Riverdale to stay on Netflix for duration of series plus 3 to 6 years
By Bryce Olin
Riverdale will stay on Netflix until at least 2023, and it will likely stay on Netflix much longer than that, according to a new report.
Riverdale is here to stay on Netflix for a long time! According to a report from Bloomberg, Netflix has the streaming rights to Riverdale in the United States for the duration of the series plus three to six years into the future.
This is excellent news for Riverdale fans, especially after the uncertainty surrounding the series when The CW-Netflix deal ended this spring. Netflix and The CW had a deal in place that brought every season of a CW show to the streaming service eight days after the season finale aired on The CW. That deal ended earlier this year.
When The CW-Netflix deal ended, many thought Riverdale, The Flash, and other popular CW shows would be leaving Netflix to join the upcoming WarnerMedia streaming service. We found out shortly after The CW-Netflix deal ending that those shows would stay on Netflix for as long as they were on the air and likely a few years after that.
Now, thanks to the Bloomberg report, the series will remain on Netflix for at least three to six years after the show ends before it leaves Netflix. That means, at the earliest, Riverdale could leave Netflix in 2023, although it’s much more likely that Riverdale will remain on Netflix for at least a few more seasons.
So, when will the series end? Well, we don’t really know yet. The show is super popular right now, and it’s coming back for season 4 next fall. I highly doubt the show will end after season 4. I’d guess the show runs for at least five or six seasons on The CW. The show might change and grow after this season; it is senior year after all. But, I see at least three more seasons of this show happening.
Realistically, the series will be on Netflix until 2025 or 2026 at the earliest, and it could even be on Netflix longer than that.
It should also be noted that this really only applies to Netflix US for Riverdale. The series is classified as a Netflix original outside of the United States, and that’s because Netflix controls the international distribution rights to the series. As far as I know, the streaming network should be the international distributor for a long time or until they sell the rights to the series. Based on this show’s popularity, I don’t think they will.
As mentioned, season 4 is scheduled to premiere on The CW this fall. New episodes of the series are added to Netflix (Non-US) after they air on The CW. Season 4, all of the episodes, will likely be released on Netflix in May or June 2020.