Nobody really expected The CW’s Riverdale to be good, but apparently the core characters of the Archie universe are so universally appealing that even a weirdo Twin Peaks-style murder mystery with them can become a hit. Evidently emboldened by the success of Riverdale, Archie Comics has just announced that it has signed a deal with Warner Bros. Television to bring even more of its characters and stories to TV. That’s according to The Hollywood Reporter, which says the deal doesn’t just cover the Archie characters, but also the company’s Dark Circle superheroes and “America’s Queen Of Pin-Ups And Fashions” Katy Keene.
The Hollywood Reporter story doesn’t have many concrete details about this arrangement, but it does say Archie Comics’ deal with Warner Bros. is “similar” to the one it has with DC Comics, which has spawned a ton of hit shows in the last few years (most of them on The CW). That seems to suggest that a larger Archie-based TV universe is possible, which might line up with Riverdale showrunner Robert Aguirre-Sacasa’s desire to do something with Sabrina The Teenage Witch.
In other Archie Comics news, the publisher has announced that current Archie writer Mark Waid will be expanding his role at the company by co-writing a number of additional books and by “mentoring upcoming writers” in order to improve “the current stable of talent at the company.”