WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the fourth season finale of Riverdale, “Chapter Seventy-Six: Killing Mr. Honey.”

At the start of Riverdale's fourth season, The CW series launched a new mystery involving the possible murder of Jughead Jones. However, things were a little different this season. Instead of offering a conclusion only at the end of the season, the mystery of Jughead's death was solved around two-thirds of the way into Season 4. Since there were more episodes left, as soon as Jughead's time at Stonewall had reached its end, a new dark mystery came to the forefront in the form of homemade videotapes that showed that someone was observing the front of everyone's houses.

The dangerous nature of this new threat kept on increasing, and it became apparent that the lead characters' lives were now in jeopardy when "Chapter Seventy-Six: Killing Mr. Honey" came to a close. However, due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and the subsequent shutdown of production on the television series, the episode served as the impromptu Season 4 finale. Surely, the threat of the videotapes would have been resolved at the end of the season if everything had gone as planned, but that's no longer case. Therefore, how will this continuing storyline impact Season 5?

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All previous seasons of Riverdale have ended with the conclusion of their respective, year-long mysteries, from the murder of Jason Blossom and the threat of the Black Hood to the quest to discover who the real Gargoyle King was. Therefore, given what we know of this formula, it's almost certain that the mystery of the homemade videotapes would have been solved by the end of Season 4.

Instead of giving us answers and teasing something new, Riverdale left us with the possible murder of Mr. Honey and the notion that whoever was behind these videos was a very real, very credible and very frightening threat. This is different than any of the seasons that have come before because now, Riverdale has left us on a cliffhanger in the middle of a mystery.

What's more, the back half of Season 4 was largely carried by the fact that Archie, Betty, Veronica and Jughead were all about to graduate. After this, they would all head off to college, setting up a new premise for Season 5 as the core group of friends would have gone their separate ways. But now, those plans have changed. When Riverdale returns for Season 5, it will have to first deal with the conclusion of the videotape mystery. Since episode 19 served as the finale, there were three episodes left in the season -- and this mystery.

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Therefore, Season 5 might start with the last three episodes of Season 4. Either that, or the series will opt to clean up this story rapidly and get it over and done with in the season premiere. The final three episodes were likely already scripted, but they could easily be retooled to conclude the mystery in just one episode. Then, Season 5 will be able to proceed as previously planned. Of course, this means that the start of the season will be different. There was already a real question mark about the next season because we didn't know what to expect in terms of story or direction with the kids now in college. How would they remain connected? Would we even see the titular town of Riverdale?

These questions will have to wait because now, we know exactly where Season 5 will pick up. The cliffhanger we were left with was massive, and the series will have to offer a proper conclusion. This means that after either the premiere or the first three episodes of Season 5, Riverdale might feature some sort of time jump so it can skip over the characters' summer to have the core four truly and properly in college. Then, and only then, will Season 5 really begin.

Airing Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, Riverdale stars KJ Apa, Lili Reinhart, Camila Mendes, Cole Sprouse, Madelaine Petsch, Casey Cott, Vanessa Morgan, Mark Consuelos, Skeet Ulrich, Marisol Nichols and Madchen Amick.

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