Riverdale And Zombies Might Be A Real Thing, And It Doesn’t Sound Awful

Fans have been theorizing about Riverdale and zombies, and it looks like it might be a real thing, according to showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa.

Yup. Riverdale and zombies are a real thing and not just silly internet chatter. Fans have been theorizing about the introduction of the zombies to the CW series, and until now, it’s just been speculation and guessing.  Recently, showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa sat down with Entertainment Weekly and pretty much confirmed that it’s a real possibility.

For fans of the Archie comics, it’s not such a such a stretch to imagine Riverdale tackling the undead. In fact, there’s an entire spin-off of the comic, Afterlife with Archie, which tackles a zombie epidemic in the town.

Afterlife was the passion project of Aguirre-Sacasa, who heads the CW’s series, so it’s not a huge leap to consider he might introduce elements of that comic series into the reimagined CW show.

The first season has been firmly a genre show, with elements of noir mystery ruling it’s style and delivery, and Aguirre-Sacasa isn’t shying away from a supernatural-genre in the second season. He says, “Afterlife or not, there will definitely be a big genre element to season 2,” he says. “It’s going to make people go, ‘They’re not really doing that, are they?’”

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Newbies to the Archie universe may not know that Sabrina the teenage witch is an original character from the comics, although Melissa Joan Hart’s portrayal is far more well known. In Afterlife, Sabrina brings Jughead’s dog back to life, which, in turn, bites Jughead, causing a zombie plague to decimate Riverdale.

We know that Sabrina could turn up in the CW’s series, and this only adds fuel to the rumors that zombies are coming. Fans of the CW series might be reluctant to get on board, but Aguirre-Sacasa is quick to reassure and draw some boundaries.

He says, “In my mind, the mythology is this: Riverdale is a non-magical grounded town with weird stuff happening. Then there’s Sweetwater River, where Jason died, and on the other side of that river is Greendale, where Sabrina and the witches traditionally live. On one side of the river, there’s no magic, there’s no supernatural — that’s where Riverdale is. And on the other side of the mythic river, which is sort of like the River Styx, there’s magic and witches and dark Lovecraftian horrors.”

It’s unlikely we’ll see any zombies in the remainder of this season, which picks back up this week. Hopefully they can keep focused on Jason Blossom’s killer, and not muddy the waters with brain-eating, undead, monsters.

Riverdale has been on break for a couple weeks, but new episodes resume this Thursday, March 30th, with “Chapter Eight: The Outsiders.”

Check back here every Friday for my weekly dish on all things Riverdale.

Riverdale airs at 9/8c Thursdays on The CW.