Can we get an “A”-men?! Because Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin is a guilty pleasure that perfectly moves the property into a scary new territory. We are most definitely not in Rosewood anymore.
Leaning harder into full-on horror than the suspenseful ABC Family-Freeform hit it’s sprung from and way less of the stylized camp we expect from creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Riverdale), Original Sin has a slight A24 vibe that totally works in establishing this as its own entity.
Obviously set in the same universe that gave us Aria, Emily, Spencer, Hanna and Alison, the town of Millwood is basically the upside-down of the first iteration’s glam Philly suburb. There are no fancy cupcake shops or high-end hotels. It’s a grungy, dimly lit, low-rent hamlet in Pennsylvania that looks and feels as dangerous as it is depressed. The clothes are marked-down casual instead of couture. And nobody is driving around in a fancy car. Still, Millwood’s high schoolers are just as trouble-prone as their PLL predecessors and the parents who are still in the picture have been lying to them for years.
Built around a tragedy that claimed a Millwood student 22 years ago, this PLL places the daughters of those involved—pregnant Imogen (Bailee Madison), aspiring filmmaker Tabby (Chandler Kinney), juvie alum and jock-ish Noa (Maia Reficco), internet denizen Mouse (Malia Pyles) and ballet hopeful Faran (Zaria)—in the crosshairs of a masked maniac known as “A” who knows all of their secrets. On top of that, the mismatched quintet also winds up on the wrong side of their school’s Queen B and her twin (Mallory Bechtel), as well as on the hook for crime that eerily echoes their folks’ past. These two complications fuel several twists within the first few episodes worthy of the O.G.’s ever-serpentine storylines.
And as you can see from our recent chat with Madison and Kinney, even though there’s mysteries a’plenty on tap for PLL‘s next chapter, the cast is already adept at dodging spoilers. Guess two can keep a secret even if one of them isn’t dead.
Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, Series Premiere, July 28th, HBO Max.
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