EXCLUSIVE: After Arrow, The Flash and Supergirl, Greg Berlanti is helping bring another set of iconic comic book characters to television: Archie, Betty and Veronica, Josie and the Pussycats. Riverdale, a live-action drama based on the characters from the Archie comics, has landed at Fox with a script deal plus penalty. Warner Bros TV is producing with with studio-based Berlanti Productions.
Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Chief Creative Officer of Archie Comics, Riverdale is named after the fictional town where most Archie Comics characters reside and which will serve as the setting for the show. Set in the present, the series offers a bold, subversive take on Archie, Betty, Veronica and their friends, exploring the surreality of small-town life — the darkness and weirdness bubbling beneath Riverdale’s wholesome façade.
Here are more details on the Archie characters who will take the leap to TV: The series will showcase the eternal love triangle of Archie Andrews, girl-next-door Betty Cooper and rich socialite Veronica Lodge and will include the entire cast of characters from the comic books — including Archie’s rival Reggie Mantle and slacker best friend Jughead Jones. Popular gay character Kevin Keller also will play a pivotal role, with other characters from Archie Comics’ expansive library also slated to appear, including Josie and the Pussycats.
Aguirre-Sacasa executive produces with Berlanti Prods.’ Berlanti and Sarah Schechter as well as Archie Comics CEO Jon Goldwater.
Playwright, screenwriter and comic book writer Aguirre-Sacasa, who was named Archie Comics CCO in March, has written Archie’s two best-selling horror series: Afterlife With Archie and Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina. Both Aguirre-Sacasa and Berlanti have extensive backgrounds in small town/coming-of-age TV dramas with Dawson’s Creek and Jack & Bobby (Berlanti) and Glee and Looking (Aguirre-Sacasa).
WME-repped Aguirre-Sacasa, who previously worked for Marvel Comics, also did a stint on HBO’s Big Love and is an accomplished screenwriter and playwright. He penned the remakes of Carrie and The Town That Dreaded Sundown, as well as the Broadway-bound musical adaptation of American Psycho.
WME-repped Berlanti co-developed and executive produces the CW’s dramas Arrow and hot newcomer The Flash, which was just picked up for a full season, as well as NBC freshman The Mysteries Of Laura. He has Supergirl, a drama based on the DC character with writer Ali Adler, at CBS with a series commitment. Berlanti Prods. also has set supernatural procedural The Things They Left Behind at CBS with a put pilot commitment and conspiracy thriller Blindspot set at NBC.
Archie Comics, the leading mass-market comic book publisher in the world, is repped by WME and Management 360. The comics’ characters have spawned several kids animated series over the years.
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