'It's paranoia, blackmail, it's a life-threatening situation,' Troian Bellisario gushes about the messages the girls begin receiving from the new blackmailer.
- Nov 25, 2015
AceShowbiz - Before "Pretty Little Liars" returns in 2016, the stars let fans catch up with what happened to the characters in those five years. In "5 Years Forward" special on Tuesday, November 5, Lucy Hale, Ashley Benson, Troian Bellisario and Shay Mitchell sat down with showrunner Marlene King to talk about what the characters have been up to since the summer finale.
Aria's "in a good spot," Hale said, "She's in a new relationship, she's fallen in love again." Her new boyfriend is named Liam whom she met after transferring to a Boston school. Aria works for a publisher and that's how she reconnects with Ezra. "That's how her and Ezra get reconnected, not in a romantic way but they actually start working together," she said.
Ezra also had found new love after Aria left for college. Ezra followed a girl named Nicole down to South America, where they worked with organizations like Habitat for Humanity, but "that is taken away from him very quickly and very violently," Ian Harding revealed. Ezra's now in a bad place as Harding said, "He falls down a really deep well - into a sea of alcohol."
Hanna and Caleb are also no longer together. Benson shared, "She comes back and she's engaged. While she was in Europe she met her fiance. That was the saddest part I've ever read, that I was away from Caleb."
Caleb himself didn't attend college and "continued his journey in the tech world," so Tyler Blackburn said. His friendship with Toby is stronger than ever and they go fishing regularly.
As for Spencer, she's now working on Capitol Hill. Bellisario added that Spencer and Toby "really fell apart, because he stayed in Rosewood ... they just really grew apart." Toby himself inherits "a lot of money ... from the house that was blown up," and he uses the money to buy "three acres outside of Rosewood to start building his dream home."
Emily dropped out of school after her dad passed away while serving in the Army. "I think Emily comes back with the biggest secret ... that she's keeping from her friends," King teased. "She's the most damaged by four years without 'A'."
Ali, meanwhile, has become close with Charlotte's doctor. "He treats her really well," Sasha Pieterse said. But Ali has to keep their relationship a secret because he's her sister's doctor.
The girls also talked about the new big bad. When they return to Rosewood, they start receiving threatening messages. "They know it's not from Charlotte and this time it feels very different," Bellisario claimed, "this time it's no longer about, 'I'm gonna expose some secret that you have' or 'I'm going to ruin your chances to like get the Orchid Scholarship,' it's paranoia, blackmail, it's a life-threatening situation."
King added, "Because it's life or death so quickly, you guys fight back right away. You're not victims. You're on top of this right away, and I think that's a big difference between moving forward and the past."
King recently also took to her Instagram to tease a scene from season 6B of "Liars".
The show returns January 12 at 8 P.M. ET on ABC Family which will change its name into Freeform beginning in 2016.
