Riverdale’s sixth season returned from its midseason hiatus with a bang this week when it was revealed that main characters Archie (KJ Apa) and Betty (Lili Reinhart) not only survived an explosion, but came out of it with new Superpowers. However, the creator of the Archie Comics adaptation, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, has explained why the characters have been changing and gaining curious powers.
First, let’s remember that the Riverdale season five finale concluded with Betty and Archie deciding to get into a serious relationship just as a bomb went off at Archie’s house, planted by Veronica’s (Camila Mendes) villain and father Hiram Lodge. (Mark Consuelos). Surprisingly, not only had neither of them died, but Archie had now been granted superhuman strength and immunity to pain.
Meanwhile, Betty is now able to predict when an individual is about to commit a crime through her ability to perceive a red aura around her. Although Hiram appears to be dead, the showrunners have teased that, in classic Riverdale fashion, Hiram may not be dead and it may have to do with the superpowers the characters have been gaining.
During an interview for TVLine, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa discussed the twist of Riverdale’s mid-season 6 premiere. Acknowledging the positive reaction to the alternate universe’s overtly paranormal storyline, explaining the writers’ room’s desire to further the show’s supernatural themes, as well as keep echoes of the drama within Riverdale’s alpha timeline.
“[During the rest of the season] the echoes and ripples of Rivervale are happening in Riverdale in unexpected ways. We thought: What if Stephen King and M. Night Shyamalan were in the writers’ room this season?
“[We were inspired by their stories] where a normal community finds out that one or more of its members have these abilities that go way beyond what we normally think.”
Since Riverdale first premiered in 2017 on The CW, viewers have seen their fair share of unexpected twists and turns with the show’s story, but superpowers are new territory even for Riverdale. Which is why many of the fans have been shocked by the strange things that are happening to the characters.
However, the show’s arc has teased a more explicitly paranormal direction for the show, with fans even being greeted by teenage witch Sabrina Spellman’s (Kiernan Shipka) Riverdale debut with a shocking storyline with Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch), who he was also unleashing his strange powers.
Interestingly, Aguirre-Sacasa promises that ripples from alternate universe events will continue to reverberate throughout Riverdale, so Archie’s death may come as a shock after all. But, that there will be many more surprises in the last episodes of the sixth season of Riverdale.
