Pretty Little Liars EP on the ‘Badass’ Season Finale, Caleb’s Return to Rosewood and More
Pretty Little Liars mastermind Marlene King tells TVLine that Tuesday’s episode (8/7c, ABC Family) is the “biggest” and “most secretive” season finale in the show’s history — and she’s not exaggerating.
RELATED | Tyler Blackburn Returning to Pretty Little Liars in Season 5 as Series Regular
Among other things, Tuesday’s finale will finally reveal who buried Alison’s body and what really went on between Ali and Ezra; but the finale isn’t the only thing on King’s mind.
Keep scrolling for her thoughts on Caleb’s return to Rosewood, the show’s next possible death and how/when she’ll decide to “pull the plug” on Pretty Little Liars altogether.
TVLINE | Let’s start with that scene where Hanna’s holding the gun. Is that how the episode ends?
I can’t tell you if that’s the last scene, because that might be too big a spoiler, but I love that scene. It took us a whole day to shoot it, and we were like, “This is PLL: the action movie.” … We loved seeing Hanna with a gun in her hand because, of course, Ashley [Benson] did a lot of gun wielding in Spring Breakers. So we were like, “Let’s give Hanna the gun.” And when Spencer screams, “Take off your mask!” and they all scream, “Now!” I was like, “OK, you guys are so badass.” I love it.
TVLINE | One of the bigger mysteries is who tried to kill Ali. Will we find that out in the finale?
We definitely explore that in the finale, and part of it may be a question we’ll still need to answer. But what you do find out in the finale is who buried Ali.
TVLINE | What about crazy Mrs. D? What role will she play in the finale?
We find out pretty early on that word is spreading in Rosewood that Alison DiLaurentis is alive. The police know that and Mrs. D will soon find that out. You’ll find out a lot. She’s a part of what happened the night Ali went missing as well as the the present-day story.
TVLINE | Judging by Alison’s clothes in the promo shots with Ezra, it looks like their scenes will take place the night she disappeared. True?
Yes, that’s always a giveaway. Thank God for that yellow top! We’ve made, like, 20 of those tops because you can’t buy them anymore. I think we have 20 of them now, but we’ve gone through several dozen, I’m sure.
TVLINE | And will we learn anything new about Ali and Ezra’s relationship?
Oh yes. The girls have really only been speculating on what that relationship was from the manuscript and the clues Alison left behind. The finale will reveal how and where they met, and what their relationship really was. … There’s something that happens when they meet that makes it very interesting. You may be surprised by who the hunter was and who the hunted was.
TVLINE | Another relationship, Emily and Paige’s, was left hanging. Will there be any resolution?
The last we saw the girls, they were on their way to Philadelphia to see Ali, and they don’t make it back to Rosewood in the finale. So those emotional stories involving the girls’ boyfriends and girlfriends are put on hold for a bit.
TVLINE | Does that mean the girls will see Noel in Philly as well?
Well, even though the girls are in Philadelphia, Alison does recount a lot about what happened the night she went missing and that story is told in Rosewood. So he could be in either place.
TVLINE | I understand Melissa appears in the finale. Will that be in a flashback or present day?
Both! Melissa comes home from London [and she’s in flashbacks.]
TVLINE | Speaking of people coming home, it was recently confirmed that Caleb will be back in Season 5. Was that a no-brainer for you?
Yes, we’re so happy to welcome him home. We were very sad about the loss of Ravenswood, but we always knew we wanted him back in our world if that show went away.
TVLINE | Any chance you’ll use PLL to answer some of the lingering questions from the Ravenswood finale?
We’re talking about that, yes. We haven’t gotten that far yet, but we’re certainly talking about taking advantage of that opportunity.
TVLINE | I imagine Caleb can’t just come back and say, ‘Hey guys, nothing happened in Ravenswood.’
Yeah, he comes back a very changed person. He lived 10 episodes of life-and-death stakes in Ravenswood, and he made some great friends there, too.
TVLINE | How might his return affect Hanna’s relationships with other guys like, say, Travis?
Well, I love Hanna and Caleb together, and I think their last moment in Ravenswood really summed up where they were at the time. It was so bittersweet, that lovely kiss. They knew they couldn’t be together then, but that was then.
TVLINE | The finale is episode 95. Has it sunk in that you’re about to hit 100?
Well, we’re breaking episode 100 right now. I’m going to write that one. We’re having a lot of fun with it, deciding which stories to hit and what to tell. It’s not a premiere or a finale, but we still want it to feel like a very special episode.
