HBO Max has given a straight-to-series order to Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, a darker, present-day reboot of the popular 2010-17 series.
Written by Robert Aguirre-Sacasa and Lindsey Calhoon Bring, the reboot based on the bestselling books by Sara Shepard will feature a new story and new characters under the tagline “New town. New secrets. New Little Liars.”
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 — finds themselves tormented by an unknown Assailant and made to pay for the secret sin their parents committed two decades ago, as well as their own. In the dark, coming-of-rage, horror-tinged drama Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, we find ourselves miles away from Rosewood, but within the existing Pretty Little Liars universe — in a brand-new town, with a new generation of Little Liars.
The original Pretty Little Liars was a pop culture phenomenon back in the day following its debut in June 2010. Even I was hooked for a time.
“We’re such huge fans of what I. Marlene King and her iconic cast created, we knew that we had to treat the original series as canon and do something different,” said Aguirre-Sacasa and Calhoon Bring. “So, we’re leaning into the suspense and horror in this reboot, which hopefully will honour what the fans loved about the hit series, while weaving in new, unexpected elements.”
During its seven-year run, Pretty Little Liars ranked as the No. 1 scripted series on all of cable television in the teen girl demographic, and it ranks as the No. 1 series ever on Freeform/ABC Family. In its final season, the show amassed 62.5 million social engagements through the night of its June 2017 series finale telecast — significantly higher engagement than the other biggest shows of that year, America’s Got Talent and Game of Thrones. Season 6 of Pretty Little Liars was the No. 1 most social scripted TV series, with more than 270 million total social engagements across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr.
The mothership series launched a franchise that included two spinoffs – Pretty Little Liars: Ravenswood and Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, both of which aired for one season.
The Pretty Little Liars book series comprises 16 books and three companion novels. It was on The New York Times Best Sellers list for more than 80 weeks. To date, 9 million copies of the book have been sold in the US alone, and it has been sold in 33 foreign markets and languages.
Are you looking forward to the reboot? Watch the teaser below.
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