The live-action history of Archie Comics is a spotty one. Sure, “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” ran for seven seasons and the 2001 “Josie and the Pussycats” film has something of a cult following despite not hitting at the box office or with critics. There was also a 1990 live action movie, that flopped pretty hard.
Archie looks to change things with “Riverdale,” announced by the publisher earlier today. The in-development series is at Fox — home of the DC Comics-based Batman prequel “Gotham” — and produced by Greg Berlanti, on a genuine hot streak following the success of “Arrow” and “The Flash” at The CW, and also developing “Supergirl” for CBS.
The “Riverdale” pilot is written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, a TV veteran, Archie’s first-ever Chief Creative Officer and, along with artist Francesco Francavilla, a creative mind behind “Afterlife with Archie” — which sees the typically-wholesome Riverdale crew in the throes of a full-fledged zombie apocalypse, and is one of the biggest critical hits in the company’s history. “Riverdale” looks to similarly break from Archie tradition, with the company’s press release putting an emphasis on the show’s “surrealistic twists” and “darkness and weirdness.”
In an interview with CBR News, Aguirre-Sacasa put it simply as — in the tradition of unlikely crossovers “Archie Meets The Punisher” and the recently announced “Archie Meets Predator” — “Archie Meets David Lynch,” with a “Twin Peaks”-esque vibe brought to classic Archie characters and relationships.
