FreeformEach of our Pretty Little Liars have been in danger before, but never have any of them been so close to the brink of death than last night's midseason finale when Spencer (Troian Bellisario) was gunned down by Jenna. In an episode chock full of major moments, it was the biggest. With news that the show is wrapping up once this season comes to a close next year, could Spencer be not long for this world?
Creator I. Marlene King was asked that very question on a conference call with reporters still nursing their OMG hangover from the PLL finale, and what she had to say didn't offer up much in the way of relief. "Spencer, like every other character on the show is—we always say we're equal opportunity punishers, and A is an equal opportunity killer," she teased. "So everybody is always subject to their demise, and it's possible we'll see them in flashbacks."
Of course, with the other shocking reveal via Mary (Andrea Parker) as she cradled a wounded Spencer that she was, in fact, her real mother, don't expect Bellisario to be absent from these final 10 episodes, even if Spencer does bite the dust. "Definitely, that was a huge revelation, not just for Spencer but for the Pretty Little Liars and for the show and for the storyline," King said. "It's definitely the driving engine for Spencer's emotional story as we come back next April."
Spencer's true parentage won't be the only family mystery to be addressed when the show returns. There's still the little matter of who fathered Charlotte. And King promised both will be given their due. "We will definitely follow through on both of those storylines. We will find out who Charlotte's father is and we'll find out how Spencer came to be and her entire family dynamic," she admitted. "This storyline also originated from the books. In Sara Shepard's books, Spencer was adopted, with very early on gave us the idea for this storyline. We have a lot of fun in this final season, circling back to some of Sara's original concepts from the book."
That wasn't all that King had to say abut the shocking finale, as well as the road to the end.
Weddings Are Coming: Yes, you read that right. Weddings. When asked about the previously teased lone nuptials, King revealed, "That's in 7B and I'll give you a big spoiler in that there will be more than one wedding." So, two weddings? "Maybe more…" she teased.
On a Movie: Don't expect one anytime soon. "We're very open to finding ways to keep these characters alive. I hope that down the line, we find a way to bring all the girls back together again. It's such a fun world to play in that we're always keeping options open, but I will say the last episode is really going to be treated like a two-hour movie," she said. "It is a two-hour movie, and I'm writing it with Maya Goldsmith, who I wrote last night's finale with, and I'm directing it. So, we are treating it as a special event movie."
Toby's Car Crash: Could both halves of our beloved Spoby (played by Keegan Allen) have met their maker last night? Not so fast. "Well, there was definitely nothing nefarious going on there. The car crash is sort of saying, ‘No one ever really does leave Rosewood,' especially not from this group. It's really more of a metaphor than anything else," King admitted. "I don't want to talk about where it goes, but people know how much I love the character of Toby so you can read into that what you'll read into that. He's one of my favorites on the show. It would be hard to make that phone call to him."
Another Time Jump?: Don't expect much time to have passed beyond the events of the finale when the show returns in April. "It is one of our 'moments later' premieres, so Ali will not be super pregnant," King revealed. "She will just be a little more pregnant than she was last night." But do expect Ali's (Sasha Pieterse) pregnancy (courtesy of her now dead husband Elliott/Archer) to be a driving force for her and her friends in the final 10 episodes. Especially Emily (Shay Mitchell).
The One Scene She Wishes She Never Did: Remember that time the mom's got locked in the basement? Yeah, King wishes you didn't. "Sometimes you just are limited by what you can do in an episode. In hindsight, probably one of the things I would go back and fix is showing that scene," she admitted, before revealing just how she think the cliffhanger resolved itself. "I think as soon as that episode was resolved, somebody called the police and they went and got them out of that basement. I don't think anybody cannibalized another one or anything like that."
PLL, the Next Generation?: When Ava Allen was cast as Addison for season 7B as "pretty little bully" Addison, fans were sure that she was poised to pick up the baton and be the face of the show's new era. King revealed what her involvement in the final episodes really means. Again: Think metaphor. "Well, it's definitely again, following up on our full-circle moment theme, we're coming full-circle on the show and, although we may be saying goodbye to our current group of Pretty Little Liars in the town of Rosewood, it's its own character. We're bring Addison into our world to layer that theme. We're gonna have a lot of fun exploring her friends in this dynamic with our Liars."
The Question She's Most Excited to Answer: "The question hasn't been asked yet, and it's going to be when A.D. is revealed," King teased. "This is bizarre, but you and I will come back to this moment after the final finale and that's going to be the question that fans are going to ask, and I can't tell you what it is without telling you who A.D. is."
When She Knew It Was Time to Wrap Things Up: "I think it was a process for everyone. I think creatively, I always knew what these last 10 episodes would be, not necessarily when they would be," she admitted. "This conversation really started in season five, all of us as a team—myself and the Pretty Little Liars, and the studio and the network, we all came to the conclusion that we want to go out on a high and we want to go off in a spectacular way, with our fans still excited to tweet about the show and engaged in the show. It just felt organically right to all of us, and creatively, it felt like the right time and the right way to do it."
Pretty Little Liars returns for its final 10 episodes in April on Freeform.