Could Ezra really be Charlotte’s killer? At the end of last week’s episode of “Pretty Little Liars” on Freeform, all signs seemed to point to yes.
The five-year time jump hasn’t been kind to Ezra, who is played by Ian Harding. Losing Nicole in Central America has left him an angry, depressed and unshaven alcoholic — and the girls have taken notice. Along with some other inconvenient pieces of evidence, Ezra’s recent state of mind has positioned him as the prime suspect.
And they aren’t the only ones who suspect that Ezra may have been the killer. Even Harding thinks he could have done it.
“Oh yeah, absolutely,” Harding said in an interview with TheWrap, when he was asked if his character is capable of murder. “He’s got a lot of rage and, um, alcoholism. He has a vendetta to settle.”
Read the interview below:
TheWrap: So is Charlotte really dead?
Harding: I don’t actually know. I would assume so, but at the same time, people die on the show rather frequently, and then we see them again. So I do wonder.
Do you think Ezra could have killed her? Is he capable of murder?
Oh yeah, absolutely. He’s got a lot of rage and, um, alcoholism. He has a vendetta to settle, and I would not be surprised with any outcome. … He’s really at the bottom of the barrel. At this point, he doesn’t even care. I don’t think even a life with Aria would keep him on the straight and narrow. He’s pretty blinded by rage and hate.
How did he get to such a dark place?
I think because he found Nicole — my Australian lover played by Rebecca Breeds, who’s just a dreamboat. I think he found in her something that he was maybe not getting from Aria, and I think this is just a life that he’s always wanted. I think in the first couple years he was down in Central America, he was thinking, “This is it. This is my life. This is exactly what I need.” And then it was all taken away out of nowhere. Whenever a tragedy like that happens, people try to find meaning or a purpose in what’s happening. But there’s really no reasoning behind it, so he’s grappling with that, and he’s doing it with alcohol.
What’s it like playing this version of Ezra?
It’s great. It’s kind of a fine line because we don’t want to see somebody who is genuinely scary. … It’s a weird sort of line to walk, where you’re showing bits of depression and murderous rage, but not too much because you don’t want to give anything away.
What was your reaction to the time jump?
So excited. So immensely excited. Just because we had played the high school card for as long as it was going to go. And none of the girls look like they’re in high school anymore. I say that not in a gross, Hollywood-y, “Oh, they’ve gotten old” kind of way, because they haven’t. They’re exceptionally young. But they just have such poise and gravitas now that you wouldn’t believe they’re juniors in high school. … It opens us up to a whole world of possibilities.
How do the characters handle themselves differently now that they’re all grown up?
It feels to me like there’s a little less fear. We may see a bit more of the residual effects of the trauma they’ve experienced, but at the same time, I think they’re going to be a little more aggressive. … It’s less “Who am I going to bring to prom?” And more “I have PTSD and somebody is trying to kill me.”
“Pretty Little Liars” airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on Freeform.