HBO Max orders ‘dark, horror-tinged’ Pretty Little Liars reboot

Pretty Little Liars

HBO Max is rebooting Pretty Little Liars with a new show described as being a darker, horror-tinged version of the long-running drama.

Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin has been ordered straight-to-series by the US streamer and is written by Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina duo Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Lindsay Calhoon Bring.

Aguirre-Sacasa’s Muckle Man Productions produces with Alloy Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television. Alloy’s Leslie Morgenstein and Gina Girolamo are also executive producers of the series, which is based upon the bestselling series of books by Sara Shepard.

The show, which follows the original drama that ran on Freeform/ABC Family from 2010 to 2017, is set in the present day and follows a group of disparate teen girls who find themselves tormented by an unknown assailant who wants to make them pay for the secret sin their parents committed two decades ago.

The spin-off is set within the existing Pretty Little Liars universe but “in a brand new town, with a new generation of Little Liars,” HBO said.

Aguirre-Sacasa and Calhoon Bring added that they were “leaning into the suspense and horror in this reboot, which hopefully will honour what the fans loved about the hit series, while weaving in new, unexpected elements.”

“Roberto and Lindsay are expanding the Pretty Little Liars universe with more murder, mysteries, and scandal, and we can’t wait,” said Sarah Aubrey, head of original content, HBO Max.

Pretty Little Liars was produced by Warner Horizon Television and debuted in June 2010, running for seven seasons.

It became a popular show for international buyers around the world before it ended its run in June 2017. A number of spin-offs have since spawned, including Ravenswood and The Perfectionists, which both ran for one season.