The 'Riverdale' Season 5 Time Jump Will Be BIG, According To Lili Reinhart

Riverdale fans knew Season 5 was going to look different, but it sounds like the show is making an even bigger change than anyone was expecting. Now that the cast and crew is about to begin production on the new season, Lili Reinhart teased some details about what's to come. The upcoming time jump wasn't a secret among the fandom, but according to Reinhart, Riverdale's Season 5 time jump will be bigger than people were expecting.

All throughout Season 4, there was ongoing speculation about the series possibly jumping forward in time during Season 5. Since Archie, Betty, Veronica, and Jughead were all set to graduate high school at the end of Season 4 and go off to different colleges, fans guessed the show may skip over the college years and reunite the Core Four in Riverdale a few years later. Shortly after Season 4 ended, showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa confirmed Season 5 will have a time jump, but kept the details pretty vague. Most fans assumed the jump would be five years, since that would see the Core Four right out of college, and at the time, it made sense as a way to make Riverdale contemporaneous with its spinoff Katy Keene, which has since been canceled. However, Reinhart mentioned an even bigger span of years when talking about the time jump.

During an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday, Aug. 18, Reinhart revealed the Season 5 time jump would actually be seven years rather than five. "We're taking the first few episodes to finish Season 4 technically, and then Season 5 we're actually doing a, I believe, seven-year time jump in the future. We're not gonna be teenagers anymore. I'm psyched about it... I think it will be nice to play an adult."

A seven-year time jump will age the characters up so they are much closer to the actors' actual ages, with the Core Four now being in their mid-20s in Season 5. The jump won't happen right away, though. The first three episodes of Season 5 will actually be the episodes that were planned to cap off Season 4. Since last season had to end early due to the coronavirus pandemic cutting it short, Season 4's final three episodes will kick off Season 5, consisting of the Core Four's senior prom and high school graduation.

Riverdale Season 5 is expected to premiere on The CW in January 2021.