Riverdale has barely started its first season and the excitement is real. Archie is making a comeback and as is typical for franchises nowadays, a major studio is hoping to expand its universe.

Warner Bros. has signed a deal with Archie Comics to develop more media based on the property, according to The Hollywood Reporter. That means you could be seeing TV series based on existing, more obscure Archie properties, or adaptations of anything from the company’s Dark Circle Comics imprint.

In an interview with THR, Archie CEO Jon Goldwater says the goal is to get Archie on multiple platforms, whether that’s comics, TV, animation, or anything else that can be licensed.

The move has been likened to what Warner Bros. already has with the DC universe, where it creates TV series based on existing properties, such as in the Arrowverse, or new ones based in the universe, such as with Powerless.

So what can fans expect in the future for Archie? Currently, the company has its hands in comics after a successful reboot a couple years ago with books based on Archie, Jughead, Josie and the Pussycats, and other characters. It has made them into small children, angsty teens, and zombies in an effort to modernize the decades-old franchise. It’s only just begun its foray into TV with Riverdale, but it’s hoping to keep that up thanks to this new deal.


via Archie Comics

No plans are finalized yet, but Goldwater and Riverdale creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa have mentioned wanting to do more modern, darker take on Sabrina the Teenage Witch, which ran as a sitcom in the 1990s.

Archie also hopes to create even more comics. Mark Waid, the writer of the flagship Archie comics series, also just signed a new deal with the company to co-write a number of other comics, along with starting a mentoring program to facilitate the hiring of up and coming writers.

“This opportunity is exciting to me for a number of reasons,” Waid said. “First, the chance to expand my role as a writer at Archie is terrific as we all share the same storytelling goals. Second, it allows me to exercise my editorial muscles, which — surprise — is why I got into comics in the first place.”

In the meantime, you can still enjoy Riverdale, which airs Thursdays on the CW, along with this short Valentine’s Day message from Archie and Jughead.