The new spinoff to Marlene King’s iconic Pretty Little Liars has finally made it to TV. The first episode aired on Wednesday, Mar. 20 on Freeform.
Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists is based on another book series by Sara Shepard. It brings in a new cast, most notably The Descendants’ Sofia Carson and The Walking Dead’s Sydney Park. The only characters that remain from the original show are Alison DiLaurentis and Mona Vanderwaal, still played by their original actresses (Sasha Pieterse and Janel Parrish).
In the new show, the “liars” have turned into “perfectionists” aging from high school students to college students. The original characters are now adults.
The story starts with Alison DiLaurentis starting her new job as a TA at Beacon Heights University in Oregon. She coincidentally runs into Mona Vanderwaal, who is also suspiciously working at the same college as Alison.
The new cast consists of the three perfectionists, Ava Jalali (Sofia), Caitlin Park-Lewis (Sydney), and Dylan Walker (Eli Brown), who are all students attending Beacon Heights University. The school is filled with competition, hence the show title. The students find themselves caught up in a murderous drama, similar to what the OG liars went through.
When the first murder happens, Alison and Mona’s lives are turned upside down, as are the new characters.
Let’s meet the cast!
- Sasha Pieterse plays Alison DiLaurentis, a TA at Beacon Heights and hopes to become a professor at Hollis.
- Janel Parrish plays Mona Vanderwaal, who unexpectedly forms a bond with Alison.
- Sofia Carson plays Ava Jalali, a social media-savvy influencer/fashion designer/blogger who has a knack for hacking and coding.
- Sydney Park plays Caitlin Park-Lewis, a track star and aspiring governor who gets caught up in a love triangle with a rich boy named Nolan Hotchkiss.
- Eli Brown plays Dylan Walker, a gay cellist with many dark secrets.
- Graeme Thomas King plays Jeremy Beckett, a smart and charming yet mysterious boy.
- Hayley Erin plays a nameless character as for now.
- Chris Mason plays Nolan Hotchkiss.
- Kelly Rutherford plays Claire Hotchkiss, the founder of Hotchkiss Industries. She is an important figure a the university and puts a lot of pressure on her son Nolan.
- Klea Scott plays Dana.
Each episode following the first will premiere weekly, with a total number of ten episodes set to release.