separate from the original and dated comics, however, some found the more supernatural aspects to detract somewhat from the original spirit of the franchise. Yet, according to showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, the original finale was going to be even more ambitious.
In an interview with TVLine, Aguirre-Sacasa detailed a much more bombastic and audacious ending planned for Riverdale. “Originally, when we pitched the season, one of the ideas that we pitched was that the first 13 episodes would be in the ’50s, and then starting around Episode 14 or so, we would start moving in time,” he explained.
“So Episode 14 would be set in the ’60s, Episode 15 would be set in the ’70s, and then the ’80s, the ’90s… kind of working through to the present day.” Aguirre-Sacasa continued, “It sort of became clear [that] was not in the realm. [We had already done] a more elaborate time travel, time-jumping plot.”
“The writers and the cast and the crew, we were having such a fun time in the ’50s… We thought we would just continue telling the domestic, personal, romantic coming-of-age stories that we tell, and then move everyone back at the end.”
Watch the trailer for the final season below.
