‘Pretty Little Liars’ At Paleyfest Dishes On The Final Mysteries, And The End

Warning: This article may contain spoilers for Pretty Little Liars Season 7B.

As Pretty Little Liars nears the airing of Season 7B, which is to be the final installment of the Freeform show, teasers are keeping PLL fans both excited and fearful for those last 10 episodes. Feeding into that frenzy, a Paleyfest panel made up of the Pretty Little Liars cast and the series show runner, I. Marlene King, answered the most burning questions regarding the PLL end, and the mysteries which are to be solved by the series’ finale episode.

Joining King was fellow executive producer Joseph Dougherty, along with Pretty Little Liars cast members Ashley Benson, Tyler Blackburn, Shay Mitchell, Andrea Parker, Janel Parrish, Sasha Pieterse, and Ian Harding.

Beginning the discussion with the first episode of Season 7B seemed the logical place to start, and Entertainment Weekly reports that the PLL panel offered Paleyfest attendees a glimpse at the first minute of that episode. The video teaser reveals that the next episode, titled “Playtime,” picks up mere moments after the conclusion of the midseason finale. As fans might remember, that cliffhanger ended with Spencer (Troian Bellisario) taking a ride in an ambulance, after having been shot.

As happens whenever one of the girls ends up at the hospital (or police station), the remaining members of the group arrive at the hospital to support Spencer. In fact, it seems nothing has really changed, because Toby (Keegan Allen) is also among those waiting to see Spencer.

Tyler Blackburn, who plays Caleb on the series, shared his thoughts that Spencer’s hospital visit is just one of many heart-wrenching moments in the last 10 episodes of Pretty Little Liars.

“So much happens in each episode,” Blackburn said. “There’s obviously the reveal, the main reveal, which is so crazy; it’s so good. But also just where the relationships end up — that’s another thing that fans are really going to love. Kind of just how strong this group has to stay throughout these last 10 episodes.”

The Pretty Little Liars Paleyfest Panel Teases A Major Twist At The End Of Every Episode

Refinery 29 reports that Janel Parrish, who plays the dubious Mona Vanderwaal, promised that PLL fans would get a big reveal at the end of each episode and with so many questions yet to be answered, there’s certainly plenty for Pretty Little Liars to dish out, before the end of the series.

“You’re going to find out who killed Jessica DiLaurentis, who A.D. is — all of the answers,” promised Parrish.

Speaking of that impending end, the PLL cast revealed that they didn’t know how the final two-hour episode would play out, until they showed up for the table read. The cast admitted that everyone was in tears during that read, while Tyler Blackburn says he was “stoked” and Shay Mitchell was “blown away” by the events in the final episode.

Ian Harding, who plays Ezra Fitz on Pretty Little Liars, admits he was left feeling skeptical by the end of that first table read, though he says he later came to terms with it and was shocked by the suddenness of it.

“I read it and I was like, I don’t buy this,” Harding said. “It was until we had shot and wrapped… I was driving home on my last day, slightly teary-eyed, and it landed on me, who and what this whole thing was, and I kind of went, [gasps], like, in the car, in traffic.”

It was also revealed that “Haleb” is back on and hotter than ever. Blackburn says “Spaleb” was an interesting distraction for PLL fans, but he knew it was never going to work out with Spencer and Caleb. Tyler says he has always felt that Caleb and Hanna (Ashley Benson) were fated to be together, so it was only a matter of time, before the couple reunited.

Ashley Benson was also on hand at Paleyfest, and the Pretty Little Liars actress opened up about that steamy, fireside sex scene, sharing that, while she and Blackburn do share great chemistry, the setting made the scene feel awkward to film.

“It was not romantic,” Benson recalled.

“We had a whole playlist playing. [Blackburn] picked out the songs,” the Pretty Little Liars star said. “It’s awkward to do a sex scene in front of a whole crew of people and have no clothes on. So we had a fan to keep us cool, and we just had our iPhone playing, and we just sweat by the fire.”

I. Marlene King says many fans have asked why the main characters can’t just be happy through the last episodes of Pretty Little Liars, but she responds to that by speaking what everyone is thinking. No one wants an easy time for these characters, because there’s no fun in that. Instead, King says the last episodes will be filled with perilous challenges, adding that, while there may ultimately be a happy ending, it won’t come without a fight, or a price.

Season 7B of Pretty Little Liars picks up on Tuesday, April 18, on Freeform.

[Featured Image by Ben Gabbe/Getty Images]