‘Pretty Little Liars: Summer School’ Walked Back That Reference to the Original Series

At the end of the previous season of Pretty Little Liars, fans were under the impression Imogen’s (Bailee Madison) baby would go into the hands of the controversial couple, Ezra (Ian Harding) and Aria (Lucy Hale) of the original series. But as co-showrunner Lindsay Calhoon Bring told Entertainment Weekly, that isn’t the case when Season 2 opens. Estelle has remained in Millwood with a different couple. Imogen explains this in the episode, stating she “got a weird vibe from that Ezra dude.” This statement isn’t entirely off base. Ezra did date his future wife when she was in high school, and he was her teacher. Some things from Pretty Little Liars just do not age well. However, Bring noted there was more to the story than just finding Ezra creepy.

“Dr. Sullivan says it best in episode 1. Imogen of course says, ‘I got a weird vibe from that Ezra dude.’ That may or may not be true, but Dr. Sullivan gets to the heart of it and says, ‘And also, the parents of your baby live in Millwood and you want to keep your baby close, you want to keep an eye on her. You’re sort of obsessively stalking this child.’ It really felt right to us that we would be able to play story, have the baby close, have Imogen be able to be stopping by unwanted and kind of let her play out her anxieties that way.”

While Imogen has given up her baby for adoption in Original Sin, she still follows the girl’s movements. A clear violation of any adoption agreement.

‘Pretty Little Liars: Summer School’ Benefits From This Change

This creative decision was made for the best. While revisiting Aria and Ezra may appeal to nostalgic shippers everywhere, it is a different time for the series. Including old characters would not add to the new story in any conducive way. It would just be a cameo for a cameo’s sake. The writers were more concerned with furthering Imogen’s emotional journey. Instead of erasing her baby like the previous trauma never happened, it continues in Summer School. Imogen still reaps the consequences of what happened to her by fearing for the life of a child that effectively does not belong to her anymore.

“It felt like such a great dramatization of Imogen’s fear that something terrible is going to happen to the baby,” co-showrunner, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa noted. Unfortunately for that baby, this is probably the worst decision for her. By keeping the baby close to her, Imogen may be inadvertently endangering the child. The new villain entering the picture has mysterious motives, and this reality makes Imogen and her family an easy target. Viewers can explore the ramifications of this decision in Pretty Little Liars: Summer School, streaming on Max.

Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin

Twenty years ago, a series of tragic events almost ripped the blue-collar town of Millwood apart; now, in the present day, a group of disparate teen girls, a brand-new set of Little Liars, find themselves tormented by an unknown ‘A’ssailant.

Creator

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, & Lindsay Calhoon Bring

Cast

Bailee Madison , Mallory Bechtel , Sharon Leal

Main Genre

Drama

Sequel

Pretty Little Liars

Network

HBO Max

WATCH ON MAX