The CW's Katy Keene: Meet the Characters

EXCLUSIVE: Picked-up to by pilot by The CW last week, Riverdale’s second spin-off Katy Keene is a musical drama based on Archie Comics that's shaping up to be way different from both the mothership and Netflix's The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.  Here's what we know about the new series and the characters who will appear in the pilot.

The pilot script was written by Riverdale creator Robert Aguirre-Sacasa and executive producer Michael Grassi, with Greg Berlanti producing for Warner Bros. Television and Berlanti Productions. Set several years after the high-schoolers in Riverdale have graduated, Katy Keene follows the lives and loves of four Archie Comics characters as they chase their twenty-something dreams in New York City. 

The series is centered around fashion legend-to-be KATY KEENE, a friend of Veronica Lodge who was spun-off to her own comicbook series. She’s a young woman in her 20s, ambitious and talented. She has a boyfriend, KO KELLY, a semi-pro boxer with an incredible body. She works at Lacy’s Department Store with her arch-rival AMANDA and her boss GLORIA GRANDBILT, an impeccable and glamourous diva in her 40s, a world-class Personal Shopper. One of their clients is ALEXANDRA CABOT, heiress to the Media Cabot Empire, a powerful twentysomething with a white streak in her hair.

Katy lives in an apartment with two roomates, one of which is the direct link between the show and Riverdale: It’s JOSIE MCCOY, the Pussycats' singer who has left her hometown to pursue a solo career in New York City. She’ll be played by Ashleigh Murray, who originated the role on Riverdale. Her friends Melody & Valerie don't appear in the pilot, but they’ll probably pop up at some point. She meets Katy through their common friendship with Veronica. Their third roomate is JORGE LOPEZ aka GINGER LOPEZ, whose parents own their apartment building. He’s 20, cute, gay and performs as a drag queen in a ballroom (think Ryan Murphy’s Pose). Finally, there’s PEPPER SMITH, a young feminist journalist and a feminist, who knows everyone in the biz.

Casting for the roles is underway. The pilot will shoot in New York this March.

Jean-Maxime Renault is a TV addict based in Paris who writes about television and movies on AlloCiné (aka "the French IMDB"). In 2015 he created Season Zero, a website about television development and pilot season, which is now a part of Primetimer. Follow him on Twitter @SeasonZeroCom