Keeping the mystery alive! Over the years, the Pretty Little Liars franchise has engrossed fans with complex secrets, murders and shocking reveals.
The original teen drama, which aired from 2010 to 2017, followed a group of teens being tormented by an anonymous person known as A. Based on the books written by Sara Shepard, the Freeform series quickly garnered enough interest to earn several spinoff shows, including the short-lived Ravenswood and The Perfectionists.
In July 2022, a new iteration explored a friend group trying to track down why a stalker was suddenly obsessed with each of them in Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin.
The HBO Max series, which was created by Riverdale‘s Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina‘s Lindsay Calhoon Bring, introduced viewers to Bailee Madison, Chandler Kinney, Maia Reficco, Zaria and Malia Pyles as the main characters.
Ahead of the show’s debut, Lucy Hale weighed in on the new version of PLL after previously bringing Aria Montgomery to life in the original series.
“It’s different. It’s scary and it’s really dark,” the actress told E! News in July 2022 while reflecting on her time in the franchise. “It just goes to show — I don’t want to say legacy because that’s a huge word — but the legacy of PLL is living on and I think that’s so flattering.”
At the time, Hale noted that she wasn’t sure whether Aria would make the trip from Rosewood to Millwood. “I think there’s something really special about how separate they are,” she told Extra. “I don’t know. Who knows. Would I be a mom now? I never say never, so we’ll see.”
Bring, for her part, promised that fans of the OG series would see callbacks to PLL in the reboot. “I’d be remiss to say to not pay attention to our horror eggs and our original PLL Easter eggs,” the screenwriter explained to Entertainment Tonight that same month. “If you’re a fan of the original PLL, I think you will and hope you will love the Easter eggs that really kind of start in earnest about halfway through and push on to the end.”
During the interview, Madison also praised how Original Sin gave credit to its predecessor, saying, “There is so much detail woven through our show. Every frame, every setup was thoughtfully crafted. Just pay close attention and don’t be close-minded. Allow yourself into the world.”
Aguirre-Sacasa later broke down the approach behind hinting at the past PLL stories in the new version.
“We’re fanboys and fangirls,” he told TVLine in July 2022. “We love this stuff. We love when characters [from other shows] pop in. We love the crossover episodes. At least at the beginning, however, the team did want to really establish our town and our girls without being in the shadow of that original, iconic franchise.”
The creator added: “Once you hit episode 6, the Easter eggs — and more than Easter eggs — start coming fast and furiously, up to literally the last moment of the last episode.”
Scroll down for every connection to PLL that was mentioned in Original Sin: