As Pretty Little Liars prepares for the launch of its final 10 episodes on April 18, they promoted the final season as part of Paleyfest LA on March 25. The event consisted of a panel discussion where many season 7B spoilers were teased, an exclusive look at the first minute of the season, and audience Q&A. Cast members Janel Parrish (Mona Vanderwaal), Andrea Parker (Mrs. DiLaurentis (Alison’s Mom)/Mary Drake(Alison’s Aunt, Charlotte/Charles/Cece’s mom)/and now Spencer’s Mom??? I know it’s confusing), Tyler Blackburn (Caleb Rivers), Ian Harding (Ezra Fitz), Shay Mitchell (Emily Fields), Ashley Benson (Hannah Marin), Sasha Pieterse (Alison DiLaurentis), executive producer and showrunner I. Marlene King, and writer, producer, director Joseph Dougherty all attended for the ultimate PLL fan experience.
Lucy Hale and Troian Bellisario were not there but sent in video messages with their apologies and thanked the cast and fans. Keegan Allen also wasn’t there and didn’t give a video thank you so yes, I am a little bit salty.
SPOILERS AHEAD:
The first minute of Season 7B PLL End Game: The clip begins with Spencer in an ambulance receiving oxygen after being shot and told that Mary Drake is her mother in the final seconds of season 7A. The male paramedic is telling her to keep breathing. He asks her to talk to him like they are friends and asks what her name is. Spencer answers and the nurse asks what her last name is. She is going in and out of consciousness (probably because this medic keeps taking off her oxygen mask). Spencer can’t answer him so he moves on to ask her what her mom’s name is, which of course she doesn’t know because Mary Drake just told her that she is her mom and pretty much her whole life is a lie. Then Spencer loses consciousness again so the medic puts the oxygen mask back on her (finally). The scene then flips to Emily, Hannah, Alison, and Aria running into the hospital to meet Spencer. They stand there talking about what just went down in that creepy house where Jenna almost killed them all and someone was beheaded. Per usual they all throw out their own theories on who is conspiring with who but never actually come to a solid conclusion about who AD might be. Their conversation is interrupted by the hospital floor doors flying open and Toby rolling in on a gurney with bandages around his head. So yeah, in true PLL fashion, a one minute clip fails to answer any questions you had before, while simultaneously adding at least 100 new questions to answer. But apparently all questions will be answered by the end of this season… we’ll see.
After the exclusive clip played, the moderator moved the conversation onto a panel discussion with the cast.
That Haleb sex scene was not as romantic as it looked on TV. Benson added that is was so hot next to the fireplace the crew brought in a fan to keep them cool. Also can you imagine filming a scene like that with dozens of crew members standing around watching? Blackburn said to ease the pressure of all the onlookers, he grabbed the aux cord and played music from his phone while they filmed.
As for Ezria, Harding noted that Ezra is stuck between a rock and a place now that his former flame Nicole who he thought was dead is actually alive (you know typical PLL stuff). Does he end things with Aria to be with Nicole, or stay with Aria who he has so much history with? But we’ll have to wait for the new season for that.
At the end of season 7A it was revealed that Alison is pregnant, but who is the father? Pieterse and Dougherty said we’ll have to wait until the new season but that it will definitely be answered.
Marlene King revealed that the 2 hour series finale was written like a movie and will include as many answers as it can as a thank you to the fans for sticking with them for 7 long years. But, as always it will have some major twists.
We also learned some interesting twists that happened during casting. Pieterse originally auditioned for the role of Hannah but after reading the script for Alison she absolutely fell in love and the producers loved her too. So fans could get the whole effect, Paleyfest had Pieterse read a scene as Hannah with Parrish as Mona. It was so weird to hear lines I remembered from Hannah coming from what I know as Alison’s voice but she did a great job. Also, can we acknowledge that she was only 12 when she filmed the pilot episode! When I was 12 I had wore bermuda shorts everyday and thought glitter ballet flats were cool, aka not booking the biggest tv role of my life.
In another shocking casting secret, King shared that Mitchell was not her first choice to play Emily. She said they flew in Mitchell and one other Canadian actress to read for the role, but she had already told the producers who she liked more. After Mitchel read the part, King had a change of heart and knew she couldn’t pass Mitchell up for this role. Benson was also on the lot that same day and remembers seeing Mitchell leave the casting room wearing a classic Emily polo shirt, and she predicted Mitchell would get the role. Thus ButtahBenzo was born! But actually not, because Mitchell and Benson revealed later that their close friendship didn’t really start until after season 2! To commemorate their iconic friendship, the two read a scene playing the opposite rolls, Mitchell as Hannah and Benson as Emily. Again, it was weird hearing their voices as other parts but also really funny because they put their own spin on it.
In one last scene reading before audience questions, Blackburn read for Spencer and Harding read for Aria, as you can imagine it was hilarious. Paleyfest is releasing clips from the panel later this month on Hulu so hopefully this will be one of them.
Then it was time for audience questions. From being at Paleyfest last year, I knew this was going to be part of the panel so I came with some questions prepared. So as soon as the moderator opened it up to the audience my hand shot straight into the air. Then next thing I know he is pointing at me and someone handed me a mic and the entire PLL cast is staring at me and I can see the back of my head on the big screen behind them. I’m just praying that I can remember how to speak English let alone ask a good question. Also, in the midst of all of this Shay Mitchell is snapchatting and you can hear me in the background like whhaattttt. Honestly it is some miracle that I was able to ask a complete question like I am too shy to even raise my hand in class. I asked the cast what their most embarrassing moment on set was and King said ‘Oh this is a question for Ian’. So he shared this hilarious story about one time when Lucy Hale had to wear pasties for a scene. He said for some reason he thought it would be really funny to take a set of the pasties and put them on his eyes, not realizing how sticky they were. They got stuck on his eyes and required multiple people to pull them off. “Ian has pasties stuck on his eyes,” Harding remembers crew members saying into the walkie talkie system on set.
If anyone needs me on April 18, I will be in my room eagerly awaiting the final season of Pretty Little Liars in the hopes of at least one of the many unanswered questions finally coming to a conclusion.