It’s too early in the game for plot details, but interestingly, the script is being written by superhero comic book scribe and Lanterns writer Tom King. (It would be hard to top the super Archie arc from Riverdale‘s sixth season, but we’ll reserve judgement until we know more.) “We are longtime fans of Archie, Veronica, Betty and the gang in all of their iterations,” Lord and Miller said in a statement, seemingly outing themselves as Riverdale watchers. “When we heard Tom King’s take on the classic material, we instantly thought it made sense as an event movie for all audiences—both lifelong fans and a whole new generation. We’re so excited to bring these beloved characters to the big screen.”
First introduced to the pages of comic books in 1941, Archie Andrews became a beloved and enduring boy-next-door figure. Over the years, the comics dabbled in different genres while maintaining its core cast of characters (ranging from Betty, Veronica, and Jughead to Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Josie and the Pussycats). Riverdale‘s Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (who was originally tapped to write an Archie movie before the CW show) became famous for subverting Archie’s squeaky-clean image, exploring all the wild genres the comics had to offer, and camp-ing it up with a lot of queer subtext. (Or just text.) In our current “MAGA” moment, it might make sense for the studio to be interested in the simplicity of Archie’s all-American charm. But Lord and Miller like a bit of subversion too, so it’ll be interesting to see what they do in this sandbox.
