Shippers know what they want, and they are not afraid to vocalize it! TV fans often come for story lines and stick around for romances — especially when those relationships become ship-worthy.
When viewers fervently root for a couple on a television show, they are deemed shippers. Whether their social media campaigns affect the trajectory of a series is up for debate, but their remarks rarely go unheard, given the sheer magnitude of their reach.
All the adoration sometimes comes with backlash, though. Sasha Pieterse dealt with just that in April 2019 when fans accused her of lying about her character Alison DiLaurentis’ status with Emily Fields (Shay Mitchell) on Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists. “I’m choosing to believe [showrunner I. Marlene King’s] beautiful storytelling and thought process. I’m not writing the show but I am playing Ali the best I know how with those intentions,” she tweeted at the time. “Also, all of our ships on PLL had happy endings but not without trouble in between. This is a continuation of Ali & Em so there’s always more to this story.”
Viewers learned during season 1 of the Pretty Little Liars spinoff that Emily and Alison were going through a divorce. King admitted in February 2019 that some viewers would likely be disappointed by the development. “We wanted to make sure that we dealt with that story line in a truthful way, regarding their history and where we last left them,” she told Us Weekly. “It’s a story line that Alison embraces over several episodes. … Sasha and I talked about how important it was to stay true to where we left them and where they’re going to go. Some fans won’t be happy with us but I think most will be.”
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