It’s been a long year, Riverdale fans… but prom is just around the corner.
The CW teen drama’s showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa posted a photo on Instagram on Tuesday from the upcoming Season 5’s prom episode, with Madelaine Petsch’s Cheryl and Vanessa Morgan’s Toni dancing and smiling together. (Red really is Cheryl’s color, isn’t it?) Aguirre-Sacasa confirmed that Riverdale High’s senior prom will be “our first episode back” (aka the Season 5 premiere) and added: “Rest assured, ALL the queens will [be] reigning SUPREMELY next season!”
Riverdale had to cut Season 4 short due to the global coronavius pandemic, with the final three episodes — including the teens’ prom and graduation — being pushed to the start of Season 5, which is set to debut on The CW in January. In a tweet on Tuesday, Aguirre-Sacasa announced that the Riverdale production offices are open, “and we are in pre-production on Season 5.” (Filming hasn’t gotten underway yet, though; the above photo is from the original Season 4 shoot that was cut short.)
The prom and graduation episodes are “big, emotional episodes,” the EP told TVLine back in May when the Season 4 finale aired, “and there’s a lot of stuff with the characters that we’re still playing out, so it felt like maybe what we’ll do is start with the last three episodes. After being with the kids at the high school for four years, you kind of don’t want to take graduation away from them. So what we’re doing is picking up right where we left off for the first three episodes.” Riverdale will then do a significant time jump several years forward, TVLine reported first back in May, picking up with Archie and the gang after high school.
And about that “ALL the queens… reigning SUPREMELY” quote: Morgan made headlines in June by calling out Riverdale writers for reducing Black characters (including Toni) to mere “sidekicks” on the show. Aguirre-Sacasa responded by apologizing and vowing to “do better to honor her and the character she plays… as well as all of our actors and characters of color.”
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