PLL Spinoff: The Perfectionists

[Artsda]

[Eneya]

What??????

[paulvdb]

Sofia Carson joins the cast.

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Freeform, Disney's young adult television network, announced today that rising star Sofia Carson ("Descendants") has joined the cast of the drama pilot "Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists." Carson will play Ava, a beautiful trendsetting blogger and coder, who strives to be a fashion icon. She joins "Pretty Little Liars" stars Sasha Pieterse and Janel Parrish in the spinoff pilot.

[marinaalexis]

Eh...not sure how I feel about this. To be fair, I've only seen Sofia Carson in Disney-related things in the past (she was one of the leads in that villain movie franchise), and I was never very impressed by her acting, but that easily could have been the characters she was playing. She seems to fit the part, but I really wish they'd gone with a smaller name, someone who wasn't already so well-known. I feel like a big part of this is to draw in an audience with big names.

And I hate the changes they made to Ava's character. She's basically a total cliche now.

[SadieT]

Is she really considered a big name though? I've never heard of her but then again I'm too old to be watching the Disney channel. I suppose they could very well be attempting to draw young viewers with this casting if she's popular, or they're just keeping things in the Disney family. 

And it's pretty standard practice to try to capitalize on an actor's popularity if possible. It's why Lucy Hale was cast on PLL and why Bella Thorne was cast on FIL. 

I'm interested in seeing how they work Alison and Mona into the story and how big a role they each will play though. Alison obviously moves there to teach, but what the hell is Mona doing there when she's supposed to be hiding out in France with her real-life dolls? 

[paulvdb]

I guess Sofia Carson's casting on this show (and Bella Thorne on Famous in Love) could be a way to use familiar actresses to draw viewers to Freeform when they age out of the Disney Channel demographic. Neither of them are great actors, but they are both known for their work on Disney Channel although Bella Thorne is probably a bit more well known outside the Disney Channel viewers.

[dwmckim]

8 hours ago, SadieT said:

 

I'm interested in seeing how they work Alison and Mona into the story and how big a role they each will play though. Alison obviously moves there to teach, but what the hell is Mona doing there when she's supposed to be hiding out in France with her real-life dolls? 

And did she bring her real-life dolls back to the States with her or did she sell them?  Did she use Craigslist or do an Ebay auction?

[marinaalexis]

On 2/5/2018 at 6:36 PM, SadieT said:

Is she really considered a big name though? I've never heard of her but then again I'm too old to be watching the Disney channel. I suppose they could very well be attempting to draw young viewers with this casting if she's popular, or they're just keeping things in the Disney family. 

I had to look her up before I recognized her, but I imagine she's a pretty big name when it comes to the preteen/teen demographic. The "Descendants" movie kind of seems like this generation's High School Musical, and from comments I've seen on social media she's pretty well-known. Of course I don't want to judge her until I actually see her in this role, but this interview did make me roll my eyes a bit - 

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"I told [Marlene King] that I was just the biggest -- the biggest -- fan of Pretty Little Liars," the 24-year-old actress and singer gushed. "I was obsessed with it -- as so many of us were. It was such a phenomenon, so to be part of that legacy is truly an honor." Carson continued, "And when I found out [that I got the role], Marlene called me last Monday and she was like, 'Guess what? You're my new Pretty Little Liar,' and I was like, 'Oh my gosh! That is the coolest thing! I will never ever get used to hearing that -- ever.'"

Hopefully she actually earned the role based on acting ability and didn't just get it because of connections and sucking up to Marlene.

[paulvdb]

Freeform Sets the "Perfect" Cast for Upcoming Pilot "Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists"
 

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Today Freeform revealed the full cast for the drama pilot "Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists." They join "Pretty Little Liars" stars Sasha Pieterse and Janel Parrish in the spinoff pilot, as well as previously announced Sofia Carson.

Completing the trio of 'perfectionists," along with Carson's character of Ava, are Sydney Park ("The Walking Dead") as Caitlin, and newcomer Eli Brown, who portrays Dylan. Caitlin is described as smart, driven and thrives under pressure. The perfect daughter of two perfect mothers, Caitlin has set her sights on following in her mother's Senatorial footsteps. Dylan, a gifted cellist, grew up feeling judged in his small hometown and now feels the need to be the best in all of his endeavors. He is deeply committed to his two passions, his music and his boyfriend, Andrew.

