On Oct. 9, a brand new season of Riverdale will kick off on The CW, starting with Fred Andrews’ tragic death. It’s going to be an emotional season — especially considering the way Riverdale season 3 left off. But if you aren’t great at following along week to week, you might be wondering when new Riverdale episodes are on Netflix. The good news? It will almost certainly be on the streaming platform. The bad news? It’ll be awhile.
Historically, Riverdale makes it to Netflix pretty quickly, just not while the new episodes are still airing. As What’s On Netflix reported, last season, the finale aired on May 15 with Riverdale season 3 debuting on Netflix on May 23 in full. As Adweek reported, this rollout is standard for many CW shows. All of the “legacy” shows on the network (Riverdale included) hit Netflix eight days after each season finale airs, with newer shows (like Nancy Drew) streaming exclusively on The CW’s app and website until the season finishes airing… at which point they’ll move over to other streaming services 30 days later.
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Going by this logic, it would make sense if season 4’s finale aired sometime in May 2020, with the full season hitting Netflix just eight days later. This means that fans who can’t carve out time each week to watch the latest episode as they air will definitely be able to catch up before season 5 (hopefully) premieres next year. So, get ready to wait about seven months.
That said, for those of us who just can’t get enough Riverdale, season 3 is available on Netflix in full. No one is judging you if you need to rewatch the season before diving into season 4 — between Gryphons and Gargoyles, Archie (KJ Apa) running from Hiram Lodge (Mark Consuelos)... and getting attacked by a bear, and Betty’s mom (Mädchen Amick) being ensnared by a cult, there was a lot going on, so the details might be fuzzy five months later.
And with all that action, there are a lot of questions the season premiere needs to answer, from how the series handles the loss of Luke Perry and thus Fred Andrews, and whether or not that flashforward means Jughead (Cole Sprouse) is doomed. You'll just have to suffice with pouring over season 3 episodes until Spring 2020, if you're hoping to catch it all on Netflix.