HBO Max’s ‘Pretty Little Liars’ Spin-Off Actually Looks So Scary

“A” is back, bitches. Twelve years after Pretty Little Liars premiered on ABC Family (RIP), a spin-off of the popular YA mystery series is debuting on HBO Max this summer. And the just-released first teaser for Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin is far creepier than anything from the entire seven-season tenure of the original show.

Based on the novels by Sara Shepard, Pretty Little Liars centered on a group of high school students in fictional Rosewood, Pennsylvania in the wake of the disappearance of their cruel queen bee. Played by Ashley Benson, Shay Mitchell, Lucy Hale, and Troian Bellisario, the so-called pretty little liars were stalked by anonymous harassers who called themselves “A.”

Original Sin, meanwhile, takes place in the neighboring blue collar town of Millwood, where a masked killer has adopted the “A” moniker to torment a new generation of liars. Decades after a series of undisclosed tragic events rocked Millwood, “A” is determined to punish the girls for the sins of their parents.

The trailer opens with a spooky distorted version of the PLL theme song, which remains one of the best theme songs in recent television history. “Got a secret, can you keep it?” taunts a demonic voice as gloved hands affix photos of smiling teen girls to a wall. The camera lingers over a horrifying tableau of rusty scissors, police reports, and missing person posters.

It’s apparent that Original Sin will be less Degrassi with murder and more Silence of the Lambs with geometry class. Instead of typing vaguely threatening messages signed “xoxo” into a Motorola RAZR, this “A” jams nails into the eyes of the girls’ photos, sews a mask made of human flesh, and carries around a disheveled old teddy bear for no obvious reason other than that it looks sinister.

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The minute-long clip ends on a mic drop with the familiar last line of the theme song: “‘Cause two can keep a secret if one of them is dead.”

Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin comes from Riverdale showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina writer Lindsay Calhoon Bring. The new roster of liars consists of Bailee Madison, Chandler Kinney, Malia Pyles, Maia Reficco, and Zaria.

Watch the first three episodes on HBO Max beginning on July 28, with weekly episode releases to follow.

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