Why ‘Riverdale’ Is Ending After Season 7 and Closing Up the Chock’lit Shoppe for Good
It’s finally happening: Riverdale’s seventh and final season is here. Why is Riverdale ending, and why now? Hasn’t this show proven after everything from musical performances to serial killers, bear attacks, and maple syrup feuds that it’s never going to run out of material?? It’s better than getting canceled without warning, because now the show has time to make the Riverdale series finale as much of a weird weirdo (in case you haven’t noticed!!!!) as it wants. But I’m still sad about it, okay?
Season 7 premieres on The CW tomorrow. (Yes, soon we’ll have new episodes of Succession, Yellowjackets, and Riverdale all at the same time. It’s a lot!) Thanks to some alternate universe/time travel nonsense, the characters have been transported to the 1950s.
“Thank god the ’50s were as crazy as they were, because it’s been so fun to be in that world,” showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa told Entertainment Weekly. “Every season, we explore the tropes of a specific genre, be it supernatural, be it pulp, be it crime. This year, our genre is the 1950s, so we’re in dialogue with the American myth of what the 1950s were versus the reality.” Instead of a Big Bad, he said that “the biggest struggle is our characters trying to live authentic individualistic lives during a time period where that was really hard to do.” You can watch the season 7 trailer in all its sock hop glory ASAP:
So why is this the final Riverdale season?
“I am a big believer in attempting to give series that have had long runs an appropriate sendoff,” said Mark Pedowitz, CW Chairman and CEO, during an executive call according to TVLine. “We had a long conversation with Roberto yesterday, who is thrilled by this news, and we will treat the show in the manner it deserves.…We want to make sure it goes out the right way.…I think they, too, felt that seven years is the right amount. As a fan myself, I do want to do what is right for the show.”
The CW canceled a lot of shows recently, but Riverdale feels a little different. That show has been on for a while. The actors have played high schoolers, then adults, and then high schoolers again. It’s time to move on.
The exact number of episodes in the final season hasn’t been announced, BTW, but Pedowitz said “not shortened,” so…whatever that means. Season 1 had 13 episodes, but every subsequent Riverdale season had 19 to 22.
Will there be any more Riverdale spin-offs?
That I don’t know! Katy Keene kind of flopped (no offense), and Netflix canceled The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. But I wouldn’t be surprised if this wasn’t the end of the Archieverse on The CW or elsewhere. They bring back everything these days: Charmed, The Vampire Diaries (with The Originals and Legacies), and even Pretty Little Liars (with Original Sin). The door seems open!
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