New ‘Pretty Little Liars’ Series Announces More Details: Everything to Know About ‘Original Sin’

Credit: HBOMAX

New ‘Pretty Little Liars’ Series Announces More Details: Everything to Know About ‘Original Sin’

Can you keep a secret? Pretty Little Liars originally aired on Freeform from 2010 to 2017, following a group of young high school girls threatened by secrets from their past. The new show, coming from Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Lindsay Calhoon Bring, both of whom worked on The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, will have a similar premise. The drama — which has not been officially identified as a reboot, revival or a spinoff — will take place in present day, 20 years after "a series of tragic events almost ripped the blue-collar town of Millwood apart." In September 2020, the first teaser was released for Original Sin, which features one strong message: "It’s not what you think, bitches." “We’re such huge fans of what [original creator] I. Marlene King and her iconic cast created, we knew that we had to treat the original series as #CANON and do something different,” Aguirre-Sacasa and Calhoon said joint in a statement about the new show. “So, we’re leaning into the suspense and horror in this reboot, which hopefully will honor what the fans loved about the hit series, while weaving in new, unexpected elements.” [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnXgKHt---w&ab_channel=HBOMax[/embed] King, for her part, didn't seem so thrilled. “We are PLL family forever. If we need to declare ourselves #OGPLLFamily then that’s what we’ll do. Staring now,” the Famous in Love creator tweeted at the time. When one follower wrote, “The bodies aren’t even cold yet,” she responded to the message, “Literally. They are somewhere in the WB jungle." The original show was based on Sara Shepard’s books of the same name. Lucy Hale,Shay Mitchell,Troian Bellisario,Ashley Benson and Sasha Pieterse starred in the series. So, what will the new series be about — and who will be part of it? Scroll through the gallery below for everything we know so far: [podcast_block]

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What It's About

The logline — bold A included! — reads, "Twenty years ago, a series of tragic events almost ripped the blue-collar town of Millwood apart. Now, in the present day, a group of disparate teen girls — a brand-new set of Little Liars — find themselves tormented by an unknown Assailant and made to pay for the secret sin their parents committed two decades ago ... as well as their own. In the dark, coming-of-age, horror-tinged drama Pretty Little Liars; Original Sin, we find ourselves miles away from Rosewood, but within the existing Pretty Little Liars universe — in a brand-new town, with a new generation of Little Liars."

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Where Will It Stream?

The new Pretty Little Liars will stream exclusively on HBO Max.

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When Will It Be Released?

The first three episodes of Original Sin drop on HBO Max Thursday, July 28. Two additional episodes will arrive on August 4 and August 11, with the final three installments premiering on August 18. 

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Meet Tabby

Chandler Kinney, who has starred in Zombies 2 and Lethal Weapon, will play Tabby, an aspiring director and horror movie buff with a big secret.

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Meet Noa

Maia Reficco, who has spent years in Broadway productions, will play Noa, a striving track star working hard to get her life back to normal after spending a summer in juvenile detention.

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Meet Imogen

Bailee Madison will play Imogen, a survivor and a final girl who will fight for her life while driving the mystery of uncovering "A."

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Action!

"The first three of our fabulous PLLs have arrived in Upstate NY (aka Millwood, Pennsylvania) to start filming in a couple of weeks!!!" Aguirre-Sacasa gushed in an August 2021 Instagram upload featuring Madison, Kinney and Reficco. "Their gorgeous smiles make ME smile. Enjoy the fun times for now, Ladies, the screaming starts on August 23rd..."

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An Emily Return?

Mitchell said in August 2021 that she wouldn't rule out appearing on Original Sin if asked. "Never say never," the You alum told E!'s Daily Pop. "I'm excited for Bailee, she's going to crush it. That was such a memorable moment in all of our lives, so I'm excited to see whatever happens and wherever they take it."

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No Aria

In November 2021, Hale told Variety that she's not participating in Original Sin, either behind or in front of the camera. “As far as I know, no one from the original is involved in any way,” she said. “From what I hear, it’s going to be really dark.”

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Meet the Cast

In the first official cast photo for the reboot, the show’s stars ominously look up at the top of a staircase. In the snap, Madison’s character Imogen, who stood amongst her fellow Liars, is visibly pregnant.

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Rosewood Connections

In March 2022, Aguirre-Sacasa revealed that Rosewood — the OG Liars' hometown — is in the same universe as Millwood. "We love the idea that Rosewood exists," the Riverdale creator told E! News. "We reference it. There are Easter eggs throughout the season."

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A Villain Who's Not 'A'

Eric Johnson will star as Sheriff Beasley, who is set to be a major antagonist in Original Sin. According to TVLine, the police officer is the “domineering patriarch of the Beasley family,” and he'll be “just as big a villain to our Little Liars as 'A.'"

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The 1st Trailer

Released in July 2022, the first full trailer for the series begins with narration by Imogen. "Every town has one," she intones. "The scary house across the street from the cemetery where the girl lived alone with her mother and something terrible happened. In Millwood, that girl was me."

Later in the clip, the five Liars receive a text from "A" that reads, "One down. Five to go." At a school assembly, an administrator implies that a student has been killed while one of the Liars says, "'A' is testing us." The video also includes a flashback to 1999 when Imogen's mother attended a rave where a girl named Angela Waters died by suicide. The trailer — which includes references to classic movies including Halloween and Carrie — hints that the new show will be much more horror-inspired than the original series.

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Will Any OG Characters Make a Cameo?

"We're not allowed to answer that question," Aguirre-Sacasa told Entertainment Tonight in July 2022, hinting that fans will see at least one familiar face this season. "There's a list of four questions we're not allowed to answer, that's one of them."

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Does the Cast Know Who “A” Is?

"We were definitely left guessing for a while," Malia Pyles, who plays Mouse, told ET in July 2022. "Our characters had no idea and neither did we as actors. We may or may not know who 'A' is, but that may or may not change."

Costar Reficco added: "We have so many theories. We sat with this information for nine months, so imagine the amount of conspiracy theories that we had going on. We also were searching the stage for old drafts to see if we could find any clues. We would go to the stage to see if they were building a new set. And if they were building a new set with somebody's character name on it, we'd be like, 'Oh, OK, this is a clue!'"

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What do the OG Liars Think of the Show?

"There's a new fresh take on it,” Hale told E! News during the red carpet premiere of the show in July 2022. “There’s enough familiarity where the original fans will love with it, but it’s scary, and it’s really dark.”

Credit: HBO Max

A Potential Crossover

“I guess it does,” Aguirre-Sacasa told TVLine in August 2022 about the three shows overlapping in the narrative. “We kind of just wrote that line in. I assumed that we wouldn’t be allowed to reference Riverdale, since it’s in a completely different universe, but it stayed in. So, yeah, I guess it does exist in the same universe."

He added: "I don’t even know how far we’d be allowed to push the shared universes. It would great, though, that’s for sure.”