Also joining the cast is Kelly Rutherford ("Gossip Girl"), who stars as Claire Hotchkiss. The matriarch of the Hotchkiss family, Claire (along with her husband) is the founder of Hotchkiss Industries and the respected Beacon Heights University. Claire believes perfection is attainable and is the person who pulls the strings behind the scenes to get what she wants. Hayley Erin ("General Hospital") rounds out the cast in a mysterious, unnamed role.

[marinaalexis]

Was just coming here to post the same thing - it feels so real now that we have the whole main cast!

So pumped that Kelly Rutherford is involved. I hadn't even thought about the parents, but she's going to be perfect as Nolan's mother. I loved her in GG and I can't wait to see her here.

I'd been following the rumors about Sydney Park and I'm very excited that they turned out to be true. I've seen her in some other projects and have always liked her. She's not Asian like Caitlin from the books, but I think she'll do a good job. Apparently Eli Brown is completely new - I'm surprised they were willing to take such a risk by casting someone with no experience. But he looks cute and according to his Instagram he's a musician, so he'll fit the role, I suppose. It'll be fun to see his social media explode with the start of this show. So far the only casting announcement I'm not super happy with is Sofia.

I'm intrigued by Hayley Erin's character since it doesn't look like any of the Perfectionists from the books, aside from Ava and Caitlin, will be present here. And apparently Andrew, Nolan, etc. are more side characters? It seems like the main group is going to be made up of Ava, Caitlin, Dylan, Mona, and Alison.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

If Lily Rhodes van der Woodsen Mueller Bass Humphrey is in the cast, then I will have to watch!

56 minutes ago, marinaalexis said:

I'd been following the rumors about Sydney Park and I'm very excited that they turned out to be true. I've seen her in some other projects and have always liked her. She's not Asian like Caitlin from the books

According to IMDB, her dad is Korean-Anerican so she’s half Asian. 

[Bort]

Park is a pretty common Korean surname. 

[marinaalexis]

35 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

If Lily Rhodes van der Woodsen Mueller Bass Humphrey is in the cast, then I will have to watch!

According to IMDB, her dad is Korean-Anerican so she’s half Asian. 

Is she? I was thinking she looked like she might have some Asian heritage.

That's great, I'm glad that they tried to stick with the character's origins.

[paulvdb]

5 hours ago, marinaalexis said:

Is she? I was thinking she looked like she might have some Asian heritage.

Yes. According to IMDB she has a Korean-American father and an African-American mother. I never watched The Walking Dead but I liked her in the Youtube Red series Lifeline.

[marinaalexis]

48 minutes ago, paulvdb said:

Yes. According to IMDB she has a Korean-American father and an African-American mother. I never watched The Walking Dead but I liked her in the Youtube Red series Lifeline.

I'm familiar with her from That's So Raven and the Nickelodeon show Instant Mom that was on a few years ago. I really liked her in both and I'm glad that the rumor about her being cast was true.

[AfterwardsTV]

https://www.spoilertv.com/2018/05/pretty-little-liars-perfectionists.html 2019, 10 episodes.

Unlikely I'll be watching. No force on earth can make Alison into a good written character now. Wish it had been Paige and Mona.

P.S. Maybe it's petty but I greatly enjoyed Life Sentence getting cancelled. :D

[Kate213]

3 hours ago, AfterwardsTV said:

Unlikely I'll be watching. No force on earth can make Alison into a good written character now.

I love Mona, but Ali would ruin this for me too.  I have absolutely no interest in watching more of mild-mannered high school teacher Ali.  They should have kept her as bad-ass sociopathic Ali.  I'd watch that Ali with Mona in a heartbeat.  

Edit: has there been any mention of Emily or the twins?  Are they included in this spin-off?

Edited May 15, 2018 by Kate213

[marinaalexis]

Honestly that trailer was a lot better than I was expecting. I'll be watching for sure. 

Confused by Marlene (or maybe Sasha?) confirming that the twins will be in the spinoff when we saw no evidence of that in the promo. Where were they when Alison was sitting in the back of the taxi moving into Beacon Heights, alone? Hopefully they did some rewriting and found a way to write them out, I really don't need Alison tied down by two toddlers in every episode.

