I. Marlene King, creator of the Freeform drama series that launched a thousand (and then some) tweets, told TheWrap that the final episode feels “biggest of all, in every aspect.”
The two-hour series finale will include a time jump and ultimately allow fans to finally come face to face with the nefarious A.D. Viewers will also see (at least) one wedding and find out who is the biological father of Alison’s (Sasha Pieterse) bundle of joy, along with learning the tyke’s name.
“There’s so much — it’s so packed with emotion and drama and relationships and sexy time, and definitely chills and thrills,” King said. “I’m excited for the twists and surprises, but also for fans to understand — this is why it’s so great that we have two hours — the how and the why of A.D.”
Fans have gotten a glimpse of Aria (Lucy Hale) in her wedding dress from the finale, and King confirms that the episode starts with a big moment for Aria and Ezra (Ian Harding).
“One of the first scenes up is an Ezria scene, which will tell you a lot about where their story’s going in the finale,” King said.
In looking back on the series, King mentions that the one twist she “might rethink” is breaking up all of the show’s core couples when the show skipped ahead by five years in Season 6.
“I was actually very hesitant to break up all the couples when we did the time jump,” King said. “I was sort of a holdout in the [writers’] room, but I was the only person that was the holdout — the room unanimously wanted to start with the couples broken up after that time jump, and I wanted to keep at least one or two of them together.”
She continued, “In hindsight, I wish I would have stuck to my guns because I think the fans really did react negatively to that. But at the same time, it allowed us for great storytelling to bring the couples back together, so hindsight’s 20/20.”
The end of a “Pretty Little Liars” season typically turns a character or two into corpses, but King demurred regarding the episode’s body count. But she did reference creepy Noel (Brant Daughtery), who was accidentally beheaded when he fell onto a large medieval axe in Season 7’s summer finale. (Yes, hanging out around large medieval axes can apparently come with risks.)
“Nobody gets their head cut off, I can tell you that,” King said of the finale.
“Pretty Little Liars” airs its two-hour series finale on Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on Freeform.