49 Fun Facts About Pretty Little Liars

Which character disappears in the pilot episode, setting off the main mystery?

Alison DiLaurentis vanishes, and a year later her friends start receiving messages from 'A', who knows the secrets they gathered before and after the clique fell apart.

What is the name of the fictional town where Pretty Little Liars is primarily set?

Pretty Little Liars is set in Rosewood, a fictional suburb of Philadelphia; the novels' author modeled it on the Pennsylvania suburbs where she grew up.

Which of the four Pretty Little Liars meets Ezra Fitz in a bar, then discovers he is her new AP English teacher?

Aria Montgomery's secret relationship with her English teacher runs through the entire series.

Who is the first character unmasked as 'A' in Pretty Little Liars, Hanna's best friend, once bullied by Alison?

Mona Vanderwaal is the first 'A' in both the show and the books, using her intelligence to torment the group anonymously.

Which actress, cast in December 2009, plays Alison DiLaurentis, the manipulative queen bee of Pretty Little Liars?

Sasha Pieterse played Alison DiLaurentis across all seven seasons and was only 14 when the show premiered in 2010, younger than the four leads her character bossed around.

In what year did Pretty Little Liars first air?

Pretty Little Liars premiered on June 8, 2010; its pilot had been shot the previous December, and the series ran until June 2017.

How many seasons does the original Pretty Little Liars series have?

The original series ran seven seasons, from June 2010 to the finale on June 27, 2017; the spin-offs Ravenswood, The Perfectionists and Original Sin followed.

After being unmasked as "A", Mona is committed to which institution?

Mona is committed to Radley Sanitarium at the end of season 2 after being unmasked as 'A'; from inside Radley she keeps pulling strings and recruits new helpers.

In the Pretty Little Liars pilot, Aria returns to Rosewood after her family spent a year living in which Nordic country?

Iceland was the family's home for a year; back in Rosewood, Aria reconnects with her old friends and cannot readjust to the town's mediocrity.

The series was adapted from a novel sequence by which author?

Sara Shepard wrote the Pretty Little Liars novels, beginning with the first book in October 2006; she grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs that inspired Rosewood.

Which actress plays Spencer Hastings, the group's brains, from a wealthy family of lawyers?

Troian Bellisario played Spencer Hastings for all seven seasons; the daughter of NCIS and JAG creator Donald P. Bellisario, she also directed a season 7 episode.

What is the surname of Maya, Emily's first girlfriend in season 1?

Maya St. Germain moves into the old DiLaurentis house in the pilot and becomes Emily's first girlfriend; her murder, revealed in the season 2 finale, is later pinned on Lyndon James.

Which member of the group, described as the heart of the four, comes out as gay during the first season?

Emily Fields, played by Shay Mitchell, comes out during season 1 after falling for Maya; it was one of the earliest sustained coming-out arcs on the network.

Which Pretty Little Liars character, played by Ashley Benson, becomes Rosewood's new it girl and fashionista after Alison vanishes?

Hanna Marin is the fashionista of the group; Lucy Hale's Aria, by contrast, is written as the alternative one and an aspiring writer.

On which cable network did Pretty Little Liars air for all seven seasons?

Pretty Little Liars ran on ABC Family from June 2010 and stayed with the network through its January 2016 rebrand as Freeform, ending there in June 2017.

Who created and ran the TV series?

King also directed and co-wrote the two-hour series finale, and went on to create both Ravenswood and The Perfectionists.

How many episodes did the original series run in total?

The 160th and final episode aired on June 27, 2017, and was followed straight away by an 'A-List Wrap Party' special with the cast.

The pilot episode was filmed in December 2009 in which city?

The pilot was shot in Vancouver in December 2009; from the second episode production moved to Los Angeles, where Rosewood was built on the Warner Bros. backlot.

The opening theme 'Secret' was recorded by which sibling duo?

'Secret' is a 2007 song by sisters Allison and Catherine Pierce, The Pierces; a Denmark + Winter cover of it later opened the spin-off The Perfectionists.

In the series finale, who is finally unmasked as 'A.D.'?

The reveal of a British-accented twin nobody had heard of split the fandom, and remains one of the most debated finale twists in teen TV.

How does Toby work out which of the two identical twins is the real Spencer?

The poem came from a book Spencer had given him in the episode 'The DArkest Knight', which the twin who had impersonated her could not know.

In the Pretty Little Liars season 6 summer finale, 'Charles' is revealed to be which character, first seen back in season 3?

CeCe Drake had been played by Vanessa Ray since season 3, long before the character was rewritten as the show's 'Big A'.

Who is revealed to be Spencer's biological mother?

Mary was a Radley patient and the twin sister of Jessica DiLaurentis, which is why she could impersonate her so convincingly.

Midway through season 6 the story jumps forward how many years?

The jump came with a brand-new title sequence, the first change to the intro since the show began.

CeCe reveals that Sara Harvey was both the second Red Coat and which other masked figure?

The Black Widow had first appeared as a veiled mourner at Detective Wilden's funeral back in season 4.

