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‘Riverdale’ Preview: Kiernan Shipka’s Sabrina Makes Her Long-Awaited Grand Entrance (Video)

You can thank Cheryl Blossom for finally bringing Sabrina Spellman (Kiernan Shipka) to “Riverdale.” In a new promo for The CW show’s five-episode Season 6 event “Rivervale,” Shipka’s “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” character shows up in her neighboring town, clearly there due to the curse Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) put on the town in the Season 5 finale.

Now, whether she’s there to make things better or worse — in the eyes of Archie (KJ Apa), Betty (Lili Reinhart), Jughead (Cole Sprouse), Veronica (Camila Mendes) and the other residents of Riverdale — we don’t yet know.

“We’ve been talking about having Sabrina visit Riverdale since Season 1, so it’s thrilling that this is finally happening, as part of our ‘Rivervale’ special event,” “Riverdale” showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (who was also the boss of Netflix’s now-canceled “Sabrina”) told EW in a statement earlier this month when news of Sabrina’s crossover into “Riverdale” was first revealed. “It’s also perfect that she shows up to help Cheryl Blossom during her hour of greatest need. Everyone on set lost their minds — I think fans will, too. It’s really fun and special.”

Shipka will appear in “Riverdale” Season 6 Episode 4, which is titled “The Witching Hour(s)” and finds Cheryl performing a dangerous spell. The question of exactly how Sabrina shows up on “Riverdale” is one that fans have been theorizing about since news of Shipka’s guest appearance first broke.

Watch the “Riverdale” Season 6 promo above.

As viewers of both shows know, Sabrina died at the end of Netflix’s “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” which came to a premature conclusion last year with its fourth season. Aguirre-Sacasa had not planned for Season 4 to be the show’s last, but Netflix’s July 2020 decision to cancel “Sabrina” turned its then-upcoming fourth-season finale into its series finale, an episode that ended with Sabrina in the afterlife.

Aguirre-Sacasa previously said that if the Netflix drama had made it to Season 5, fans would have finally gotten the “Riverdale” crossover that he’s been trying to pull off for years. And now they will, just in a different way.

Shipka told TheWrap in a “Sabrina” final season interview last December that she would still be down to make the crossover happen by reprising her role on “Riverdale.”

“Yeah! If they want me, I’ll be there,” the “Sabrina” star told TheWrap. “Literally, they have my number. They know where I live. I would do anything for Roberto [Aguirre-Sacasa, the creator/showrunner of ‘Riverdale’ and ‘Sabrina’] and I love the guys over on ‘Riverdale,’ so I think that would be super fun. At least for an episode! Just bop over, right? Just say hey.”

“Riverdale” Season 6 premieres Tuesday, Nov. 16 on The CW.