‘Riverdale’ Will Reportedly Begin Production On Season 5 Very Soon
Back in March, Riverdale was one of the first American TV shows to shut down production amid the spread of coronavirus, but now it could be among the first scripted series to get back to filming. A new report from Deadline claims Warner Bros. TV is planning on its shows based in Vancouver to start working again as early as next month. That means Riverdale Season 5 could begin production in August, putting the series on track for its planned premiere at the beginning of 2021. Elite Daily reached out to a rep for Riverdale at The CW about the show's planned return, but did not hear back by the time of publication.
Riverdale halted production on its fourth season in March after someone who worked on the show came into contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID-19. The shutdown happened on the same day the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic, and pretty much every TV show and movie production planned for the summer followed suit in taking a hiatus and delaying filming after that. Most shows are still on a break as the coronavirus numbers continue to rise, but a handful of CW shows that film up north may be returning to set soon.
The network is reportedly eyeing a late August production start for new seasons of its Vancouver-based series, including Riverdale and The Flash. Although the start date is still tentative, it sounds like Season 5 of Riverdale could likely begin shooting in the last week of August.
If the Riverdale team does start working again this fall, it would give them plenty of time to prepare new episodes for its fifth season, which is currently slated to premiere in January 2021, per The CW's winter schedule. Plus, the whole crew already knows what the first three episodes of Season 5 will be about, so it should be an easy process to get started. Since the coronavirus shutdown caused Riverdale Season 4 to end three episodes earlier than planned, the new season will kick off with those three episodes, wrapping up Season 4's big videotape mystery before diving into the time jump that was originally supposed to open the new season.
The late August start date would make Riverdale one of the first scripted shows to begin production this fall. So far, reality shows like The Bachelorette and America's Got Talent resumed production with extra precautions, and fellow Vancouver-based CW series Supernatural is also gearing up to resume production in coming weeks. Fans can look for Season 5 of Riverdale to premiere in January 2021 barring any further production delays.
