Season 6 of Riverdale still has plenty more episodes to go, but when it comes to the event series of "Rivervale," we only have a single episode left. Exactly how Rivervale — a town in which the supernatural weaves into everyday life to dark results — connects to the original town of Riverdale is unclear, but fans can likely expect to get some answers in Season 6's "The Jughead Paradox."
Yet fans have long speculated as to the reality of Rivervale, and while the event series is very much cloaked in mystery, there are some clues that inch us closer to the truth. Here's what we know about Rivervale to prepare us for what the finale has in store.
What Happens in Rivervale Matters
Showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa told Variety that the world of Riverdale won't be exactly as we left it in the Season 5 finale, but exactly what that means is unclear.
"It's very much in-continuity, so we’re not picking up in [Episode] 606 as we would before it," Aguirre-Sacasa explained to the outlet. "It is very much continuing, in a strange way, all of the episodes from the end of Season 5. The idea was, 'Let’s swing for the fences, let’s do something that fans have been asking for.'"
In an interview with TVLine, Aguirre-Sacasa said it was important to make sure that the events of Rivervale were "in contunuity."
"[T]hings that happen in Rivervale would continue or echo or speak to the events of Riverdale," he explained. "Every year, we start very disparate storylines, and we always try to weave them all together, and this year is no exception. I’m not going to speak to alternate universes or dreams or anything like that, but I will say that this is all happening, and we will play as though this is all happening, even beyond the first five episodes."
Archie Isn't In a Coma...Probably
Many fans suspected that Rivervale was the result of a dream a comatose Archie had after narrowly escaping death by Hiram's bomb. Yet in his Variety interview, Aguirre-Sacasa seemingly shut that theory down, teasing, "Archie is not in a coma because of the bomb." Whether Archie is in a coma for other reasons, of course, remains to be seen...Aguirre-Sacasa certainly chose his words carefully.
Sabrina Is Alive and Well
Fans of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina know that Sabrina Spellman entered the Void (and therefore accepted her own death) in the final episode of her Netflix series. However, she's perfectly fine and capable of helping Cheryl with a spell in Rivervale. She even teased that witches can't die, but can only be "transformed." Could this be a clue as to what Rivervale is? Might characters who died on Riverdale have a chance to be reborn in an alternate universe?
This Is Riverdale's Take on Horror
While Riverdale has borrowed from horror movies before, the Rivervale event series is a love letter to the genre, and borrows from movies like The Wicker Man, The Exorcist, The Shining. While Riverdale tends to play homage to crime films like The Silence of the Lambs, this event series allows the show to go into supernatural places the show has yet to explore.
Each Episode of the Rivervale Event Series Is Serialized
This is a little confusing, as it doesn't seem serialized — save for a few moments, like the fact that, following Archie's blood sacrifice for the good of the town, Betty is pregnant and Archie is missing. However, Aguirre-Sacasa stated in an interview with TVLine that all of Rivervale is one continuity within itself, as well as a piece of the greater Riverdale tapestry. Exactly how it all connects, however, we'll have to wait and see.