The CW’s Riverdale spinoff pilot Katy Keene has officially begun filming. An adaptation of the Archie Comics, Riverdale puts a stylish noir spin on Archie Andrews and the other residents of The Town With Pep, and has continued to explore other dark genres (crime-thriller, murder mystery) since it premiered in early 2017. The popular show has further given rise to a spinoff TV series in the form of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, which was set-up to air on The CW before it moved to Netflix (which streams Riverdale outside the U.S.) and premiered last October.
Riverdale is now getting a second spinoff in Katy Keene, a show that - should it be picked up to series by The CW - will follow Archie Comics characters like Katy Keene (Lucy Hale) and Riverdale’s Josie McCoy (Ashleigh Murray) as they try and make it big in New York City as twenty-somethings. The plan is for the show to premiere on The CW in 2019-2020, with Riverdale’s showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and writer-producer Michael Grassi lending a hand as producers. As such, shooting on the Katy Keene pilot is getting underway now.
Hale confirmed that filming on the Katy Keene pilot has officially begun by posting a photo of the show’s cast and crew (including, pilot director and Riverdale/Chilling Adventures of Sabrina veteran Maggie Kiley) to her Twitter account, along with the message “KATY KEENE. Day 1”. You can check out her tweet below.
In the event that Katy Keene is picked up to series, Murray will reportedly depart Riverdale to focus on the spinoff full-time. While fans would no doubt be sad to see Josie leave good ol’ Archie behind (especially in the wake of their current romance), the upside is that Katy Keene can give her far more screen-time - and, of course, more scenes to show off her singing - than she generally has on Riverdale. The series also promises to be a far cry from Riverdale and the supernatural horror-flavored Chilling Adventures of Sabrina tonally, seeing as it focuses on Katy, Josie, and their friends’ pursuits in modern industries like fashion and music. It sounds like a show that’s tailor-fit to the Josie character and her dreams of pop stardom, in that respect.
That said, Katy Keene will still be be an ensemble series - like its fellow Archie Comics shows - and feature a cast that includes Camille Hyde (American Vandal), Lucien Laviscount (Scream Queens) Julia Chan (Saving Hope), and Jonny Beauchamp (Penny Dreadful) in key roles. It’s unlikely to crossover with Riverdale at any point though, thanks to its different setting and the fact that it’s set after Josie has graduated from high school and left her (strange) home town behind her. Of course, that could always change, depending on what happens with Katy Keene next. We’ll be sure to bring you more details on that front as they become available.
MORE: Riverdale Honors Classic ’80s Movie With Heathers: The Musical Episode
Source: Lucy Hale
