Pretty Little Liars is expanding its world this October when ABC Family debuts the Ravenswood spinoff.
Ravenswood centers on a town not far from Rosewood, Penn., which has suffered under a deadly curse for generations. Five strangers find themselves connected by this fatal curse and need to dig into the town's mysterious and terrible history before it's too late for all of them. But the offshoot will feature a familiar face in Pretty Little Liars regular Tyler Blackburn, who plays Caleb Rivers. (The other Ravenswood regulars include Brett Dier, Elizabeth Whitson, Nicole Gale Anderson, Britne Oldford and Merritt Patterson.)
For executive producer Marlene King, who will help oversee Pretty Little Liars and Ravenswood with EP Oliver Goldstick, it made the most sense for Caleb to be the one to make the jump to the spinoff. "It's been explored on the show that he doesn't really know that much about his past and about his parents," she tells The Hollywood Reporter. "Because of the nature of what Ravenswood will be, it felt like he was the best character to take us to that world and explore the mythology that we're going to explore."
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The town of Ravenswood — King describes it as "tonally" different from Rosewood — will be introduced in the seventh episode of the Pretty Little Liars' fourth season. "Toby (Keegan Allen) and Spencer (Troian Bellisario) will take us to Ravenswood," she says. "They will follow a clue that will take them [to the new town]."
But just how different will Ravenswood be from Rosewood?
"[It'll be] very different and you'll recognize how different it is right away," King hints. "As soon as [Toby and Spencer] go there, they understand. Spencer in the episode calls it 'Creepytown.' " She adds: "The people are different. It's a unique city, Ravenswood."
With two series living in the same universe, King teases that "eventually" Pretty Little Liars and Ravenswood will run on the same timeline.
Will you be tuning in?
Ravenswood debuts this October following the Pretty Little Liars' Halloween episode on ABC Family.
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