TVLINE | Can you say whether the Season 5 premiere picks up right where the finale ends?
Actually, I can. It’s very much a two-parter. The summer premiere feels like part of the finale. Both episodes are big and bold, and while our premieres usually are, they feel like the beginning of something, but the Season 5 premiere feels like a finale, we’re having so much fun with it.
TVLINE | Will any lives be hanging in the balance between episodes? Any possible deaths?
Yes… I think. You really don’t want to live in Rosewood. You’re not going to stick around for too long.
TVLINE | Speaking of sticking around, no ABC Family show has gone beyond five seasons. Do you have an idea in mind for how/when Pretty Little Liars might end?
We know the ending of the show, and it’s not in Season 5. I know the show does not end in Season 5, even though we don’t have a Season 6 pickup. The end of Season 5 definitely launches us into a Season 6. I think, as soon as they tell us [the end date], we will write to that. We know the ending and we’re prepared to get there, but we need a 12-episode notice to get there.
TVLINE | I’m sure they’d give you, like, six more seasons if you asked for them.
Well, we want to go out with the show maintaining its integrity and staying smart, and so far, we feel we’re still accomplishing that goal. When it feels like we’re not doing that anymore, that’s when I think it’ll be time to pull the plug.
Pretty Little Liars fans, let’s talk: Who do you think buried Ali’s body? Are you excited about Caleb’s return? Drop a comment with your thoughts on Marlene King’s latest teases below.
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I’m actually disappointed that Season 5 isn’t the final one. They’ve dragged out the A mystery for too long. It should have been wrapped up much earlier and the show should have moved on to other stories. Fans watch the show mostly for the characters, not the endless, unanswered mysteries. 48 more episodes of PLL is too much. If there is going to be a sixth season, please don’t do more than 12 episodes. Wrap it up in Summer 2015 and move on.
I have to disagree with you
^^ keep it coming!!
I agree. The Ali storyline should have completely wrapped up by the latest last season and they should have moved on to different stories, new mysteries, new villains, etc.
I agree they should’ve wraped up the “A” story ASAP and move on to a new college story or something. It’s about time!
Agreed. If they continue to be in senior year during season 5, I’ll flip. They’ve been in senior year for all of seasons 3 and 4, and it makes no logical sense. Too much has happened in those seasons for it to have all fitted in the September-June period.
All of you are complaining…. Haha. Don’t watch the show if you hate it…
Whenever I see an interview with a PLL exec, my eyes cross and all the words change into the letters ‘B’ and ‘S’.
AMEN!
Agreed. Just like her show, Marlene King is a pretty little liar.
And the promo tells everything.
The girls will hold A at gunpoint but A will jump off and magically disappeared and we’ll all end up frustrated not knowing.
ABC, I know this is like your best teen show right now but please set an end date.
The idea that MK needs 12eps notice to write a series finale proves that she’s clueless as hell.
My friend Morgan had a really good idea that really bothered me. He said that -A will take the mask off, but not show -A, they will only show the girls gasping and leaving us hanging until the summer premier. I know it is going to bed true, that is why it bothered me.
I agree its the last thing I read all we get from show and this crape is constant bs runarounds. The truth is nothing ever stays in what we read yeah really Ezra is A mona is A constant bs
“…we want to go out with the show maintaining its integrity and staying smart.”
hAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhA
LOL that had me laughing too.
Couldn’t agree more. That ship sailed about 10 episodes in.
Was thinking the EXACT same thing!
Honestly, I can’t understand why they don’t just wrap up this A/Allison storyline and move to a whole new, fresh murder storyline. I’d be more inclined to stick with it.
I bet A isn’t revealed, and kills Mona, and thats what they investigate. I hope Ali doesn’t stick around though. Send her away, she’s so toxic. Wait, could Ali be A??
“we want to go out with the show maintaining its integrity and staying smart, and so far, we feel we’re still accomplishing that goal.”
lol okay. this show hasn’t been smart since season two.
I swear thats true,season 2 wus epic i havent felt anything like that ever since..i mean the Mona being A theory wus unexpected,i loved it..am just hoping they give us the bomb like that,i pray it wunt be any obvious..A should be someone that we dnt expect him/her to be
Well, has this show ever truly been smart? It’s a guilty pleasure. It’s clever eye candy. You can’t take it too seriously, just enjoy it for what it is. I still think it’s fun to watch, but I would really like for them to give us answers at a more rapid pace, rather than constantly introducing new questions. We still don’t know who Red Coat is and they made such a big deal about that last season. They totally dropped it for ‘Who’s Ali hiding from?/Ezra is a big creep’ this season. I hope they give us something in the finale, like an actual member of the A team and not another fake-out. I knew that both Toby and Ezra were not A.
