WARNING: SPOILERS for Riverdale season 4, episode 10, “Chapter Sixty-Seven: Varsity Blues”.
Riverdale has once again managed to do a crossover with Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, suggesting the two Archie series are connected. Since the launch of the reimagined Sabrina Spellman-led series on Netflix, viewers of both Archie properties have been waiting to see how connected the two shows might be. With both shows referencing the two neighborhood towns Greendale and Riverdale, it has been teased that this is a shared universe of some kind. Things took an interesting turn when a recurring Riverdale character, Ben Button (Moses Thiessen), suddenly emerged in an episode of Sabrina season 1. Somehow, Ben managed to die twice across the two shows.
The first happens in Riverdale season 3, episode 2, and Sabrina season 1, episode 7 having him be murdered off-screen. While showrunner Roberto Acquire-Sacasa, who shepherds both series, teased to ET Tonight in 2018 that Ben’s cameo proposed “a very deep, deep mythology where time and space bends,” no major crossovers between the shows have yet to happen. With Riverdale still being ambiguous about its potential roots to the supernatural, Sabrina is where that element is fully embraced while still leaving an open door for The CW drama to partake. But the Riverdale season 4 midseason premiere had a surprise crossover once again, but in a more logical way.
During the events of “Chapter Sixty-Seven: Varsity Blues,” Betty (Lili Reinhart) is conducting interviews for a story she is working on about the Stonewall Prep’s football team and their alleged history of playing dirty. Focused on reaching out to star players from other teams, one of the football players Betty chats with is a recurring player for the Netflix series: Billy Marlin (Ty Wood.) The Baxter High Ravens player reveals that the Stonewall linemen broke his arm, as he is sitting at Pop’s wearing a cast on his left arm.
Unlike the confusion behind Ben’s appearances on the two shows, Billy’s cameo makes a Riverdale/Sabrina crossover more plausible. Currently, Billy is the only living character to have popped up on both shows, which opens the door for potential appearances of other regular, minor characters. It’s worth noting that Billy is the first character to crossover from the Netflix property. With several elements of Riverdale and Sabrina having been dropped as Easter eggs across the two shows, it might be a way of slowly building up towards a major crossover.
With Chilling Adventures of Sabrina season 3 releasing soon, only time will tell what other potential Riverdale connections or nods may be included or hinted at. Following this week’s moment, it might suggest that Netflix and The CW are potentially making a crossover event a reality down the line. Riverdale got an early renewal for season 5 while Sabrina season 3 will be followed up with another 8-episode arc that is slated to air either later this year or early 2021. As Warner Bros. TV has extended the future of both series and through Billy’s surprise appearance, a Riverdale/Chilling Adventures of Sabrina crossover could be in the cards.
