INTERVIEW: 'Pretty Little Liars' Cast Spill On Fan Theories, Upcoming Musical Number
By James Dinh & Nicole Mastrogiannis
May 9, 2017
After more than seven years, "Pretty Little Liars" will go dark on the unpredictable town of Rosewood once and for all when the identity of Uber A, the mysterious tormenting villain, is unveiled and the finale airs in June. As the most-watch series on ABC Family, the program's former home before transitioning to Freeform, the show has become more than just the television adaptation of Sara Shepard's novels of the same name and revolutionized the way we think of teenage thrillers in 2017.
For the cast — Troian Bellisario, Ashley Benson, Lucy Hale, Shay Mitchell and Sasha Pieterse —, it's a pivotal conclusion to their adolescent years and a bittersweet ending to the bonafide phenomenon that has had millions guessing the face of the hooded antagonist. Prior to the season 7B premiere, all five castmates took to iHeartRadio HQ in New York City to discuss the upcoming reveal and what viewers can expect from our remaining time with Aria Montgomery, Emily Fields, Hanna Marin, Spencer Hastings and Alison DiLaurentis.
"In the nature of our show, we sort of, for the most part, found out along with everyone else," Lucy said of learning the identity of Uber A. "They tried to keep things really secretive, so it was fun for us to finally figure it out as well."
In the years since the show's debut in 2010, "Pretty Little Liars" has spawned a number of fan theories as to the true identities behind the characters' torturers, but as we make our way through the final 10 episodes of this last installment in the series, it's only necessary to eliminate the bogus theories about A.D. that has the depth of the Internet going wild.
Asked about their favorite (incorrect) fan theory running throughout the blogosphere, Troian was quick to point out that any ideas that the parents are behind the hooded villain's tactic are just wrong. "It would really be a not great way to end the show, but also what a horrible world for these girls to live in, where their parents all hate them and are trying to torture them. That would just be the worst," she said, before Lucy described it as "a lackluster way" to wrap things up.
Despite the non-stop deaths, illicit love triangles and scheming antics that "Pretty Little Liars" offered us during its seven year run, Shay insisted that everything we've witnessed is an actual reality for our five friends and not some imaginary scenario devised by the committed inside of Radley Sanitarium.
"People would be so upset. They would be so mad," Lucy said of that thoery. "I really wanted [the camera] to pull out and it was in a snow globe, but it was actually Spencer that was in a mental institution and all of the girls were her friends and or doctors and she was not friends with them. She just really wanted to be," Troian explained.
On their quest to finding out the identity of Uber A, along with the answer to every question their "PLL"-loving hearts have ever wondered, fans will also be treated to a musical number. That's right! The liars are getting musical -- and we're not just talking about dancing to Ariana Grande. It's been teased that this very last season will include a musical number. The girls teased of the scene that "it's a lot of Jackson 5 covers" and "it's got a really cool modern twist to it."
"It's always super fun when you get to give everybody who was creative on 'Pretty Little Liars,' like not necessarily in front of the cameras, but the costume department and the set designers ... when you gave them a huge task, like the black and white episode," Troian says of filming the special episode. "The musical was something like that, because when I walked onto that set and you saw what they could do when they didn't just have to make, like, Hanna's new apartment in New York, or Spencer's extra great room off the great room. It's really cool when they got to let their imagination run."
While the cast wouldn't exactly say who is in the musical number, Lucy confessed, "There is someone else singing and they did a very good job. It was just fun to do something a little bit different, and we had choreographers. I really tore up that dance floor."
"Pretty Little Lairs" airs every Tuesday night at 8 PM EST on Freeform. Click here for a "Uber" playlist with prominent songs handpicked by the cast themselves and featured throughout the show.
Photo: Katherine Tyler for iHeartRadio