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CW to End Buzzy Teen Series 'Riverdale' With Season 7

"I'm a big believer in giving series that have long runs an appropriate sendoff," CW Chairman Mark Pedowitz reportedly said Thursday.

Meara Isenberg Writer
Meara covers streaming service news for CNET. She recently graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, where she wrote for her college newspaper, The Daily Texan, as well as for state and local magazines. When she's not writing, she likes to dote over her cat, sip black coffee and try out new horror movies.
Meara Isenberg
riverdale cast comiccon

Riverdale cast members attend Comic-Con International in 2019.

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Riverdale is ending. The dark teen series' seventh season will premiere in 2023 and will cap off the show. 

"I'm a big believer in giving series that have long runs an appropriate sendoff," CW chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz said Thursday, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "We want to make sure it goes out the right way."

Riverdale, a drama featuring a darker depiction of classic characters from the Archie comic books, premiered in 2017 on the CW. Since then, it's left a mark on pop culture, appearing in Saturday Night Live sketches and lifting actors like Lili Reinhart and Camila Mendes to social media stardom

The network renewed Riverdale for a seventh season in March. Its sixth season is currently underway. 

Cast members have previously hinted that the end of the show was nigh. Reinhart, who portrays Betty Cooper in the show said in a 2021 Instagram Live that season 7 would probably be the last. "But you didn't hear it from me," she said jokingly. Cole Sprouse, who plays Jughead Jones, said in a 2022 GQ story that most Riverdale actors were ready to wrap up the show "with a bow" and move on with their lives. 

While the Riverdale announcement isn't very abrupt, The CW did cancel several shows this month and last, including Batwoman, Legends of Tomorrow, Charmed, Dynasty, Legacies and Roswell, New Mexico. 

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