Since Disney+ launched, the streaming service has made a name for itself as the one place that Marvel fans can really get their fix. In addition to streaming classic titles from Fox’s X-Men and the MCU, it’s the only place to get TV series adaptations of everyone’s favorite characters and stories, with shows like Daredevil: Born Again, X-Men ’97, and more delivering Marvel television to new heights. It’s also home to other comic book adaptations that aren’t from Marvel, like the series version of American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, and now, Disney+ is expanding with another comic adaptation not from Marvel.
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In October of last year came word that Disney was considering a series order of a shocking comic book series, the grim and violent Afterlife with Archie. Based on the horror comic from Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Francesco Francavilla, the series has now officially been ordered. Disney has confirmed the pickup of the series as well as plans to get Afterlife with Archie primed to premiere around Halloween next year. The new show will also push things for Disney+ because, unlike Marvel’s Marvel Zombies TV series, this undead take on classic comic book characters will be in live-action.
Disney+ Orders Live-Action Afterlife With Archie Series
The Afterlife With Archie TV series will not only bring Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa back to the property he co-created and which got the modern reinvention of Archie off the ground (kickstarting the reappraisal of the characters that resulted in Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) but reunite him with superstar executive producer Greg Berlanti. They’ll EP the series, which was written by Aguirre-Sacasa, alongside Warner Bros. Television.
The official press release for the Afterlife With Archie TV series appears to confirm that the TV Series will be pretty faithfully adapting the original comic book series, with the logling noting that thefrom a certain teen witch” which forces Archie and his fellow Riverdale citizens to fight off the undead while also balancing life as teens
“Getting to turn ‘Afterlife’ into a TV series for the amazing team at Disney+ with our incredible partners at Berlanti Productions, WB and, of course, Jon (Goldwater) and his ‘Archie’ family is truly a full-circle moment – and the ultimate dream project for me,” Aguirre-Sacasa said in a statement. “Time to say a prayer for Archie, Betty, Veronica and the whole gang, ’cause THE ZOMBIES ARE COMING!!!!”
As comic readers may recall, Afterlife with Archie was first published back in 2013, and held nothing back in bringing a violent and horrific take on the world to life. Not only did the series deliver zombies to feast on the flesh of Riverdale’s population, but made sure to later include a slew of other famous monsters, including vampires, ghosts, and even Cthulhu. The series was, at its corse, an R-Rated type story, which makes it quite surprising that Disney+ agreed to make it, but also do it in live-action rather than animation.
One major advantage to having Aguirre-Sacasa return to Afterlife with Archie is the potential for the original writer on the series to expand the scope of the stories that he was telling, but also give it a proper ending. The Afterlife with Archie comic series only published ten issues total over three years, leaving a slew of plot threads unresolved. As a result, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa may finally be giving fans what they’ve been waiting years to see, and he’ll be doing it in the last place anyone expected, on Disney’s streaming service.
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