Last year, a formal announcement was made that a new series drawn out from the ‘Archie Comics’ will be developed at FOX. The show was supposed to look into “the darkness and weirdness bubbling beneath Riverdale’s wholesome façade.”
However, the Archie-inspired show titled 'Riverdale' has now moved to The CW, where executive producer Greg Berlanti is also working on ‘Arrow’ and ‘The Flash.’
“When Greg and I started talking about bringing these characters to life, our first thought was that the best home for them would be the CW,” Archie Comics’ chief creative officer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa shared. “It took a little longer for us to get there, but now that we’re here, it’s feeling terrific.”
Aguirre-Sacasa has also signed on to write the script for the pilot episode; he is most recognized for working on the horror-inspired series ‘Afterlife with Archie’ and ‘The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.’
Additionally, he has penned the scripts for the feature film remakes of ‘Carrie’ and ‘The Town That Dreaded Sundown’ along with a number of episodes for ‘Big Love,’ ‘Glee,’ and ‘Looking.’
It was previously announced that the main characters of ‘Archie,’ such as Betty, Veronica and Jughead, would have regular roles in the series along with potential guest appearances from other ‘Archie Comics’ titles, including Josie and the Pussycats.
Described as a contemporary series, the script for ‘Riverdale’ is currently in the works with Warner Bros. TV taking on production duties. Archie Comics CEO Jon Goldwater and Sarah Schechter have been set to join Aguirre-Sacasa and Berlanti as the series’ executive producers.
Meanwhile, fans of the red-headed character, which has been around for the past 75 years, can have a big surprise to look forward to as he has undergone an impressively major makeover.
Sporting a new hipster look, Archie made his debut at the San Diego Comic-Con 2015 this week, and Archie Comics is planning to launch the latest line of comics featuring this contemporary version of the fan-favorite character after it tried out various ways of introducing the iconic teenage boy into the 21st century.
“It was clear to me that Archie was moving down the path of irrelevancy,” said Jon Goldwater, chief executive officer of Archie Comics and son of the man who made the first Archie in 1941. “I really wanted to aim for the comic book shops and the real comic book reader and do a complete relaunch of ‘Archie.’”
