HOME / ENTERTAINMENT / TV

'Riverdale' Season 5: Release date, plot, cast and all you need to know about The CW thriller

Season 5 will pick up right where Season 4 left us, letting us experience prom and graduation with the Riverdale gang, besides solving the tape mystery

BY ANOUSH GOMES

UPDATED JAN 15, 2021

'Riverdale' had to shut down production due to the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, Episode 19 titled 'Killing Mr. Honey' became the Season 4 finale — originally there were 22 episodes for Season 4. Season 5 will pick up right where Season 4 left us, letting us experience prom and graduation with the Riverdale gang. And yes, solve the tape mystery too.

Release date

Catch 'Riverdale' Season 5 on January 20, 2021, on The CW.

Plot

In the Season 4 finale, we saw Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse) write a daunting story for the University of Iowa about killing Principal Holden Honey (Kerr Smith) as the cinephile tapes take a darker turn. There is a re-creation of the films showcasing the deaths of Jason Blossom (Trevor Stines) and Midge Klump (Emilija Baranac), Betty 'killing' Jughead with a rock, and the season-ending with the re-creation of Jughead's script of the gang 'Killing Mr. Honey'. After all this, we were left with one question — who is behind these tapes?

Riverdale showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa dished details on the upcoming Season 5. "Yeah, we had written episodes 20, 21 and 22 and when we talked about Season 5 and some of the big events like prom and graduation, it would feel like a cheat if we somehow didn't do those. So we're essentially starting the season with the last three episodes of Season 4, and partly because they're dynamite episodes. I mean big, big, big changes happen. We are continuing the mystery and the relationship drama straight into Season 5," he said.

We had also reported earlier that Marisol Nichols and Skeet Ulrich were set to leave 'Riverdale' at the end of Season 4, but those episodes are yet to air. So we are going to see them in Season 5 as per Sacasa. "I've talked to all the actors and I called Marisol and Skeet and I said, 'You know guys, obviously we still want to finish the stories we started in the season.' And both of them were like, 'Of course, let's do it.' And again, neither Hermione nor FP, this isn't a spoiler, but they're not dying. My hope is to have them be a part of Riverdale for as long as Riverdale continues," Sacasa said.

With Season 5, we are looking forward to intense character arches, and not to mention, prom and graduation which we have been waiting for. "I'm really proud of the last episode. Actually, the last two. The prom is really classic Riverdale. And I thought 21, it was a real emotional episode and a lot of people's emotional stories kind of climaxed but really, it's graduation. It's such a rite of passage. So many graduations were canceled this year. I really, really loved that episode. So I'm looking forward to doing it at some point," Sacasa said.

Cast

The main cast members include Cole Sprouse as Jughead Jones, Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper, Camila Mendes as Veronica Lodge, KJ Apa as Archie Andrews, Madelaine Petsch as Cheryl Blossom, Charles Melton as Reggie Melton and Casey Cott as Kevin Keller.