The Archie Comic Book Storyline We Could Get In Riverdale Season 5

For many people, the old Archie comic books are about as innocuous as you can get. They were as controversial as the color beige, and offered audiences simple stories with life lessons kids could learn from. However, something strange has happened to Archie Andrews over the course of the last decade. 

Now, most people are familiar with how Riverdale on The CW has taken certain liberties with classic characters like Archie (KJ Apa), Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart), and Jughead (Cole Sprouse), and how they are supposed to act. This iteration of Archie has more in common with something like Twin Peaks than, say, Archie's TV Funnies. However, anyone who has been keeping up with all the Archie comics over the years knew this was only a matter of time. 

For decades, Archie's adventures were pretty grounded in reality. Things start to take a turn for the weird in the 1990s, when the comics started incorporating a few more supernatural elements, and the cartoon shows Archie's Weird Mysteries brought elements like time-warping to vampires into the mix. The franchise still managed to be appropriate for all ages, though, until the comic book side started giving us titles like Jughead: The Hunger (about Jughead Jones turning into a werewolf and feasting on residents of Riverdale) and Blossoms 666 (about Jason and Cheryl Blossom competing for one of them to become the anti-Christ). 

These books definitely aren't recommended for younger audiences, but if you feel like taking some wild rides with Archie and the gang, then there's one particular comic book you may want to check out — because it may just serve as inspiration for The CW's Riverdale in season 5. 

Afterlife With Archie is a post-apocalyptic comic book series that started back in 2013. It all begins when Jughead asks Sabrina Spellman to bring his beloved dog back from the dead. While she's successful, something's wrong, and the dog ends up biting Jughead, turning him into a zombie. It's not long until most of the population of Riverdale transforms into the undead, with Archie, Betty, and Veronica forced to defend themselves from the onslaught. The title holds several distinctions, including being the first Archie comic to have a TEEN+ rating (via NPR). And as it just so happens, the writer of the series, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, is also the creator and executive producer for Riverdale. 

Here's where things get interesting: Back in November of 2020, Aguirre-Sacasa tweeted a promotion for Riverdale season 5, which includes an image of a decrepit hand rising from the earth. Considering his connection to the comic series, this definitely seems to indicate that zombies could soon be making their way onto The CW. 

Given the fact 68 people have died on the show so far, creating a zombie apocalypse would certainly be an interesting way to bring back some familiar faces. Can you imagine the emotional turmoil that would happen if Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch) had to confront her brother Jason, back from the dead? That's the kind of zombie plot line that could easily give The Walking Dead a run for its money.  Plus, there have been persistent rumblings that characters from Netflix's Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, which is set in the same universe, could one day crossover into Riverdale. Chilling Adventures may have been canceled after its fourth season, but certain aspects of it could appropriately rise from the dead on another network. 

Riverdale has been pretty crazy so far, but zombies would take it to another level. We'll just have to see how this all transpires as season 5 gets rolling.