Riverdale Season 7: Release date, trailer, cast, plot, & more

❘ Updated: 2023-03-20T18:33:08

Netflix

Riverdale is finally graduating this year with Season 7 – so, here’s everything you need to know, including its release date, trailer, cast, plot and more.

Love it or hate it, Riverdale, the drama-mystery series that brought Archie Comics characters to life in variously wacky ways, has certainly made a name for itself in pop culture.

Now, the popular CW/Netflix series is finally coming to an end, with its seventh season being its last – and it’s certain to go out with a bang.

But what’s going to happen this season, and when is it going to air? Well, read on to find out everything you need to know.

Riverdale Season 7 release date: When is it coming out?

Riverdale Season 7 is set to premiere on the CW on March 29 at 9pm Eastern Standard Time.

So far the exact number of episodes this season will have is unclear, but it seems like there will be a similar number to previous seasons, so a range between 19 and 22 episodes.

The show hasn’t been in post-production for very long, as just in late January, Charles Melton, who plays Reggie, shared an on-set selfie on Instagram, which was captioned: “1st day back filming Season 7.”

Riverdale Season 7 trailer: Is there a trailer?

Yes, there is a trailer for the new season, which you can watch below:

The trailer was dropped by the CW on March 2, depicting the new 1950s setting of the show. All seems happy in the footage, with Archie and Cheryl getting married, and Betty and Kevin and Veronica and Jughead striking up relationships.

However, things aren’t as perfect as they appear, as the ominous music and clips of blood, sex, and violence can easily tell you. Veronica’s voice can also be heard at the trailer’s end, dramatically stating, “Trust me, nothing is ever going to be the same again.”

As well as this initial trailer, a brand new teaser was released on March 24, giving fans an even greater insight into what the expect from the upcoming season. This trailer can be viewed here:

Can you dig it? The final season of #Riverdale premieres Wednesday at 9/8c on The CW! #NowLeavingRiverdale pic.twitter.com/cMGspJXiqu
— Riverdale (@CW_Riverdale) March 23, 2023

Riverdale Season 7 cast: Who is starring in the next season?

The main cast is staying the same for this final season, as these next episodes will act as a send-off to the actors that have brought this mad show to life over the past few years.

The cast includes – but is not limited to:

KJ Apa as Archie Andrews
Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper
Camile Mendes as Veronica Lodge
Cole Sprouse as Jughead Jones
Madelaine Petsch as Cheryl Blossom
Casey Cott as Kevin Keller
Charles Melton as Reggie Mantle
Vanessa Morgan as Toni Topaz
Drew Ray Tanner as Fangs Fogarty
Erinn Westbrook as Tabitha Tate
Mädchen Amick as Alice Cooper

There will also be two new faces for this season. Deadline reported that Nicholas Barasch and Karl Walcott will be playing recurring characters Julian Blossom and Clay Walker respectively. Julian Blossom is a bully who “often butts heads with his twin sister, but is also an antagonist to all of our teen characters, most especially Archie.”

Meanwhile, Clay Walker is a well-travelled army brat who “is very open-minded in his art and his sexuality. As he does in the comic books, Clay will have an impactful friendship with fellow queer character Kevin Keller.”

Riverdale Season 7 plot: What is happening next season?

Honestly, what isn’t happening next season? Riverdale is known for shaking things up, so bear with us as we try to get a grasp on next season’s plot.

The official plot for the upcoming season is as thus: “The seventh season goes where no season has dared to go before – the 1950s! Picking up where last season ended, Jughead Jones finds himself trapped in the 1950s. He has no idea how he got there, nor how to get back to the present.”

Last season involved Cheryl saving Riverdale from annihilation with her superpowers and everyone waking up the day after James Dean died, hence the 1950s setting. This will likely pull the show back to its roots in the Archie comics. The main gang are teens again, and back in high school, but Jughead is seemingly the only one that remembers present-day Riverdale.

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, the showrunner for Riverdale, explained to Decider in a July 2022: “Jughead remembers everything that happened. And I think our characters, whether they’re conscious or not, have an emotional memory of what they’ve been through… It is still in continuity.” He also told Entertainment Weekly that Season 7 is “probably, weirdly, our most grounded season.

“Every season we explore the tropes of a specific genre, be it supernatural, be it pulp, be it crime. This year our genre is the 1950s, so we’re in dialogue with the American myth of what the 1950s were versus the reality.”

This 1950s vibe can be seen from the costumes that Charles Melton posted on his Instagram, as well as the fact that the opening episode will be titled “Don’t Worry, Darling.” So perhaps we can expect something akin to the drama-filled film that came out last year.

Madelaine Petsch, who plays Cheryl Blossom, recently stated to Variety that they’re “shaking things up” and “everyone is dating everyone,” however, this season will be “very grounded and focused around relationships.

“You’re really getting what made the show so special in Season 1, which was the relationships in the town,” she explained. “This season is more pared down with the craziness, but there are some bizarre things happening.”

We will update this article when we find out more information. Riverdale is currently available to stream on Netflix. In the meantime, check out our other TV hubs below: