‘Riverdale’ Character Makes Surprise Cameo on ‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’

Riverdale and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina have an interesting dynamic. The two series are set generally in the same universe with The CW’s Riverdale set in the town of the same name while Netflix’s Sabrina is set in the nearby town of Greendale. Despite this, there’s no direct connection which is what makes the appearance of one Riverdale character a surprising — if not a little confusing — crossover.

Spoiler alert for The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina beyond this point.

By the time we get to the seventh episode of Sabrina a few things are well-established: Miss Wardwell (Michelle Gomez) isn’t what she appears and witches in this universe eat human flesh — it’s mentioned a few times along the way. That’s why when Wardwell tells her familiar, Stolas, she’s getting take out for dinner and someone knocks on the door it’s implied that whatever she ordered isn’t the meal. It’s the delivery person. And who might that delivery person be?

Ben Button (Moses Thiessen), a face very familiar to fans of Riverdale. The character has appeared in all three seasons of The CW series, first as an employee of Twilight Drive-In, then as Miss Grundy’s piano student in Greendale, and most memorably and recently as a player of Gryphons and Gargoyles who after surviving a lethal challenge for the game threw himself out his hospital window to his death to “ascend” to the Gargoyle King.

So, if Ben killed himself in Riverdale how is he alive in Greendale to presumably be eaten by Miss Wardwell? Or, how is the reverse true? If you’re looking for answers, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa — who is executive producer on both shows — isn’t much help. He told Entertainment Tonight that the appearance suggests a “deep” mythology when asked exactly when in the Riverdale timeline the Sabrina scene takes place.

“That’s a good question, and that depends,” he said. “It suggests a very deep, deep mythology where time and space bends. I love that kid. I’m sad that he keeps turning up and horrible things keep happening to him.”

Like jumping out a window it seems, but Aguirre-Sacasa teased that things are a little different in Greendale.

“It seemed like it was pretty final, but yet there he is in Greendale,” he said of Ben’s Riverdale demise. “But in Greendale, everyone pops up — the dead don’t stay dead long in Greendale.”

Ben’s appearance on Sabrina in theory opens the door for other Riverdale characters to appear in future seasons and while no major crossovers appear to be in the works at this time it’s something that the stars of Riverdale are very open to.

“I really want that to happen,” Archie actor K.J. Apa told fans at Dallas Fan Days. “I mean, as far as I know now, I don’t think it’s going to happen. But, just because they’ve got the supernatural aspect to it and we don’t really have that. But it would be sick.”

Did you catch Ben’s sneaky Riverdale crossover in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina? Do you think that Miss Wardwell ate Ben? Let us know all of your thoughts in comments below!

Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW. The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is now streaming on Netflix.