I can't say I care much about the new characters yet. I'm watching for Mona at this point, with the hope that Alison will go dark and mysterious again as well. At least without Emily around she'll be able to have storylines that don't center totally around shipping. But of course half of the comments on the trailer are all "what about Emison waaaaaahhhh." I hope these people either get over it or decide not to watch, because I don't think I can deal with that crap episode after episode, and I really don't want to see the writers work in mentions of Emison whenever possible just to keep those people satisfied. This show isn't about freaking Emily/Alison.

[SadieT]

The trailer looks decent. It's going to take a lot to get me interested in the new characters but I like that Alison and Mona seem to have a lot of scenes together. 

I think Sasha might have spoken too soon about us seeing the twins, it's possible things have changed and been re-written since she was told that information because I believe she said that before seeing the first script. Then again the trailer only includes clips from the pilot since that's all they've filmed at this point so it's possible the twins appear at a later point. 

[marinaalexis]

2 hours ago, SadieT said:

The trailer looks decent. It's going to take a lot to get me interested in the new characters but I like that Alison and Mona seem to have a lot of scenes together. 

I think Sasha might have spoken too soon about us seeing the twins, it's possible things have changed and been re-written since she was told that information because I believe she said that before seeing the first script. Then again the trailer only includes clips from the pilot since that's all they've filmed at this point so it's possible the twins appear at a later point. 

I think you hit the nail on the head. I remember that whatever she said about the twins seemed to imply that we would be seeing them consistently, not just in one cameo appearance or whatever. My best guess is that in the initial draft of the script they were present and probably living with Ali, but that was changed in revisions, most likely because trying to fit babies/toddlers into every episode of a show generally turns into a huge drag. And we know that quite a few changes were made - it was initially stated that Mona comes in at the end of the pilot, but she was on set basically every day of filming so that obviously changed as well.

[Perfect Xero]

Mona: "Where's Emily and the twins?"

Ali: "We had to split up. It turns out that Emily is actually my sister."

[marinaalexis]

A little more about Emison in the spinoff: http://tvline.com/2018/05/31/pretty-little-liars-spinoff-alison-emily-relationship-explained-perfectionists/

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“You learn in the pilot why Alison is there, and what’s going on with her and Emily,” King tells TVLine, adding that we’ll also learn “why Mona left her doll shop in France.” (#NeverForget that PLL ended with Mona keeping Alex and Mary Drake as living dolls in a French prison of her own design. That girl is twisted.)

When it came to bridging the story gap between PLL and The Perfectionists, King says it was much easier charting Mona’s path than Alison’s: “We left her very happy with Emily and the twins, so to justify why she would leave that behind to come to Beacon Heights was worthy of much more conversation.”

 

[marinaalexis]

Not sure if anyone's still reading here, but here's some interesting info from a new interview with Marlene:

On why Alison is in BH: 

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Well, again, I don’t want it to be a spoiler because we do address that in the pilot, but she and Mona have a conversation about that and we understand why she's making this journey. It's a personal journey for her and there's something that she has to accomplish, I think, for her own sense of self. You'll hear about that right away in the pilot story.

On Emison:

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Well, you know, the challenge of this [is that] the starting point [of the show] was who wants to do it? Who wants to really be a part of this new show? And the original four Pretty Little Liars were all ready to go do new things -- that’s just sort of the way the world works. So my challenge then, as the creator of this new show, was to honor Emison's relationship and continue to honor it as we launch this new story. It was a challenge, and I hope we've done the best job possible of honoring what we know is their truth.

On the twins:

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You will see the twins, yeah. They’re a little older now. I think they're toddlers now. They’re, like, maybe 3 [years old].

On finding out what happened to Mary and Alex:

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You definitely will get that answer in a very cheeky Mona way.

On Mona in a potential new relationship:

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Yes, I think it's her turn, as an actress and as a character, for us to have a lot more time to spend with her and really get to know Mona better than we already do.

[Cranberry]

I could no longer deny that this show is happening, so now we have a forum. I hope you'll all join me over there! Feel free to start some topics.