Teen TV’s Future Is Bleak Without Max’s Pretty Little Liars

Over three months since the Season 2 finale aired on Max, it’s finally official: the streamer’s Pretty Little Liars reboot will not be returning for a third round of horror homages and teen drama camp. 

The series, which first premiered in 2022 under the subtitle Original Sin and aired as Summer School for its shortened second season, was one of the last remaining teen dramas on the air to embrace the history of the genre while shifting and adapting to the future of the medium. While it was conceived as a continuation of the long-running Freeform hit, Max’s Pretty Little Liars was able to carve out an identity all its own. Following another group of tortured teen girls—Imogen (Bailee Madison), Tabby (Chandler Kinney), Noa (Maia Reficco), Mouse (Malia Pyles), and Faran (Zaria)—as they attempt to uncover the identity of the mysterious tormentor sending threatening texts simply under the name “A,” the similarities to the original stop and start with its central premise, allowing the series to craft its own voice throughout its unfortunately paltry 18-episode run. 

In December of last year, I wrote an essay declaring the teen drama genre “dead.” Riverdale’s seven-season run had just ended, The CW and Freeform both announced that they would be moving away from scripted programming, and the upcoming slate of teen dramas was looking dangerously anemic. But there was one glimmer of hope on the horizon: Max’s Pretty Little Liars was set to return after a two-year hiatus, and despite its shortened episode order, its unique execution and penchant for paying homage to the past already solidified it as a series that could potentially turn the tide for this once-prolific genre. 

What made Pretty Little Liars so special was its ability to live within two worlds. It was able to exist as a beacon of the past, utilizing far-fetched plots and soapy drama the same way television classics like The Vampire Diaries and Gossip Girl did, all while embracing the stinted nature of streaming series today. Rather than be suffocated by its shortened eight-episode order, Summer School thrived in its measured pacing. Rather than lean too heavily into its TV-MA rating, the series managed to be both horrifyingly gory yet restrained enough to keep younger audiences from completely tapping out. Rather than bank on nostalgia to sell a new generation of Liars to audiences, Original Sin and Summer School created unshakably distinct characters in the form of Imogen, Tabby, Noa, Mouse, and Faran, all anchored by the incredible performances Madison, Kinney, Reficco, Pyles, and Zaria delivered. In all those ways and more, Pretty Little Liars felt like the perfect formula for a teen drama of the streaming age; a series where the stakes were high, the episodic nature was utilized to enhance the drama, and the familiar faces, places, and tropes were used as shorthand to tell important and grounded stories on its dramatic and soapy backdrop across the new-normal of minuscule episode counts. 

More than anything, Pretty Little Liars was smart, and it respected its audience enough to assume the same in return. Whereas the original PLL would spin its wheels in convoluted and increasingly more unbelievable reveals born purely of a lack of creativity and a desire to outsmart clued-in viewers, both Original Sin and Summer School’s final mysteries were both satisfying and twisty, but were also, most importantly, grounded in the larger messages the series wanted to send.

When Tabby faced down Bloody Rose and Wes in the Season 2 finale, she wasn’t simply engaging with her tormentors in an epic showdown, but was instead fighting for her truth against two villains who aimed to silence a survivor of rape. When Imogen bravely maneuvered her pregnant body away from the clutches of Archie “A” Waters in the Season 1 finale, she wasn’t simply putting on the final girl performance of a lifetime, but was instead fighting for her future against a man that aimed to punish her for the sins of the past in a poignant commentary on bullying and redemption. Watching Faran find her strength, Noa come into her own, and Mouse step out from underneath the thumb of manipulation was all the more satisfying because Pretty Little Liars understood that teen dramas and horror series are only as engaging as the beating heart that thrums underneath its weekly scares or ridiculous twists, and utilized its engaging setting, cast, and overarching plot to deliver meaningful and purposeful storytelling unmatched by the teen dramas still on the air today. (And I’ll forever be bitter that those girls will never get the Final Girl moments they deserved.) 

In so many ways, saying goodbye to Max’s Pretty Little Liars feels like saying goodbye to a genre that I’ve mourned frequently over the past few years. Through the downfall of The CW and the end of Riverdale to the shuttering of scripted at Freeform and the increasingly clear lack of care to cater to that younger audience from streamers, the teen drama has continued to barely hold on. Shows like Gilmore Girls and Buffy the Vampire Slayer continue to be found and adored every single day, and, truthfully, I’m not sure that we’ll remember most streaming teen drama efforts in 10 years the way we have those long-running classics. Max’s Pretty Little Liars had the potential to fill those big shoes, but our broken streaming system failed it in the same way its failed many of its predecessors. With more four-quadrant programming on the horizon from streamers and networks attempting to recapture the attention of audiences, it’s always disheartening to watch a special show slip through the cracks. 

Anna Govert is the TV Editor of Paste Magazine. For any and all thoughts about TV, film, and her unshakable love of complicated female villains, you can follow her @annagovert.

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