The wait is over. Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists has arrived to shake things up. Alison (Sasha Pieterse) and Mona (Janel Parrish) are going from Rosewood to Beacon Heights, but the drama and mystery will follow them. When Alison arrives at Beacon Heights, she becomes wrapped in the high-stakes environment at the top-tier college she’s teaching at. Someone even commits murder after they reach their breaking point. Alison and Mona have to work together to solve the murder mystery, uncovering more secrets and lies along the way.
Alison and Mona are two characters from Pretty Little Liars who have made the jump to the spinoff. On PLL, Alison and Mona’s relationship was a roller coaster, but The Perfectionists opens up the avenue of true friendship between them. “I think fans are excited to see Ali and Mona scenes because from the few that we’ve had in life we’ve been enemies straight to frenemies, and now you get to really see them form a friendship,” Janel told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY at the Television Critics Association winter press tour, adding that Alison and Mona “end up with a very sweet, very truthful friendship.” Sasha added: “They both start to rely on each other. They both need each other and I think they both start to like each other, which I think neither of them was expecting.”
With this being a Pretty Little Liars spinoff, it’s not a surprise that fans want to know the status of A. “I think A is buried, but some of the tactics aren’t,” Sasha said. Janel followed up with, “I think the general theme of the show is still very much somebody watching, somebody knows your secrets, watch your back. In that way, it is still very much again in the vein of A but not necessarily A.”
Alison and Mona’s pasts will haunt them on The Perfectionists. Mona will constantly be fighting those dark demons we all know she has. “I think they both have some PTSD, and for Mona, I think she’s so badly trying to fight the person that she was, how addicted she was to the dark side and being in charge and being this kind of puppet master,” Janel admitted “She’s like, ‘No, I’m going to try this different life.’ And she is always kind of tempted by the dark side. You’ll see her kind of fall off a little bit and then Alison comes in and kind of tries to help her.”
The Pretty Little Liars series finale ended with Alison and Emily — our beloved Emison — getting their happily ever after with their twins. But when Alison arrives in Beacon Heights, she’s not with Emily or the twins. So, what does The Perfectionists mean for Emison? “Emily and the babies are completely on Alison’s mind all the time and Marlene [King] knows what she’s doing,” Sasha revealed. “You can’t always please everybody. The realistic side is people are busy, but honestly, I think she’s handling it in the perfect way. The dust is settling with A. That’s not a thing anymore. They’re adults and they have this family and they’re trying to figure who they are as people. A lot has happened and Alison’s done a lot of bad things. She’s hurt Emily in a lot of ways in the past and I think a lot of it is based on trust. She’s trying to get her masters and trying to become a professor, and at the same time, she’s teaching. But her whole reason is that she can get back to her family and make a better life for them.”
While Alison is not looking for romance because she’s very much in love, there could be some romance on the way for Mona. “It’s a possibility,” Janel teased. “I think that’s what’s fun about Mona that you’re starting to see is that she, with the help of Alison, realizes she can’t always be the lone wolf. She has to let people in sometimes if she wants to have a happy, full life. That starts with friendships, with our [Mona and Alison’s] friendship, but it also could be something with a relationship. She found love once before with Mike, and I don’t think she’s really opened herself up to that possibility again, so Alison kind of says to her, ‘You know, you should just try to put yourself out there more.’ The little push helps Mona to kind of put herself out there and you might see a little spark. You’ll see!” Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on Freeform.