When Does 'Riverdale' Season 5 Come Out? Premiere And Plot Revealed

It's official! "Riverdale" will return for Season 5 in January 2021.

The news came as part of the CW's announcement of its 2020/2021 lineup on Thursday. Fans of the show will recognize that the January premiere date is a few months later than normal, which is no typo. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, production on many of the network's shows had to be postponed, thus pushing back their season premieres.

When "Riverdale" does return, it will emerge with some major changes for the cast, including the core four — K.J. Apa (Archie), Cole Sprouse (Jughead), Camila Mendes (Veronica), and Lili Reinhart (Betty).

According to the upcoming season description via a press release, "Season five of 'Riverdale' will begin with our characters' final days as students at Riverdale High. From an epic Senior Prom to a bittersweet Graduation, there are a lot of emotional moments and goodbyes yet to come—with some couples breaking up, as everyone goes their separate ways to college—or elsewhere."

The plot synopsis continued, "Then, we will redock with our gang as young adults, all returning to Riverdale to escape their troubled pasts. And life—and romance—will only be more complicated now that they're in their twenties…"

Prior to the CW's announcement, "Riverdale" creator and executive producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa dished some more juicy details about Season 5 and the love-square that exists between Betty, Jughead, Archie, and Veronica.

"They’re still gonna be very, very deep in the videotape mystery, but, before graduation, they are going to have a very, very, very big conversation about their future," he explained, adding that Varchie’s got a "very, very dramatic prom episode" on the way.

Whether or not the drama is caused by the fact that Archie and Betty kissed, something their respective partners, Veronica and Jughead, know nothing about is still up in the air, but Aguirre-Sacasa provided some insight into their mindset at the time of the Season 4 finale.

"I feel like it was interesting that Archie and Betty kissed," he began. "We know that it, sort of, drove Betty to really value Jughead. And with Archie, we’re not really sure what that emotional tryst with Betty did to him, but I can tell you it’s some huge, huge shockwaves are gonna roll out from that."