Is This The Year We Finally Get AChilling Adventures Of Sabrina & Riverdale Crossover?

Sabrina travels to Riverdale in part 3 of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, but does that mean fans should get ready for an actual crossover with The CW show?Well, while the handful of references feel like the makings of a Riverdale crossover on CAOS, that's not exactly what the show's writers have in store. But don't worry, there are still a few details that die hard Archieverse fans will delight in.

In the first episode, Prudence (Tati Gabrielle) impersonates a woman in New Orleans to try to trap Father Blackwood (Richard Coyle). The woman she pretends to be is played by Nathalie Boltt, who — surprise! — also plays Cheryl Blossom's mom on Riverdale. That's not even the only Blossom reference in part 3. In the third episode, when Sabrina (Kiernan Shipka) sets off to find Herod's Crown, Ambrose (Chance Perdomo) discovers that the crown currently resides in Riverdale. It was taken there from Hitler's bunker by the American soldier Benjamin Blossom. 

When Sabrina learns she has to track the crown down in Greendale's neighboring town of Riverdale, she sums up The CW show in a single sentence: "Riverdale's a big scary place." Between the Gargoyle King and the ghoulies and the Man in Black and the Black Hood, she couldn't be more right. When she heads to the town, the "Welcome to Riverdale" sign even has "murder capital of the world," spray painted on the back with a big "JJ wuz here" signature next to "sss." A reference to Jughead Jones from the South Side Serpents, perhaps?

All that said, Sabrina's actual time in Riverdale is rather underwhelming — especially if you've got crossover on the brain. She finds the crown in a tree and doesn't interact with any classic Riverdale characters. But a couple of episodes later, in episode 6, a Southside Serpent member of Jughead's gang travels to Greendale before unfortunately falling victim to a witch. He wasn't a character from Riverdale itself (that's probably why you didn't recognize the actor) but the mention of the gang was a fun easter egg nonetheless. As was Sabrina's Aunt Hilda asking her boyfriend to get her food from the diner in Riverdale that sells "the juiciest hamburgers and the thickest milkshakes." She's referring, of course, to Pop's. Additionally Robin on CAOS is played by actor Jonathan Whitesell who also played Gargoyle Gang leader Kurtz on Riverdale.

For now it seems the closest fans will get to a Riverdale and CAOS crossover is through these little easter eggs. Dual showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa said at the 2019 San Diego Comic Con that he would "love to do it, but it’s just hard to figure out." The main issue stems from the short episode orders that Netflix gives Sabrina versus the tradition 22 episodes that The CW grants Riverdale. Previous seasons of CAOS have been eight to 10 episodes each. It would be hard to fit the show's own narrative into that timeline plus a crossover. "If we were to ever do it, it would have to be more meaningful than a gimmick and really reveal character and really push the story forward," Aguirre-Sacasa told ComicBook.com in reference to a possible CAOS-Riverdale crossover. "I absolutely think there is a universe where that happens, but you would want it to really resonate with that and really make it thoughtful and make it deep and special." 

Instead, Aguirre-Sacasa promised that "tons of easter eggs" and the "allusions to other Archie characters in Sabrina" will continue to be a fun element of CAOS moving forward. Just don't expect to see Archie and Jughead buying books from Dr. C any time soon.