'Riverdale' and 'Jane the Virgin' Spin-Offs Get Pilot Orders at The CW

The CW is bringing the drama with its new pilot orders for a Riverdale spin-off and a Jane the Virgin spin-off. The network handed out pilot pickups to four dramas — two of which are based on existing shows and two others based on existing intellectual properties — that all hope to earn a spot on the network’s 2019-2010 TV schedule.

Riverdale continues to elevate to new dramatic heights each episode, while Jane the Virgin is about to wrap up its fourth and final season after the show’s biggest cliffhanger yet. But fans can get more of both in spin-off shows in development at The CW.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a Riverdale spin-off titled Katy Keene will follow the titular fashionista as she is joined by four iconic Archie Comics characters to chase their dreams in New York City’s theater scene. Meanwhile, the Jane the Virgin spin-off, now called Jane the Novela, will be a telenovela anthology in the style of the original show’s satirical-soapy style where each season is based on a different fictional novel “written by” Jane Villenueva.

Per THR, here’s the logline for Katy Keene, which hails from showrunner and Archie Comics chief creative officer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and co-writer Michael Grassi:

The spinoff follows the lives and loves of four iconic Archie Comics characters — including titular fashion-legend-to-be Katy Keene — as they chase their twenty-something dreams in New York City. The musical dramedy chronicles the origins and struggles of four aspiring artists trying to make it on Broadway, on the runway and in the recording studio. Archie Comics character Katy Keene was a model, actress and singer first introduced in 1945 and created by Bill Woggon. The character was dubbed America’s Queen of Pin-Ups and Fashions.

The project will be executive produced by Greg Berlanti under the CW superhero show maestro’s overall deal with Warner Bros. TV. There won’t be a backdoor pilot for Katy Keene in Riverdale.

Meanwhile, the Jane the Virgin spin-off is something fans are familiar with in the context of the show. The highly imaginative Jane will imagine her romance novels as acted out by her friends and loved ones, which makes for fun dramatic inserts into the already heightened show. Jane the Virgin star Gina Rodriguez won’t star in the spin-off, but will narrate each season, the first installment of which will “take place at a Napa Valley vineyard, where family secrets (and family members) don’t stay buried for long,” per THR. The series will be written by Jane scribe Valentina Garza, who will executive produce alongside Rodriguez and her I Can & I Will Productions’ VP of development Emily Gipson, and showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman.

The two pilot orders will join the already-ordered pilot for Batwoman, as well as pilots for the untitled Nancy Drew project from Noga Landau, Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, and the long-gestating The Lost Boys reboot that will be written by Heather Mitchell and follow “two brothers move to Santa Carla with their mother,” where they have a run-in with its resident vampires.

Source: Read Full Article