They've got a secret, but they can't keep it! Three years after Pretty Little Liars wrapped its seven-season run and a year after its second spinoff was canceled, Warner Bros. TV is looking to revive the franchise.
Riverdale showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is leading the charge on a new take on the former Freeform mega-hit. Everything is still in the very early stages but the new PLL is said to feature a new story and new characters, with Aguirre-Sacasa set to write the script. A network is not yet attached and the project has not yet been taken out to possible buyers, though the WarnerMedia-backed streamer HBO Max is considered to be the target destination for the potential series. This move would make sense because the streamer is currently rebooting another signature WBTV YA series, Gossip Girl, with new characters.
WarnerMedia considers PLL a legacy property & that's why a reboot is being explored. The original show ran for seven seasons and 160 episodes from 2010-2016. The show helped to define the former ABC Family and set the tone for the Disney-owned cable network's rebranding to Freeform under former president Tom Ascheim. Freeform attempted to launch two spinoffs out of the franchise — Pretty Little Liars: Ravenswood in 2014 and Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists in 2019 but each only lasted a single season. The young adult-focused mystery thriller aired across the globe and spawned a couple of local adaptations & the series was a star-maker and social media monster that helped to launch the careers of cast members including Lucy Hale, Tyler Blackburn, Shay Mitchell, and Ashley Benson among others.
The original Pretty Little Liars followed the lives of four high school girls whose clique falls apart after the disappearance of their leader. One year later, the estranged friends are reunited as they begin receiving messages from a mysterious figured named "A" who threatens to expose their deepest secrets. The show is loosely based on the novel series of the same name written by Sara Shepard.
The show only ended three years ago so it seems WAY TOO EARLY to reboot it but original ideas are scarce in the business so I'm not too surprised that this is being explored yet again. Are YOU interested in a reboot of Pretty Little Liars?