Here’s how the Katy Keene TV show connects to Riverdale - and when the series takes place. Developed by Archie Comics CCO Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Riverdale re-imagines teenager Archie Andrews’ wholesome small-town American home as a pulpy setting populated by gang members, serial killers, and mobsters. Since its debut on The CW in 2017, the show has given rise to a Netflix TV spinoff titled The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Also created by Aguirre-Sacasa, that series revolves around another Archie Comics character, Sabrina Spellman, as she comes of age in a dark and often horrifying world of witches and warlocks.
For his latest show on The CW, Aguirre-Sacasa is bringing a lesser-known Archie Comics character, Katy Keene, to life in live-action. The TV series is worlds apart from Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, not only in terms of its brighter and more bubbly tone, but also its setting - namely, modern New York City. And unlike Chilling Adventures, the adventures of Katy Keene are firmly based in the same realm of existence as Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead, and everyone else who calls The Town With Pep their home.
Co-created by Aguirre-Sacasa and Michael Grassi, Katy Keene takes place five years after the events of Riverdale, with Lucy Hale (Pretty Little Liars, Life Sentence) starring as the series’ namesake. Hale made her grand entrance as the aspiring fashion designer during this week’s Riverdale episode, “Chapter Sixty-Nine: Men of Honor”, ahead of her show’s premiere on The CW. As seen in the episode, Katy and Veronica are old friends who reunite while Veronica is visiting New York for a college interview. Needing to let off some steam (life is often stressful when you’re Hiram Lodge’s daughter) Veronica joins Katy for some retail therapy before the pair catch up on one another’s lives at a bar called Molly’s Crisis and Katy reveals her mother is terribly sick.
Katy won’t be the only character to appear on both series either; Ashleigh Murray is also returning to her Riverdale role as Josie McCoy on Katy Keene, following the budding singer-songwriter’s exit in season 3. Part of the reasoning behind bringing Josie over to Katy Keene was to give Murray room to thrive as a lead, as opposed to her remaining one of the many, many supporting players competing for screen time on Riverdale. A five years older version of the Josie character is also a perfect fit for a series that focuses on twenty-something struggling artists pursuing their dreams in the big city. Katy Keene will even have four core protagonists like Riverdale, with Hale and Murray joined by Jonny Beauchamp as Jorge Lopez (a Broadway performer who also goes by his drag queen persona, Ginger) and Julia Chan as Pepper Smith, an “It Girl” with an eye on running a fashion empire.
It’ll be interesting to see how Katy Keene fares coming after Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’s success on their respective platforms. The show’s connection to Riverdale will help attract viewers in the beginning, but it’s anyone’s guess whether the trials and tribulations of young people trying to realize their dreams in New York will be able to compete with a series that’s revered by fans for its deliciously bonkers storylines, plot twists, and unfettered love for pulpy fiction and B-movie classics. Then again, those who feel Riverdale has gotten simply too bizarre for its own good might appreciate the change of pace provided by Katy Keene and its homages to famous showbiz melodramas and musicals. Whichever flavor of the Archie-verse your prefer, The CW’s got it for now.
Katy Keene airs Thursday evenings on The CW beginning February 6.
