Prepare to Say Goodbye to Riverdale in New Series Finale Preview

After seven seasons, fans will say goodbye to Riverdale next week and now, The CW has released a preview for the aptly titled series finale, "Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Seven: Goodbye, Riverdale". The episode, which will air on Wednesday, August 23rd, will take us back to the present but perhaps not quite as fans may have hoped when Season 7 of Riverdale began. As Jughead's narration for the preview says, the story is about saying goodbye to a town that was once lost in time and while the series synopsis tells us we'll get back to the present, the preview itself keeps us in the 1950s just a bit longer. You can check it out for yourself below.

"NOW LEAVING RIVERDALE — Back in present day and longing for her former life in Riverdale, 86-year-old Betty (Lili Reinhart) turns to a special friend to help her relive her last day of senior year with her friends as they were, their memories restored.  KJ Apa, Camila Mendes, Cole Sprouse, Madelaine Petsch, Mädchen Amick, Casey Cott, Charles Melton, Vanessa Morgan and Drew Ray Tanner also star.  The episode was written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa."

How Will Riverdale Return to the Present Day?

Warning: spoilers for this week's episode of Riverdale beyond this point.

As we saw in this week's penultimate episode of Riverdale, "The Golden Age of Television", Archie and the gang will return to the present simply be living out their lives. This week's episode saw Angel Tabitha (Erinn Westbrook) return and restore Jughead's memories as well as update him on her efforts to fix things. As fans will recall from the season premiere, the comet that hit Riverdale at the end of Season 6 had indeed destroyed everything, but Tabitha had been able to send everyone off into an alternative timeline. While she worked to try to fix things so that she could restore everyone to the right place in time, everyone else was tasked with trying to get the universe to "bend towards justice" — albeit without memories of their previous lives. Tabitha reveals that both of their efforts worked but with a catch. She had to weave everything into one timeline and she can't move anyone through time. They have to live in the new timeline they've been creating but can do so with memories intact if they so choose.

The Riverdale Series Finale Will Offer Closure

With this week's episode wrapping up the season-long plot and it will be interesting to see what's left for next week's finale. However, series star Mädchen Amick has confirmed that while they don't exactly "get out of the 1950s", there will be closure.

"You'll experience the characters in different… dimensions [that will allow for] a lot of closures that are outside of the 1950s," Amick said.

Riverdale's series finale airs Wednesday, August 23rd at 9/8c on The CW.