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Ahead of the '5 Years Forward' special, catch up on where things left off before the time jump and what to expect in the winter premiere.
It’s off to the races again in Rosewood, and when Pretty Little Liars returns for the second half of season six in January, they’ll be battling a bigger and badder villain than ever before.
After years of being tormented by “A,” it seemed like the Liars were finally about to catch a break when the latest mastermind behind the terror, Charles DiLaurentis — aka CeCe Drake (Vanessa Ray) — declared “game over,” but in a short glimpse at a time jump five years later, someone else was threatening the group.
Even though viewers were just given a sneak peek at where the girls are post-college, Tuesday's new special, Pretty Little Liars: 5 Years Forward, will offer some more teases from creator I. Marlene King and the cast about what’s to come.
Below, The Hollywood Reporter offers a primer on what to remember from before the jump, and all of the intel thus far about what’s to come in 6B.
Alison DiLaurentis (Sasha Pieterse)
Alison was seen scrawling a new name on an English classroom’s chalkboard in the midseason finale, but her married life as Mrs. Rollins won’t be explored right away. In the first four minutes of 6B, she is just seen talking to psychologist Dr. Rollins (Huw Collins) about her sister Charlotte’s court date, but Pieterse told MTV that their love story will be explored throughout the season. In addition to graduating from college at Hollis and becoming a teacher, most of her time has been spent helping her sister, Charlotte, and eventually trying to get the girls to help the DiLaurentis family with the messy court case.
Aria Montgomery (Lucy Hale)
After Aria and Ezra (Ian Harding) split in season five, there were still a lot of residual feelings, but in the five years between 6A and 6B, they don’t get back together. Hale told People that Aria has moved on to a new relationship and is “very happy and in love." Professionally, she wrote and published a book, called A Majority of None, and is in the middle of promoting it when she is reminded of Ezra. Clips of the second half of the season show them re-connecting and working together in some capacity — including needing to delete some sketchy security footage of Aria — and then him freaking out and screaming at all the Liars.
Hanna Marin (Ashley Benson)
Hanna is engaged — and not to longtime love Caleb Rivers (Tyler Blackburn). She was wearing a ring when she rushed into the classroom in the 6A finale, and is seen kissing her fiance in clips from the upcoming season. She is now a seasoned world traveler after joining the fashion world — even seen flying first class in the 6B premiere — and revealed at New York Comic-Con that her fashionista life is “like The Devil Wears Prada.”
Troian Bellisario (Spencer Hastings)
Spencer hit the ground running in D.C. politics and it’s actually all in the family — her mom, Veronica (Lesley Fera) is running for Senate. Although Spencer and Toby (Keegan Allen) didn’t officially break up in season six, their long-distance relationship may not have lasted over five years. Bellisario told People that things are “different” for them now, and in clips from 6B, she’s spending a lot of time with Hanna’s ex, Caleb, but also seen talking to Toby. It could go either way.
Emily Fields (Shay Mitchell)
Emily is single in 6B, but she may have rekindled an old flame during her college days. “We always spoke about Emily wanting to go to California, and Paige left and went to California so that could be maybe a little reason,” Mitchell teased at NYCC about Emily’s enrollment in Pepperdine University. In 6B promos, she is bartending at a surf-themed bar, so it’s unclear what she studied.
Pretty Little Liars: 5 Years Forward airs on Tuesday at 8 p.m. on ABC Family. New episodes then premiere on Tuesday, Jan. 12 at 8 p.m.
Pretty Little Liars