Well, the Red Coat identity has been revealed in the season 4 summer finale.
All I hope is that they don’t miscalculate and get cancelled without a resolution.
That would be the make fans go crazy!?!
It’s the number one show on ABC Family. It basically made ABC Family what it is. It will not be cancelled without resolution. I’d stake my life on that.
They need to bring Lying Game. It was so much better than this sh•t show
I agree! Bring “The Lying Game” back
Interviews with this woman are pointless. All she and her creating partners do is lie (Lol I know it’s called Pretty Little Liars, but still). This isn’t the first time she’s said these similar things in pre-finale interviews about secrets and plot holes finally being revealed. Watch how probably more than half the stuff she says will turn out to be very minor revelations and very underwhelming and barely moving the storyline forward an inch. I’ll believe what she says after I’ve seen it.
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“We definitely explore that in the finale” –> How much more exploring do you need to do? Maybe it’s because she doesn’t have a clue who tried to kill her and they’re going to pull a Gossip Girl or something and once they find out the show is getting cancelled, they’ll have to make up someone at the last minute and end up rushing through things.
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The interviewer should have asked her: “Do YOU know who tried to kill Ali?”….I would love to read her answer to that question.
She said that she knows how the show will end so, unless you assume she’s completely lying, it’s obvious she knows what happened to Ali that fateful night, you know, THE event on which the whole story is based ?
Just because the story based on that event doesn’t mean that she has a clue who tried to kill her and isn’t just making it up as she goes along. And the fact that in four seasons they’ve dragged things out endlessly with barely any progress other than going around in circles over and over with a new “A” each half season with more and more questions doesn’t inspire confidence in their storytelling.
I do like the show, as far as it has gone. If a season six is coming, I’d defenately would like to see (part of) the cast from Ravenswood to enter PLL. That could give some new input in the ongoing storyline, which effects Hannah. Besides that, there is much to explore from the ”mental hospital” where both Mona and Spencer were at. As Mrs. D is on the board, it could even be usefull to ”admit” another PLL-member.
I’m not sure if the ”Fear of A” would be the right angle for the oncoming seasons, but hey – I’m open to everything. I like the twists as long as their consistent!
“We want to go out with the show maintaining its integrity and staying smart.”
You’re about 4 seasons too late for that.
I enjoy the show but it has just drug on & on. It’s time to wrap things up.
Maybe we could learn something of what happened in Ravenswood and how that mystery was actually resolved through flashbacks in Caleb’s head / dreams he has? Since he can’t exactly tell his friends about the supernatural aspects of the time he was gone? All this is definitely going to affect where Caleb’s head is when he returns home.
They NEED an end date so they can wrap up everything. Plus, has anyone asked them about the finale script that got leaked a while back?? It looks pretty spot on, and they act like its new to everyone, when lots of people already know what happens, if its to be believed.
oh nice active movies! n gud much….,..
I doubt there’s a person on this earth who can keep track of this show’s plot. It makes Twin Peaks look like an episode of Columbo.
Yeah, it’s become way too convoluted. Personally, I’m sick off all the red herring “A”s that they’ve thrown our way. Although it’s been said otherwise, it feels like the showrunners are flying by the seat of their pants; there just doesn’t seem to be any tight focus to the stories or the character interactions(characters being gone for months on end then just popping up outta nowhere has gotten old too).
“Well, we want to go out with the show maintaining its integrity and staying smart, and so far, we feel we’re still accomplishing that goal.” That’s a lie Marlene!!! The show hasn’t been smart since season 2 mid season
I agree they have drawn the A mystery too long. Just tell me Ali has a twin already. (Sorry, book spoiler.) I love this show so i’ll be excited for more seasons.
Is anyone surprised though, no answers in the interview at all.
End the show already! I love this show, but i NEED peace! The fact that they are carrying it out longer than it needs to be is sooo annoying! *face palm*
How can anyone say season 2 was smarter than the newer seasons? And another thing this show is kinda easy to follow along if you watch all the episodes in a week or twos time. Its kinda obvious who trjed to kill alison. It was the black widow and there are only 3 suspects for her. Alison may be a to the point that she is trying to find out who killed her. One thing i cant figure out though is who wanted the n.a.t. to record people. That would probably be the black widow but of course i cant be certain. I have a feeling ezra is the black hoodie held at gunpoint and its quite obvoius now.that ive seen the script who was burying her. I actaually sat down one night and put together an amazing tbeory for this show as well as the n.a.t. Club. If anyone wants to hear it let me know.
i would like to know your theory
Me too!
