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The show’s core cast tells THR why their dream series ending doesn’t “leave room for three movies and a sequel,” plus creator Marlene King reacts to their devastating and morbid ideas.
After six seasons of Pretty Little Liars fake-outs and twists surrounding “A,” the cast is ready to go out with a bang.
“I want it to end really tragically. I want it to be a tragic story and I want people to be devastated,” star Lucy Hale told The Hollywood Reporter. “I look back at all of my favorite shows that ended and I felt so connected emotionally to it, and you still talk about it years later. I want it to be a show and an ending where people talk about it for a really long time.”
Co-star Ashley Benson echoed her sentiment, adding, “It would be really cool if we all died. It would be the most epic ending ever. I think it would break the fans’ hearts … every time a main character dies [on TV], you’re devastated.”
Even though fellow leading lady Shay Mitchell first floated the idea of seeing the Liars in their 40s and 50s once her character, Emily, is “married to her partner with a bunch of kids, like Brangelina,” she quickly turned it into a more morbid ending.
“You guys all die tragically and Emily just lives happily ever after with her partner,” she joked, to which Troian Bellisario added, “It’s just Emily laying flowers down on all our graves, like, ‘See you next year, bitches!’”
Benson then took it further with a killer twist. “Then she turns around, takes the mask off, and it’s Emily who she killed everyone,” she suggested.
Only one person would survive the wreckage in this case — Alison. Well, kind of. “Emily would keep Alison’s body, taxidermy style,” Mitchell explained. “She kills everyone else, puts flowers down, then comes back to her house and Alison is in a fridge. She just stares at her. The end.”
When THR spoke with King about the cast’s proposed ending, she wasn’t so keen on the idea.
“I think it’s funny,” she said with a laugh. “They say that, but I think they would be devastated if any of their characters died. They may not realize it, but ending a show is one thing. Ending a character’s life after so many years of being invested, I think would be tragic for them. They all want to be the new Big Bad, too.”
Joking aside, Bellisario pointed out that a clean break is what the cast needs from the show when it ultimately ends.
“I feel like what we’re going to end up doing is some sort of wonderful, the five of us hold hands and turn toward a bright future. And it’s like open for three movies and a sequel. And no, it really should be something tragic,” she explained. “The fans will probably hate us for saying this, but it will at least be final so you don’t wonder what kind of 50-year-old would Emily be? It would be cool to see that, but at the same time, even if I see these girls when they’re 100 and they’re still hanging out together, I’d be like, “But what happened when they were 72?!’”
Pretty Little Liars airs on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on Freeform.
Pretty Little Liars
