Archie Comic Getting a Show on The CW

This past weekend, The CW officially announced they have ordered an Archie-based Riverdale show, as well as five other pilots.

The Archie-based show set in Riverdale, called Riverdale, is pitched as follows: Set in present day and based on the iconic Archie Comics characters, Riverdale is a surprising and subversive take on Archie, Betty, Veronica, and their friends, exploring the surrealism of small town life — the darkness and weirdness bubbling beneath Riverdale’s wholesome façade.”

Flash and Arrow producers Sarah Schechter and Greg Berlanti, as well as Jon Goldwater of Archie Comics, are all set to serve as executive producers. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa will serve as the showrunner, who previously worked on Glee, Supergirl, and Big Love.

The show will be formally titled Riverdale, and below is some concept art.

Aguirre-Sacasa previously teased that the show will be “Archie meets Twin Peaks,” as the show looks set to join The CW’s other fantasy projects such as iZombie, The Flash, and Arrow.

Some of the other pilots ordered are an untitled Mars project, pitched as “A team of explorers arrive on Mars to join the first human colony on the planet, only to discover that their predecessors have vanished,” and Kevin Williamson’s untitled Paranormal project.

Riverdale sounds like it could mesh with the supernatural proceedings such as Arrow and Flash, with some of the more young adult fares the station has been known for. Riverdale has been explored previously, in a series on NBC called Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again, when Archie and the gang are in their 30s at their class reunion, and The Archie Show, which debuted in 1968 on CBS.

For more on Archie and all things going on in Riverdale, stay tuned to The Nerd Stash.