Warning: contains spoilers for Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
Fans of Riverdale will have noted a few changes this season. For one thing, the very place that gives the show its title has changed its name. You’re now in RiverVALE, folks. This is a town in a parallel universe where Jughead speaks straight to camera and character dynamics and relationships look a little different. It also means the show can finally give fans what they’ve been asking about for ages: a crossover with fellow Archie comic character Sabrina Spellman, from the series adaptation Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
Riverdale has already crossed over with another Archie comic adaption, Katy Keene. This New York-set show saw Riverdale regular Josie McCoy (played by Ashleigh Murray) move to the city that never sleeps to become a lead in Katy Keene and gave the titular fashionista (played by Lucy Hale) her backdoor introduction in Riverdale’s fourth season. Katy Keene characters also continued appearing in Riverdale, despite the former being cancelled after one season.
Now it’s Sabrina’s turn. It’s been understandably tricky to include her, seeing as she’s a witch who inhabits a world of magic and literal demons, whereas Riverdale is rooted in reality. Until now, that is.
With the sixth season taking place in an alternate universe, it was the perfect opportunity to bring on board Kiernan Shipka to reprise her role as the titular witch in an episode fittingly dubbed, The Witching Hour(s) – that added “s”, by the way, hints at the story’s plotting…but that’s all we’re saying about it. The episode airs this Saturday, 26 March, in which the implied multiple witching hours will become clear.
While Sabrina may not have appeared in Riverdale until now, the town did make an appearance in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, even if none of the characters did. What does Sabrina have in store for Riverdale…or Rivervale…especially considering that she died in her own series finale? We’ll have to watch and find out.
Watch this crossover event in Riverdale season 6 on Saturday 26 March at 21:30 on M-Net channel 101.