2017–2023 · Based on 7 seasons through August 23, 2023 ·
Riverdale is a dark and campy TV remake of Archie Comics that ran for seven seasons. It follows teens in a small town as murder mysteries, cults, and wild supernatural plots take over their lives. Early seasons play like a genre soap with heavy drama. Later seasons grow stranger and push bigger twists, including a full reboot into a 1950s high school setting. The series keeps mixing teen soap chaos with darker social storylines.
The show steadily centers mixed casting, feminist teen drama, and multi-season LGBTQ arcs that stay easy for viewers to see. Early seasons include plots about rape culture and female solidarity. The final season makes racism, sexism, and homophobia clear engines of the story. Several series regulars have gay, lesbian, or bisexual arcs, and legacy comic characters are recast or rewritten with new identities. The showrunner framed the last season’s main enemy as repressive mid-century American society itself.
Community feedback
Was our 89% Woke rating accurate?
Loading review details…
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Riverdale.
Woke representation / casting
The small-town setting can support a mixed cast, but the show deliberately race-recast legacy figures and built a diverse ensemble. Several series regulars have clear queer roles that viewers can see. Inclusive casting choices and identity-forward casting statements push this past background diversity alone.
56%
Woke political dialogue
Feminist talk about slut-shaming, sexual assault, and female solidarity runs through the series. Season 7 adds clear lines about racism, integration, and justice, plus hard-to-miss homophobia and repression dialogue. Not every episode is a speech, but the political lines are clear and get stronger late.
50%
Identity-driven story themes
LGBTQ identity is a major story pillar across Kevin, Cheryl, Toni, Moose, Fangs, and Season 7 interracial queer couples. Feminist reworking of Betty and Veronica and themes of patriarchal violence add more weight. Queer material sits front and center for much of the run.
76%
Western institutional / cultural critique
The show frames small-town wholesomeness, patriarchal power, rape culture, and 1950s conformity as social enemies. Season 7 treats mid-century sexism, racism, and homophobia as the main threat, which the showrunner called society itself. Class satire and corrupt rich villains are milder secondary signals.
60%
Woke character or canon changes
Cheryl becomes lesbian relative to classic comics, Josie is race-swapped to Black, and Veronica is rewritten as Latina. Moose is bisexual or gay rather than a default straight jock, and expanded queer relationships are prioritized. These identity-first shifts are substantial and public.
70%
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Some right-leaning and anti-woke posts call the show too woke, too gay, or wrong for changing Moose. The complaints are real but stay mostly online and scattered. There was no large, sustained mainstream culture-war campaign.
22%
Creator track record context
The showrunner expanded queer Archie on screen, and several writers, directors, and casting leads lean progressive or inclusive. Other producers score much lower. Overall the creative bench is moderately elevated, not extreme.
50%
Production
TV Show · 2021
Facing an existential threat that could bring down the Crime Lab, a brilliant team of forensic investigators must welcome back old friends and deploy new techniques to preserve…
TV Show · 2020
When an insidious supernatural force edges its way into a seemingly straightforward investigation into the gruesome murder of a young boy, it leads a seasoned cop and an…
TV Show · 2022
Lucy wakes every night at exactly 3:33am. Nothing in her life has made sense for a long time. But the answers are out there, somewhere, at the end of a trail of brutal murders.
TV Show · 2020
Zoe Walker leaves her quiet life behind to investigate her brother's disappearance in Ibiza, where she quickly heads down a decadent and dangerous path.
TV Show · 2025
A brash but brilliant cop becomes head of a new police department, where he leads an unlikely team of misfits in solving Edinburgh's cold cases.
TV Show · 2020
Hiding a twisted past, a man maintains his facade as the perfect husband to his detective wife — until she begins investigating a series of murders.
TV Show · 2022
Determined to protect a young patient who escaped a mysterious cult, a psychiatrist takes the girl in, putting her own family — and life — in danger.
TV Show · 2026
Anna Pigeon flees city life for the solitude of America's stunning national parks following a devastating loss; while Anna tries to outrun her demons, her focus turns to solving…
