The Riverdale Season 6 premiere synopsis gives The Town With Pep a new name while hinting at Archie and Betty's fate after Hiram Lodge set off a bomb in Archie's bedroom at the end of Season 5.
Riverdale Season 6 will kick off with "Chapter Ninety-Six: Welcome to Rivervale," as written by series creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and directed by Gabriel Correa. Its synopsis reads: "Following the explosion that ended Season Five, a new day dawns in the town of RiverVALE, where everything is as it should be. Veronica (Camila Mendes) and Reggie (Charles Melton) are now the town’s power couple, while Jughead (Cole Sprouse) and Tabitha (Erinn Westbrook) move in together. But with Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) demanding a return to the 'old ways,' this serenity will surely not last. And how could Archie (KJ Apa) and Betty (Lili Reinhart) possibly have survived?"
"Welcome to Rivervale" marks the start of a special five-episode Riverdale mini-event announced by The CW earlier this year. Aguirre-Sacasa has described the arc as being "firmly in the horror genre" while teasing that "Things are a little bit darker, a little bit weirder, a little more twisted in Rivervale.” What's more, the mini-event's fourth episode, "The Witching Hour(s)," has Chilling Adventures of Sabrina's Sabrina Spellman (Kiernan Shipka) making a long-awaited visit to The Town With Pep.
Season 5 planted the seeds for this supernatural storyline by having Cheryl Blossom gradually tap into her own witchy powers, only to discover the ancestors of Riverdale's other residents burnt one of her magically talented ancestors at the stake -- a long-hidden secret that put her at odds with Archie and the gang. Season 6 will also continue to build on Season 5's seven-year time jump by further exploring what life is like for Riverdale's former teenagers as full-fledged adults.
"[Going into] Season 6, Archie is a sort of everyman hero and going on an everyman hero's journey and there are still elements from the comic books that are very true to the series -- Veronica is a daddy's girl, for instance," Aguirre-Sacasa told CBR in September. "It's a matter of letting the characters and stories expand organically and the biggest difference is that now the characters have gotten older. They're in their 20s now and that sort of changes the DNA of the show a little bit..."
Riverdale returns with its Season 6 premiere, "Welcome to Rivervale," Nov. 16 on The CW.
Source: The CW