Season 5 of Riverdale jumped forward seven years, leaving viewers uncertain as to when the adventures of Archie Andrews and his friends are taking place — in the future or the now. Creator and executive producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa cleared up the matter in an interview with ET.

Aguirre-Sacasa noted that Riverdale previously avoided specific time references while the show was focused on the characters' high school years. However, this changed in "Chapter Eighty: Purgatorio," where Veronica (Camilla Mendes) says to her husband, "It's 2021, Chad. Haven't you heard? Women can have it all now."

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"I mean the esthetic will always be timeless, but we did let that go. It's funny and I'm not sure, but I think in some banner in the graduation episode, it says 'Congratulations Class of 2021,'" Aguirre-Sacasa said.

He added that the time jump falling a few episodes into Season 5 — a result of not being able to film all of Season 4's planned episodes because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic — threw things more off-kilter. With a laugh, Aguirre-Sacasa said, "Yeah, this is kind of like the bummer of not having the natural summer break in between Seasons 4 and 5 because it really highlights how totally insane the Riverdale timeline really is. But yes, it feels like we are finally in the present day, though the esthetic will remain hopefully as timeless as ever."

Riverdale stars K.J. Apa as Archie Andrews, Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper, Camila Mendes as Veronica Lodge, Cole Sprouse as Jughead Jones, Madelaine Petsch as Cheryl Blossom, Casey Cott as Kevin Keller, Mark Consuelos as Hiram Lodge, Charles Melton as Reggie Mantle, Vanessa Morgan as Toni Topaz, Mädchen Amick as Alice Cooper and Erinn Westbrook as Tabitha Tate. New episodes of Season 5 air Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.

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Source: ET