The Walking Dead fans, prepare to possibly make some room on your watch lists for a new series featuring a fresh batch of creepy zombies. Unfortunately, there's not word yet on another spinoff series set within TWD universe, though we should never count that out. But we're heading back to another beloved franchise that most probably didn't expect to be revived in this way.
We're of course talking about the Archie Comics franchise and an unexpected return to Riverdale. For seven seasons, The CW aired the teen drama series Riverdale, a dark and modern reimagining of the Archie Comics. The series became a massive hit on Netflix that earned as much ridicule as fervent fandom for its campy twists and turns that ranged from murder to cults to superpowers.
This time around, Riverdale creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and executive producer Greg Berlanti are developing a new series for Disney+ based on the Afterlife with Archie comic books, which were written by Aguirre-Sacasa. Zombies in Riverdale wouldn't have been out of the realm of possibility on The CW hit, but a new series set in an apocalyptic version of the town sounds exciting!
New zombie series coming from the franchise nobody expected
According to Variety, Afterlife with Archie has earned a script-to-series commitment from Disney+, which doesn't mean the streamer has ordered the series just yet. But given the success of Aguirre-Sacasa and Berlanti's previous collaborations, the popularity of zombie media, and the history of Archie Comics, there's a very good chance this spooky series could get the green light.
Afterlife with Archie isn't expected to share continuity with Riverdale, though that hasn't been expressly stated as the show remains in the early process of development. (Casting announcements haven't been revealed for the same reason.) In the series, the town gets another reimagining as "an apocalyptic, nightmare-fueled hellscape overrun with flesh-eating zombies." Obviously, Archie and his pals will be taking on zombies!
In addition to Archie Andrews, Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper, Jughead Jones, and more of the usual suspects, the Afterlife with Archie series will also likely incorporate Sabrina Spellman from the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina comics (also turned into a series by Aguirre-Sacasa on Netflix). If you thought Riverdale season 6 was supernatural, you haven't seen anything yet!
Curiously, it hasn't been specific whether the series adapation will be live-action or animated, but given Aguirre-Sacasa and Berlanti's track record, it's bound to be live-action. Afterlife with Archie comes on the heels of Disney+'s success with Marvel Zombies, an animated miniseries featuring a number of MCU favorites returning as zombies in a new timeline.
It's clear that Disney+ is as hungry for more zombie content as zombies are for human flesh! They're so invested in this particular story that they are teaming up with Warner Bros. Television, a rare collaboration between the two companies. We'll have to wait and see what happens with Afterlife with Archie and if it has the legs to walk alongside The Walking Dead — all puns intended.