‘Riverdale’ Ending at The CW

The doors at Pop’s diner will soon close for good. The CW announced Thursday that its popular drama Riverdale will end after Season 7, Deadline reported. The network announced the news as part of The CW’s 2022 fall schedule release, which revealed that Riverdale Season 7 is set to air in a midseason slot in 2023.

Based on the characters from the Archie Comics and developed for television by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Riverdale debuted in January 2017. The series follows a group of teenagers in the seemingly quiet town of Riverdale as they quickly become entangled in the town’s dark mysteries, dealing with everything from the murder of a fellow teenager to drugs and even bombs. The series stars KJ Apa as Archie Andrews, Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper, Camila Mendes as Veronica Lodge, Cole Sprouse as Jughead Jones, Madelaine Petsch as Cheryl, Mädchen Amick as Alice, Charles Melton as Reggie, and Vanessa Morgan as Toni. Luke Perry starred in the series as Archie’s father until his death in 2019. Mark Conseulos also appeared as Hiram Lodge.

The series had been picked up for its seventh season in March alongside several other titles, including All American, The Flash, and Walker, among several others. At the time, Mark Pedowitz, chairman and CEO of The CW Network, said the renewed shows would “serve as the start of a solid foundation utilizing some of our most-watched series for us to build on for next year and beyond” and were “some of our most-streamed and socially-engaged programming.” However, averaging 560,000 total viewers, per TVLine, Riverdale Season 6 only ranks No. 16 in total audience out of the 19 dramas The CW aired this fall and winter, only beating out The Outpost, In the Dark, and Dynasty.

Riverdale, which marked its 100th episode in a December 2021 Season 6 episode, is just the latest series at The CW to get the boot. Ahead of its upfronts presentation, the network last week brought its total number of series down from 19 to just 11. Shows including Charmed, 4400, Dynasty, and Naomi were all canceled. Meanwhile, The CW also opted not to move forward with another season of Legacies, officially closing its 13-year chapter of The Vampire Dairies. The cancellations were announced as the network greenlit several new series, including DC Comics-based Gotham Knights, and Walker: Independence and The Winchesters, prequels to hit series Walker and Supernatural. The drama All American: Homecoming was also renewed for a second season.