Riverdale Gets Dark: ‘Afterlife With Archie’ Coming to Disney+ as Live Action Series

Archie and his friends are getting a new, darker TV adventure. Disney+ is developing Afterlife With Archie, an hourlong drama series based on the popular Archie comic books by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Francesco Francavilla, Deadline reports.

The series has already received a script-to-series commitment.

Afterlife With Archie will show Riverdale in a very different light. The town will be transformed into a dangerous, zombie-filled world. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who wrote the original comic, is also writing the show and will serve as an executive producer alongside Jimmy Gibbons through his Muckle Man Productions.

Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and Leigh London Redman will executive produce for Berlanti Productions, and Jon Goldwater will executive produce for Archie Comics Studios.

Aguirre-Sacasa has been a key figure in bringing Archie comics to television. He wrote the best-selling horror series Afterlife With Archie and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. In 2014, he became Archie Comics’ Chief Creative Officer.

He also helped create Riverdale, which first aired on Fox, later moved to the CW, ran for seven seasons, and led to the spin-off Katy Keene. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina ran on Netflix for four seasons, totaling 36 episodes. Now, Afterlife With Archie will be the latest Archie comic to get a TV adaptation.

This project is the biggest development deal Warner Bros. Television has made with Disney+ so far, according to Deadline.

It also marks a second major streaming project for Berlanti Productions and WBTV at Disney this year, following Foster Dade, which received a pilot order at Hulu.

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