Surprise! An Extended ‘Riverdale’ Series Finale is Hitting Streaming

Can’t get enough of the Riverdale series finale? Well, guess what: there’s more. As a surprise treat for fans, an extended version of the final episode, titled “Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Seven: Goodbye, Riverdale,” will hit streaming tomorrow (Thursday, August 24).

In the original, 42-minute-long broadcast version of the episode, and spoilers past this point, we catch up with now 86-year-old Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart) in the present. All her friends have passed away long before, and on the eve of a return trip to Riverdale, she’s visited by an angelic version of Jughead (Cole Sprouse), who takes her back in time to 1957 to visit a day she missed when she was otherwise out of high school with the mumps.

Over the course of the hour, Betty revisits her friends and reveals some surprising secrets that we missed in the time jump from the previous episode — which took place in Junior year of high school — and this episode — which takes place right before high school graduation. We also get a peek into how all of them died.

…Or do we? In the extended version of the episode, which adds nearly eight more minutes to stretch to 49:54, we find out about a few additional deaths. That’s not all, though, there are also a number of other sequences that were cut out of the broadcast version to make its air time. And since The CW provided the full-length, nearly 50-minute-long version to press for review, we can detail some of those scenes below.

Spoilers of a sort on, because unlike deleted scenes these are canon for the events of Riverdale, since this version will live on, on streaming:

In the scene set during Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) and Toni’s (Vanessa Morgan) art show, we discover the final fates of a number of other characters. Julian Blossom (Nicholas Barasch) died at 28 in Vietnam. Principal Weatherbee (Peter Bryant) and Mrs. Thornton (Frances Flanagan) got married. Nana Rose Blossom (Barbara Wallace) was reincarnated a bunch. But perhaps most shocking of all, Frank Andrews (Ryan Robbins) and Tom Keller (Martin Cummins) were stabbed to death by a hustler named… Chic (Hart Denton).

Less shocking, but still poignant is a sequence towards the end of the episode where Old Betty returns to Riverdale, and regular Betty ends up narrating a sort of “Goodnight, Moon,” except for the Riverdale sets. In the broadcast version, we get to see some of this, but there’s a lot more in the extended version.

Another scene that was surprisingly removed from the episode is one where Betty stands outside Thornhill before Cheryl’s goodbye party. Angel Jughead ultimately convinces her to go inside, and that’s it with that – so perhaps it was cut because it doesn’t follow directly on what came before: the Core Four deciding to go to the party together. But it also contains what is maybe the most crucial message of the hour. In the scene, a sobbing Betty tells AJ (Angel Jughead), “I know and you know, this is the last time we’ll all of us be together.” To which he answers: “That’s life, Betty. You say hello. You walk alongside someone for a while. You say goodbye. That’s the arc of a life, isn’t it? Every minute counts.” That second quote is, essentially, the whole point of the episode.

Right before that, though, is a cut moment that probably means even more to fans: a scene of Jughead, Betty, Archie, and Veronica all riding in Archie’s jalopy together to the party. This is another surprising cut since Archie, right before this, asks them if they should take one last ride in his hot rod. Oh well!

There are a few more quick scenes that got cut out. One establishes that Toni Topaz didn’t just become class president, she also was instrumental in publishing important works of news in the school newspaper, bringing her arc from the Season 7 premiere to a nice close. We also get an additional scene of Betty and Cheryl in the bathroom, with Betty giddy because she remembers she was in a polycule with Archie, Veronica, and Jughead. And one more quick scene brings back real-life ex-WB TV Studios head Peter Roth to give Veronica a job.

You can watch all of these scenes, as well as the regular scenes when the extended version of the Riverdale finale drops on streaming. Normally, new episodes drop on The CW website and app after the West Coast airing. Though they’re usually available by 11 pm PT / 2 am ET, sometimes it takes a while for them to show up. Regardless, it should be there by tomorrow, and also be available when Season 7 premieres on Netflix on August 31. Nana Rose, meanwhile, will be around forever.