This show has had so many questions and not enough answers. I personally can’t remember what we’ve learned from the past seasons. Can we have a post with all the questions and the answers (the few we’ve gotten) please?
Hey I am interested in hearing your theory! I fo agree that who ever is the black widow is indeed the head bitch of The a team lol. She runs it all. I wonder if ezra is on her payroll because he is the black hoodie dude and hes also invovled in things happening. But he then says to aria he was writing a story about her? Um is he helping them or misleading the liars?! In the beginning he seemed normal but now he is looking creepier then ever. He has something on mona that she cant escape him. Usually she has a mouth to shut people up but with ezra shes just giving in. I see a different side of mona.
I would love to hear your theory!!!
I cant really tell my theory in a short version so hear i go.my theory is that paige mccullers was a patient at radley at the same time tobys mother was. I think paige was up on the roof the night marion fell but she didnt push her off it was just an accident. Allisons mom being on tbe board of trustees she knew paige had a history with allison but she didnt want paige to be held accountable because she wasnt at fault. All the while paige was having the n.a.t. club spy on allison because paige is A. someone else in the club was filmjng allison and ian making out and then the kissing rock turns out to be near radley so they see marion fall of the building not knowing paige was up there at the same time. So they caught it on film and mrs dilaurentis blackmailed detective wilden to sign on the report. I believe paige is the black widow and that is why she was at wildens funeral paying respects because he saved her from being prosecuted. The night ali disappeared i believe paige escaped radley and went and attacked allison withe tbe shovel and mrs dilaurentis was so shocked that she couldnt do nothing but bury her daughter. Actually that is the short version lol
So wpuld that mean that redcpat is mrs. D since she was “gone” she was still in town wen no one knew checking up on rosewood? Or is the redcoat the other blonde chick that was on the boat with ali n ian n wildin?!
Not sure about that theory since Lindsay Shaw (Paige) is doing suburgatory and probably won’t be back. Although I am a Paige Fan and would disagree with you, it honestly makes no since. Why don’t you check on Wren since for a fact his father was in an institutional and there are more connections with him being A since..I don’t know the body of A in the mask chasing the girls is def not a girl! Also Main A has lots of money, connections to when’s medical pads, likes scotch, etc. hmmmmm
Toby’s mom was already dead when they filmed the first Halloween episode. Toby and Emily discuss how she had already been dead for a year because Toby’s dad was marrying Jenna’s mom.
I am a total junkie for this show I would love to see a season 6 and far on but I am all out of ideas and guesses I am ready for the reveal of Allison’s killer I know Ezra has more to do with it and I believe is Allison has a twin I can’t for the finale
I believe she has a twin also but I.also believe aria father had something to do with it can’t wait for the finale
I also believe that Aria’s dad, Byron Montgomery, has somethng to do with it also. I almost think that it is him on the rooftop in the mask…especially since in the promo Ali was apologizing to Aria and Aira did not know what the apology was for.
Me too. This show has so many different things going on that unless you watch the show from the beginning to now its hard to put anything together. The creators already said they put the twin theory to rest.
I watched from the beginning, but I still can’t remember lol! I’m a tv junkie, so keeping storylines and names straight is becoming way too hard.
I love TV too and with most shows I watch, while I may not remember small details or each and every episodes until I watch them again, I usually remember overall story arcs and the major storylines of each season. With this show, I barely remember a single thing that happened in the first two seasons. The story is so messed up into a gigantic web of unanswered questions and with so many new storylines and plot points that they keep bringing in that kinda make you forget the questions you had from previous seasons.
#Truth
Also i only revealed one thing i saw from the script. I didnt see the whole thing just a couple main factors but im sure there is more to the story and i didnt make it obvious what part it was. That would be wrong.
I know that this show is like ABC Family’s “golden child” but it really needs to wrap up soon. I dont think that it needs to go on past season 5, PLL stopped making sense a while back and has been dragging since. The amount of times I roll my eyes when watching an episode lately, I am afriad they might actually roll back permanently and stay like that. If they are thing of doing more season then I suggest they wrap the who A is and who tried to kill Ali in season 5 and move on to other storylines in season 6. I don’t they could maybe go to college and open an investigation agency and work cases part-time.
So, senior years drags on for over two seasons now? Come on, even Glee is jumping forward. Are they ever gonna graduate?