HBO Max has given a direct-to-series order to a “Pretty Little Liars” reboot from “Riverdale” creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, the streaming service said Thursday.
Titled “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin,” the show will be set in a new town and follow a “new generation” of liars, but exist in the same universe as the Freeform series created by I. Marlene King and based on the novel series of the same name written by Sara Shepard. King is not involved in the reboot.
Here’s the official description for “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 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 series is co-created by Aguirre-Sacasa and Lindsay Calhoon Bring, with Aguirre-Sacsasa executive producing and Bring co-executive producing. Alloy’s Leslie Morgenstein and Gina Girolamo are also executive producers.
“Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin” is produced by Aguirre-Sacasa’s Muckle Man Productions and Alloy Entertainment in association with Warner Bros. Television (Alloy and Warner Horizon Television, which was recently absorbed into Warner Bros. TV, produced the original “PLL”).
“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,” Aguirre-Sacasa and Bring said. “So we’re leaning into the suspense and horror in this reboot, which hopefully will honor what the fans loved about the hit series, while weaving in new, unexpected elements.”
“Roberto and Lindsay are expanding the Pretty Little Liars universe with more murder, mysteries, and scandal, and we can’t wait,” added Sarah Aubrey, head of original content at HBO Max.
“Pretty Little Liars” ran for seven seasons, from 2010-2016, on Freeform. The teen drama starred Troian Bellisario, Ashley Benson, Holly Marie Combs, Lucy Hale, Ian Harding, Bianca Lawson, Laura Leighton, Chad Lowe, Shay Mitchell, Nia Peeples, Sasha Pieterse, Tyler Blackburn, Janel Parrish and Andrea Parker.
“Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin” is not Warner Bros. TV’s first attempt to expand the “Pretty Little Liars” universe, having previously done two short-lived spinoff series, “Ravenswood” and “Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists.” Both of those shows were canceled after one season.