Riverdale: Could a time jump revitalize the CW series?

Riverdale’s fifth season will reportedly feature a time jump at the beginning — and that could very well revitalize the CW series.

With Riverdale‘s fourth season at an end and no new episodes coming to The CW until January 2021, it’s going to be quite some time before fans get to catch up with the small-town gang from the popular teen drama. And according to recent reports, Betty and her friends may not even be teenagers next time we run into them.

According to TVLine, the creatives behind the series confirmed that there will be “a significant time jump” at the beginning of season five, bringing the show’s main characters into young adulthood finally. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, executive producer on the show, revealed in an interview that they’d been planning a time jump for a while now, and that the next season will likely begin with the delayed episodes from season four before going full speed ahead with that time skip.

“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,” Aguirre-Sacasa explained.

And although time jumps can often be hit or miss, it seems like this change of pace could revitalize the series — if done right, that is. For four seasons, viewers have watched as Betty, Archie, Jughead, and Veronica have gotten into antics well beyond the usual drama of high school, and the plot has only gotten more ridiculous as the episodes have progressed.

Perhaps the situations the group gets into will become more believable if they’re no longer in high school — or maybe the series will take this opportunity to tone down its focus on nonstop murder and balance that out with the trials of young adulthood.

Leaping forward in time will also explain away some of the character disapperances that are bound to happen now that certain actors and actresses have left Riverdale behind. It won’t be that suspicious that Jughead’s father or Veronica’s mother aren’t around much if they’re adults living on their own — and that kind of believability would benefit the series a lot going forward.

There’s no guarantee a time jump will work in Riverdale‘s favor, but the show could certainly use the opportunity to start fresh. It’ll be interesting to see where the creators take things when Riverdale returns. (With any luck, there won’t be any more tickling subplots to contend with.)

Do you think a time jump will help or hurt Riverdale? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!