Ashley Benson, Lucy Hale, Troian Bellisario and Shay Mitchell © ABC
ABC Family’s new series, Pretty Little Liars, is based on the popular series of novels by Sara Shepard. The show follows the lives of four friends, a year after the leader of their group, Alison, has mysteriously vanished. They believe their secrets are safe forever, until they begin to receive messages from someone named ‘A,’ threatening that the truth might be one text away.
Ashley: The show's about secrets and the lies that we tell. The pilot starts out where we're four best friends who've come back together after our friend Alison goes missing. We start receiving messages that threaten to reveal all of our secrets that could ruin our lives. But we also deal with real life issues and great love stories as well.
Can you talk a little about your characters in the show and a little more on what their relationship is like?
Pilot Episode 1.01 - Hanna (Ashley Benson) and Spencer (Torian Bellisario) © ABC
Ashley: My character Hanna is the popular girl but she's really insecure and acts out to try to get attention and to feel loved by her parents. At first she seems really rude toward the other girls and just doesn't care but, progressing in the series, we've become closer.
Lucy: We've become reunited because we have no one else to confide in.
Ashley: We start trusting each other. It's cool to see that, to see the relationship build up again.
Lucy: I play Aria, who is the most unique of the girls. She wears whatever she wants and is very comfortable with herself at 16-years-old so she's very unique.
There is this mystery of the texts the girls are getting being signed "A". So, is that the friend Alison back from the grave? They do find her body in the opening episode.
Both: We don't know!
Didn't one of the girls think they saw her after her body was found? How supernatural is the show?
Pilot episode 1.01 -Aria Montgomery (Lucy Hale) and Ezra Fitz (Ian Harding) © ABC
Lucy: Yeah. Well, an event will happen and five seconds later, we'll get a text message or a letter about it. So somebody is around us 24/7 and we don't know who it is, so I'll say it's really eerie!
In your own lives, do you both have your own circle of friends who you share secrets with?
Ashley: Yeah. I have a very small group of friends just because I think it's better that way, but we tell each other a lot. We confide in each other; nothing serious but it's always good to have those close girlfriends or guy friends you can put your trust in and tell them what's going on with your life.
Do you know how the story will all play out and does that make it easier to act it if you do? Or, you don't know and like it that way?
Star Ashley Benson at Barnes & Noble to celebrate the 8th and final Pretty Little Liars book © ABC
Ashley: When I first got the show my character was described as, 'She's the popular, queen bee 'it' girl of the school'. I didn't know that she was once heavier and she was unpopular and she struggles with an eating disorder. So it was really helpful to find that out.
I think it's cool to read what's going to happen in the books and see how they're going to portray it in the scripts. That's awesome and then you get an insight on your character and how they feel about everything. It helps me.
Lucy: I probably know too much because I've read all the books and, when I'm involved with something, I usually don't want to know. But they're changing some things a little bit so even huge fans of the books are going to be surprised as well as the people watching. It's relatively close but they added other aspects.
What is Aria thinking when she continues an affair with a man who turns out to be her English teacher?
Lucy Hale at Barnes & Noble to celebrate the 8th and final Pretty Little Liars book © ABC
Lucy: Here's the deal. She meets him at a restaurant and doesn't know who he is and they really connect. She goes to school and looks up and he's her English teacher! So they try to be like, 'This isn't right,' but they always end up coming back together and it's actually pretty special and romantic and Ian (Harding) is great in the part.
One of the issues in the show is cyber-bullying. Have either of you been a victim of that?
Ashley: I haven't but I've read about it.
Lucy: It's terrifying. I know when I'm a parent I'm going to be (freaked). With Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, it's scary. You have to be careful. But I've never personally been a victim of it.
Is Pretty Little Liars another version of I Know What You Did Last Summer?
Ashley: We get that all the time, and Desperate Housewives and Gossip Girl. There are just so many different aspects of the show.
Lucy: I think we get I Know What You Did last Summer because of the suspense.
Is there a treat of homicide in there?
Ashley: Oh yeah, there are threats toward us. It could be deadly.
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