Riverdale: "Purgatorio" Trailer Reveals First Look at Time Jump

As of tonight, Riverdale is officially into uncharted territory, after the hit The CW series saw its roster of teenage characters graduate from high school. Even as the gang's days at Riverdale High are over, it's clear that the story is far from finished, with confirmation last year that the series is about to jump forward seven years into the future. Now, we officially have our first look at what that will entail, thanks to a newly-released trailer for the series. The CW has released a trailer for "Chapter Eighty: Purgatorio", the fourth episode of the series' fifth season.

The episode is expected to catch up on a new status quo in Riverdale, as Archie Andrews (KJ Apa) returns to the town after seven years away. While we still don't know the full extent of how the time jump will impact every corner of the series, it definitely seems like it will be ushering in a new era for the cast and crew.

"I think I'd known about the time jump pre-pandemic," Drew Ray Tanner, who plays Fangs Fogarty on the series recently explained to ComicBook.com. "So when the pandemic happened, we knew that we would go back to filming and it would sort of pick up on this time jump. So I was given nine months to grow out my hair, and to grow as an individual. I just kind of kept it in the back of my mind each day, as I was going through this life-changing thing. It was such a colossal thing -- I don't think anything has happened that big in my life, since graduation or something like that."

"As [an] actor, the best thing you can do is to learn from everything that's in everyday life. The best characters to learn from are people on the street and everyday interactions," Tanner continued. "You're constantly learning. You're constantly adding things to your tool belt. That's the job of the actor, to take life and to hopefully imitate it in art. So I was extremely blessed that I had [so much time]. As a TV actor, you don't get that much time to do something like this, but we really were given nine months to flesh it out and be aware of "Okay, this is where we're going with this. How do I build this up? And how do I make this character real? And how do I make it sort of a seamless transition?" It was extremely exciting. It was challenging, but I was given more than enough time to prepare."

You can check out the synopsis for "Purgatorio" below!

"SEVEN-YEAR TIME JUMP — After spending seven years away from Riverdale, Archie (KJ Apa) returns to find the town is now under Hiram Lodge's (Mark Consuelos) grip and on the verge of becoming a ghost town. When Toni (Vanessa Morgan) catches him up on what's been going on, Archie reaches out to the rest of the gang to return home. Lili Reinhart, Camila Mendes, Cole Sprouse, Madelaine Petsch, Casey Cott, Charles Melton, Drew Ray Tanner, and Erinn Westbrook also star. Steve Adelson directed the episode written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa."

Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW. "Purgatorio" will air on February 10th.