Who confesses to burying Bethany Young, the girl found in Alison's grave?

Melissa believed she was covering up for her younger sister, thinking Spencer had struck the girl.

In the season 5 finale, 'A' hijacks the Liars' prison van and traps them where?

In 'Welcome to the Dollhouse', 'A' imprisons the Liars in an underground life-size dollhouse, where they find Mona alive, with blonde hair, being forced to play Alison.

In the final scene of the series, Mona is running a doll shop in which country?

The final scene finds Mona running a doll shop in Paris, France; the 'cop' who arrested Alex and Mary was her boyfriend, and both are now captives in Mona's own dollhouse.

In season 5, Toby Cavanaugh takes which job, straining his relationship with Spencer?

Toby joins the Rosewood police as an officer in season 5; Spencer wanted access to his case files while he tried to keep work and home separate, and they split again.

In the finale, which star is attached to the film adaptation of Aria's book?

The book was the one Aria and Ezra wrote together after the time jump, which had become a worldwide bestseller.

What are the names of Alison and Emily's twin daughters?

Emily and Alison's twin daughters are Lily and Grace, born in the series finale from eggs A.D. stole from Emily and implanted in Alison; Alison proposes to Emily in the same episode.

The spin-off The Perfectionists is set in Beacon Heights, a college town in which state?

Beacon Heights is a fictional college town in Oregon; The Perfectionists, loosely based on Sara Shepard's 2014 novel of the same name, lasted a single season in 2019.

Which two original characters returned as regulars in The Perfectionists?

Mona is the university's head of admissions and recruited Alison as a teaching assistant, freshly separated from Emily.

Which Rosewood character became a lead of the first spin-off, Ravenswood?

Tyler Blackburn also played Caleb's 1910s counterpart in flashbacks; the show was cancelled after one season and he returned to Rosewood.

The 2022 HBO Max series Original Sin was set in which fictional Pennsylvania town?

Original Sin is set in Millwood, Pennsylvania; it was the first show in the franchise not to air on ABC Family/Freeform, and was cancelled after two seasons on a cliffhanger.

Which Riverdale creator was showrunner of the 2022 revival, Original Sin?

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, creator of Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, ran Original Sin with Lindsay Calhoon Bring; its 'A' targets the daughters of women tied to a classmate's 1999 suicide.

In season 2, Ezra leaves Rosewood High to teach where?

Ezra takes a teaching post at Hollis College, where Aria's father Byron is a professor and where Ezra's ex-fiancée Jackie Molina also turns out to work.

Hanna's mother Ashley has an affair with which detective to make Hanna's shoplifting charge go away?

Wilden's later murder led to Ashley being arrested, with Spencer's mother Veronica Hastings acting as her defence attorney.

Emily is Rosewood High's star athlete in which sport?

Her rivalry with Paige McCullers, who took her spot in the pool during an injury, later turned into a relationship.

What is the name of Aria's younger brother, who later dates Mona?

Mike went through a break-in phase and a depression storyline before becoming one of the few people who knew Mona had faked her death.

In season 7, who is run over and killed by Hanna while trying to rescue Alison?

Elliott Rollins was really Archer Dunhill, a con man and Charlotte's lover who married Alison for revenge and her money; the Liars spent half the season covering up his death.

Which book-packaging company handed Sara Shepard the idea pitched as 'Desperate Housewives for teens'?

Alloy Entertainment, the book packager behind Gossip Girl and The Vampire Diaries, developed the concept and picked Sara Shepard to write it, partly because she grew up near Philadelphia.

The TV adaptation was first planned for which network before it shut down in 2006?

A pilot for ABC Family was eventually announced in June 2008 with I. Marlene King as showrunner.

Counting its two companion novels, how many books are in Sara Shepard's Pretty Little Liars series?

Sara Shepard's series runs to 18 books: 16 main novels, from Pretty Little Liars (2006) to Vicious (2014), plus the companions Pretty Little Secrets and Ali's Pretty Little Lies.

Which cast member suggested using The Pierces' song 'Secret' as the opening theme?

Michael Suby composed the score from the start, and a soundtrack album followed in February 2011.

Who replaced James Neate as Toby Cavanaugh after the pilot?

Keegan Allen took over Toby Cavanaugh from the second episode after James Neate played him in the pilot; Ryan Merriman likewise replaced Carlo Marks as Ian Thomas.

Which singer made Pretty Little Liars-themed videos for 'Til the Casket Drops' and 'Last Love Song'?

ZZ Ward's 'Til the Casket Drops' and 'Last Love Song' were given Pretty Little Liars-themed videos promoting the third and fifth seasons respectively.

How many viewers watched the series' highest-rated episode ever?

The season-one finale drew 3.64 million and the series finale an estimated 1.41 million.

The web series Pretty Dirty Secrets is set in what Rosewood location?

Pretty Dirty Secrets takes place in Rosewood's Halloween costume store and slots between the season-three episodes 'The Lady Killer' and 'This Is a Dark Ride'.