[UPDATE] "Riverdale" Season 5 Has Resumed Production Following COVID Testing Delay
[UPDATE 10/7/20 11:45 AM]: Production on Riverdale season five has resumed over a week after it was put on hold due to testing issues.
The Vancouver lab handling testing for the cast and crews of multiple shows in the area has been able to catch up on their backlog, allowing Riverdale, as well as Batwoman, to resume production. According to Deadline, though, there is still an "underlying issue of test-processing capacity," which means another delay is possible.
Original story: Riverdale season five has only been shooting for about two weeks, but production has already been shut down, sources told Variety. Apparently there have been delays with processing COVID-19 tests in Vancouver where the show shoots.
A source said that there is one lab in the area that is approved to process COVID tests and they are currently focusing their efforts on the schools and local business nearby. This has also affected the filming of CW's Batwoman, as well as Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl, which were reportedly supposed to begin filming this week.
According to Variety, the delay will be temporary, but it's unclear what effect this will have on the already delayed start date of Riverdale season five. In the past, the show has premiered new seasons in October, but it seems very unlikely that season five will be able to follow that schedule. Most likely, we won't get a premiere until 2021.
Despite the delay, the cast and crew are probably still quarantining in Vancouver. Earlier this month, Lili Reinhart revealed that, in order to stay safe, everyone on set would be staying in the area until Christmas. "You can't go home for Thanksgiving, can't visit your family," she told Nylon. "No one can come visit you unless they quarantine for two weeks."
Even while on set, the cast was taken extra precautions to stay safe. KJ Apa revealed how they're handling make out scenes this season, sharing a video on Instagram where he and Camila Mendes gargle mouthwash between every take where they locked lips.
our new normal is washing our mouths before every take of a make-out scene...
A post shared by KJ Apa (@kjapa) on Sep 23, 2020 at 4:24pm PDT
Until they can secure regular tests again, though, it seems like there won't be any make out scenes in KJ or Camila's future.
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