Disney+ orders zombie Archie series from the Riverdale team
Afterlife With Archie is headed to Disney+, with Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Greg Berlanti back in Riverdale for a planned horror spin.
By Bianca Rossi · Entertainment Editor
3 min read
Archie Andrews is getting a zombie problem on Disney+.
The streamer has ordered a series based on the Afterlife With Archie comics, Variety reported Monday. The project brings the Riverdale creative team back to Archie Comics territory, this time with the undead crashing through town.
According to Variety, Disney+ is eyeing a possible debut around Halloween 2027. The show had previously been reported as in development at the service in 2025 with a script-to-series commitment.
The series is drawn from the comic book run by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and artist Francesco Francavilla. The premise, according to the show’s logline cited by Variety, begins when a spell cast by a familiar teen witch goes wrong and releases possessed corpses into Riverdale. Archie and his friends then have to survive while their friendships, romances and loyalties are put under pressure.
The Riverdale crew is back
Aguirre-Sacasa wrote the script and will executive produce through Muckle Man Productions, Variety reported. Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and Leigh London Redman will executive produce for Berlanti Productions.
Jon Goldwater of Archie Comics Studios and Jimmy Gibbons of Muckle Man are also executive producers. Warner Bros. Television is the studio behind the series. Variety noted that Berlanti Productions and Muckle Man both have overall deals at Warner Bros. Television.
Ayo Davis, president of Disney Kids & Family, said in a statement reported by Variety that the show is centered on the bonds and humanity that make Riverdale worth defending, as well as the zombie mayhem. Davis said fans would embrace the new take on the characters and “maybe scream a little too.”
Berlanti and Schechter also said in a statement that they were pleased to reunite with Aguirre-Sacasa and return to the Riverdale world, while thanking Disney+, Warner Bros. Television and Goldwater for the chance to revisit the Archie universe.
From Riverdale to the afterlife
Aguirre-Sacasa and Berlanti previously worked together on Riverdale, the CW series that recast Archie Comics as a darker teen drama filled with murder, mystery and the drug known on the show as jingle jangle. Variety reported that the series ran for seven seasons and remained popular during its run.
Aguirre-Sacasa is also the chief creative officer of Archie Comics. With Robert Hack, he created the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina comics, which he later adapted into a Netflix series that ran for two seasons. He also developed the Riverdale spinoff Katy Keene with Michael Grassi. Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television produced those shows as well, according to Variety.
Channing Dungey, chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Television Group and WBD US Networks, said in a statement that bringing Aguirre-Sacasa’s story to screen with Berlanti Productions, Archie Comics and Disney+ is a thrill for the studio.
Aguirre-Sacasa described Afterlife With Archie in a statement as the comic that came before Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, calling the TV adaptation a full-circle project. Goldwater said the comic had long felt suited for live action and called the reunion with Aguirre-Sacasa, Berlanti and Schechter a homecoming.
Representation details reported by Variety list Aguirre-Sacasa with WME and Sloane Offer, while Berlanti, Schechter and Goldwater are represented by CAA.
This story draws on original reporting from Variety.