Why Riverdale Season 4 might finally have a Chilling Adventures of Sabrina crossover
Sabrina and Salem are iconic characters in the Archie comics, and cast members are hinting at a Chilling Adventures of Sabrina crossover in Riverdale Season 4.
Believe it or not, Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica were not the only iconic characters of the 1940s Archie comic book series. In addition to the beloved Josie and the Pussycats–who went on to have their own 1970s CBS cartoon television series, as well as a 2001 live action show–Sabrina the Teenage Witch and her trusty cat Salem also made debut appearances in the comics. Does this mean there’s a Chilling Adventures of Sabrina crossover in store for Riverdale’s Season 4? Cast members are starting to drop hints.
The new season of Riverdale premieres tomorrow and the trailer already gives us a pretty good idea about what’s in store. Looks like campfires, s’mores and enjoying their last year of high school just isn’t in the cards for Archie and the gang as the show starts off on a more than melancholy note with Fred Andrews’ death. Then there’s Veronica’s own dad, who seems to be plotting to humiliate–and incriminate–his daughter for his own gains.
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Cheryl and Toni seem to be going strong, but things might get complicated with Cheryl trying to bring her dead brother, who is now “living” in the house with her, back to life via Ouija board. But she might actually be making contact with a possessed doll instead (oops). Meanwhile, Betty continues to investigate the real Charles and her mother’s disappearance while Jughead battles against prep school teachers.
There’s a lot going on in the new season, and the show has already introduced 16 of the 21 traditional characters. With Cheryl trying to conjure the dead and the apparent reappearance of the Gargoyle King, are Sabrina and Salem’s introductions not far behind? Cheryl’s insanity might just be the key.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina premiered in 2018 on Netflix, the year after Riverdale first appeared on the CW. The Netflix series follows the life of a newly 16-year-old Sabrina, a teenage witch living with her black cat Salem and two Satan-worshiping aunts. But Sabrina doesn’t share in her aunts’ devotion to the half-goat-half-human, all evil deity. So, naturally, she sets out to kill him, all while still trying to live life as a normal high-schooler with her boyfriend Harvey.
While their streaming networks might differ, both Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina are produced by Archie Comics Publications and Warner Bros. Television, so it may not be too far of a reach for these dark comedy, high-school mystery shows to collide with each other.
While Vulture did report an Archie and Sabrina crossover in the 700th editing of the Archie Comics Extended Universe, with Sabrina leaving Greendale to “shake Riverdale up in a major way,” according to writer Nick Spencer, there has been no official announcement about a live-action crossover in the works for the two shows.
But that could be changing. In the past year, cast members from both shows have given plenty of teases to suggest the town lines between Greendale and Riverdale are set to become thinner and thinner.
Not only are the shows produced by the same companies, but their towns also take place in the same universe. It’s possible that this new comic book crossover could launch the shows’ writers into working up a storyboard for a crossover in the future. Last year, Riverdale‘s star KJ Apa, who stars as Archie, said that he would be willing to make the crossover happen.
Back in April 2018, Jon Goldwater the CEO of Archie Comics and Riverdale‘s executive producer told TVLine that the shows were, “two separate entities for right now.” But a lot can happen in a year, and just three months ago, Madchen Amick–who plays Alice Cooper in Riverdale–made fans very excited about the crossover’s prospects when she posted to Instagram about her shadowing director Viet Nguyen on the 204th episode of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and possibly facing off with Madam Satan.
On Live With Kelley and Ryan, Kiernan Shipka–who stars as Sabrina–also confirmed that Greendale and Riverdale are not only in the same universe but are just one town over and emphasized how strange it was that the shows’ characters hadn’t already teamed up to do battle and it was suggested that Sabrina’s bizarre elevator dream had already teased a crossover.
“How are they not talking about this or bonding over the fact that, you know, all this stuff is happening?” said Shipka in the interview.
It’s also been suggested that Archie and Jughead will be making their way to Greendale in Riverdale season 4. In Riverdale’s Season 3, Episode 6 (“Manhunter”), it was joked that Archie and Jughead should go to Greendale instead of the strange, abandoned and Gargoyle-worshiping farm country they ended up in. And, of course, there is that notorious camping trip that the gang is planning for Season 4.
But, funnily enough, a Riverdale cast member that’s not Alice Cooper or Archie and Jughead already made their way to Greendale–the allegedly dead Ben Button (Moses Thiessen). In Episode 7 of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Ben Button is seen delivering a pizza to former high school teacher Ms. Wardwell. This is the same Ben who threw himself out a hospital window while playing G&G in Riverdale.
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who is the creator of both Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Riverdale, told Entertainment Tonight that thanks to magic, fans will likely see more of Ben Button, and possibly other characters who have since passed on.
"“It suggests a very deep, deep mythology where time and space bends… [Ben’s death] seemed like it was pretty final, but yet there he is in Greendale. But in Greendale, everyone pops up—the dead don’t stay dead long in Greendale.“There was a separation between Greendale and Riverdale—magic should exist in Greendale but not in Riverdale. That was the thought. We started developing Sabrina as a companion show to Riverdale that would exist in the same universe, but magic only existed on one side of the river.”"
That being said, it’s no secret that Cheryl wants to talk with her brother, going so far as to keep his corps in her home lounge. While the Ouija board may be doing more for her grandmother’s mysterious porcelain doll than Jason, Cheryl might just make a stop in Greendale to see what magic can do to raise her dead brother back into the world of the living.
After all, Jason has made an appearance in every season of Riverdale thus far, it would make sense for the writers to want to keep his character around and even give once-dead characters like Dilton and Midge more interesting plot roles.
With Amick announcing that Alice Cooper “has to come to Madam Satan’s territory,” Ben Button making his town rounds and the fact that the Gargoyle King costume and Satan share a striking resemblance, Riverdale‘s Season 4 could finally be the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Though that won’t be confirmed until the show’s season premiere tomorrow.
Would you like to see an Archie and Sabrina live-action crossover? Do you think Riverdale Season 4 is finally the time to make it happen? Let us know in the comments!
Riverdale Season 4 premieres on Oct. 9 at 8/7c on The CW.