The CW Riverdale
CW’s hit show Riverdale is a little more than halfway through its second season, and U.S. fans who only saw Season 1 on Netflix are wanting to know when they can finally start watching Season 2 on Netflix. Unfortunately, it looks like you’ll have to wait a little longer. Riverdale airs on the CW every Wednesday at 8 p.m. Eastern. It won’t be released on Netflix in the U.S. until it’s late enough to not compete with the CW airings.
Outside of the United States, Riverdale is released on Netflix every Thursday. In the UK, it’s available at 8 a.m. But viewers in the United States aren’t so lucky when it comes to Netflix. No episodes from Season 2 are available at this time, and Netflix hasn’t announced an official date for when they will be. But, there is some potential good news (depending on your viewpoint.) The CW releases its seasons earlier on Netflix than other stations do. Most stations wait until months after a season ends before releasing the show on Netflix. The CW, meanwhile, usually just waits about a week. This is because in 2016, Netflix and The CW reached an agreement that in the United States, Netflix could stream full seasons for all of the CW’s shows starting eight days after each show’s finale. For example, The 100 Season 4 aired its finale on The CW on May 24, 2017, and Season 4 was released on Netflix on June 1, 2017. Similarly, The Flash Season 3 released on Netflix on May 31, and the final episode for the season premiered on The CW on May 23.
We don’t yet know the date of the season finale episode for Riverdale. The series is taking a hiatus on February 14, but we’re unsure how long it will last. Netflix seemed to indicate that it could be three or four weeks, but other sources reported it’s just a week. Either way, we don’t expect Riverdale‘s season finale to air until sometime in May, so Season 2 likely won’t hit Netflix in the U.S. until May or June 2018.
U.S. viewers really wish the episodes were on Netflix throughout the season, especially those who don’t record every episode of Riverdale. Unfortunately, Season 2 episodes expire from the CW site and from On Demand, so you can’t always catch up for free as quickly as you’d like. But if you’re willing to pay to watch the episodes on Amazon or iTunes, then you can watch them online all season long, even if you forget to record an episode here and there.