Disney+ orders zombie drama Afterlife with Archie for Halloween 2027
The Archie Comics horror adaptation reunites Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
Riverdale is getting overrun by zombies on Disney+.
Disney+ has ordered Afterlife with Archie, an hourlong live-action drama adapted from the Archie Comics horror series created by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and artist Francesco Francavilla, Deadline reported. The streamer has set the show for a Halloween 2027 premiere.
The pickup follows about nine months after the project reached Disney+ with what Deadline described as a major script-to-series commitment. Aguirre-Sacasa is writing the series, which once again pulls the Archie gang into darker territory after Riverdale on the CW and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix.
The new series comes from Aguirre-Sacasa, Greg Berlanti’s Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television, where both Aguirre-Sacasa and Berlanti have overall deals.
Riverdale, now with the undead
Based on the Archie Comics characters, Afterlife with Archie reimagines Riverdale as a town swallowed by a zombie apocalypse. According to the show description reported by Deadline, the disaster begins after a supernatural spell involving a teen witch goes wrong and releases possessed corpses into the town.
Archie and his friends then have to fight to survive while their relationships, loyalties and romances come under pressure.
Ayo Davis, president of Disney Kids & Family, said the project is about more than horror. “Afterlife with Archie has always been about more than just zombies, it’s about the friendships, loyalty and humanity that make Riverdale worth fighting for,” Davis said, according to Deadline.
Davis added that Aguirre-Sacasa, Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and Jon Goldwater “have such a deep appreciation for these characters” and said fans may “scream a little too.”
The Archie TV machine keeps rolling
Afterlife with Archie is the third live-action Archie Comics series adaptation from Aguirre-Sacasa, Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. TV, following Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Deadline noted it is the first of the three to debut on the platform where it was first sold.
Riverdale was first developed at Fox before moving to the CW. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina began at the CW before shifting to Netflix. Riverdale also led to the CW spinoff Katy Keene, which had a short run.
The series is also Warner Bros. TV’s first show for Disney+, according to Deadline, as the streamer adds more programming from outside studios.
Executive producers include Aguirre-Sacasa and Jimmy Gibbons through Muckle Man; Berlanti, Schechter and Leigh London Redman through Berlanti Productions; and Goldwater through Archie Comics Studios.
Channing Dungey, chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Television Group and WBD US Networks, said bringing Aguirre-Sacasa’s story to television with Berlanti Productions, Archie Comics and Disney+ “is a thrill for all of us at WBTVG.”
Aguirre-Sacasa was named Archie Comics’ chief creative officer in March 2014 after writing the publisher’s horror titles Afterlife With Archie and Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina. He remains in that role, Deadline reported.
Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. TV also have several other projects in the works or on the air, including a live-action Scooby-Doo! series for Netflix, the HBO drama pilot How To Survive Without Me, Stillwater at Amazon and the CW’s All American, which has begun its eighth and final season.
This story draws on original reporting from Deadline.