The Big Picture

In ‘Pretty Little Liars: Summer School,’ Imogen (Bailee Madison) is stronger despite trying to hide herself.
Faran (Zaria) navigates self-discovery amidst trauma while Noa (Maia Reficco) faces tough decisions that will bring change.
The trio of co-stars shares their reactions to what Bloody Rose looks like and scary scenes thsi season.

[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Pretty Little Liars: Summer School.]From co-creators Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Lindsay Calhoon Bring, the Max series Pretty Little Liars: Summer School sees the Millwood High teenagers trying to balance summer jobs, summer loves, and summer school when they realize another killer has their sights set directly on them. Imogen (Bailee Madison), Tabby (Chandler Kinney), Faran (Zaria), Noa (Maia Reficco) and Mouse (Malia Pyles) survived the terror of A only to now find themselves being tested by the even more murderous Bloody Rose. As they work to unravel this new mystery, they have to stay alive long enough to find answers while still just trying to be teenagers.

During this interview with Collider, co-stars Madison, Reficco and Zaria talked about Imogen’s strength, Noa’s decision, Faran’s need to redefine herself, their reactions to seeing what Bloody Rose would look like, the scenes that scared them the most, the roller skating party in episode three, and how they felt when they learned how the season would end.

Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin An intense mystery drama that introduces a new generation of characters facing the haunting legacy of their predecessors in Millwood. A group of teenage girls find themselves targeted by “A,” an enigmatic antagonist who knows their darkest secrets and forces them to confront the hidden sins of their parents. As they struggle to uncover the truth and protect each other, the series delves into the complexities of their friendships, the impact of past actions, and the pervasive influence of secrets.Release Date July 28, 2022 Cast Bailee Madison , Chandler Kinney , Mallory Bechtel , Zaria , Maia Reficco , Malia Pyles Seasons 2 Network HBO Max

The Final Girls of ‘Pretty Little Liars: Summer School’ Have Found Strength in Survival
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Collider: After these girls went through everything they did in the first season, obviously that has to change them. Bailee, Imogen is trying to hide from herself this season. Would you say that she’s ultimately stronger than she realizes, or are her friends not seeing that she’s not as strong as she as they think she is?

BAILEE MADISON: Wow, what an interesting, loaded question. I do think that she is stronger this season. There is strength in all these girls because of what they’ve been through. We like to say all the time in the show that these are all final girls, and final girls have to have a grit and a resilience to them. They have to want to survive, and to do that, there has to be a strength. I do believe that she has that. In terms of her friends seeing it or not seeing it, grace has to be given. All these girls are working through such heavy trauma, so with the mask that she’s putting on in front of her friends, that’s a very honest story that we do to people that we love. Sometimes we don’t wanna admit the embarrassment of not feeling put together and not being okay and showing that weakness. I do think that they do a good job at trying their best to clock in on one another and take care of each other. But you’re so right to say that Imogen is very lost. We see her doing everything that she can to really not exist as her own self and visually changing herself in ways that she can, like putting on more makeup than usual to mask the exhaustion that she’s feeling. It was so fun to get to play her as she was very much spiraling and impulsively trying to survive at the same time.

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This poor girl had to give away a baby that’s still close enough for her to go visit.

MADISON: I know! She loves the people that she loves, and she’s so used to loss now, or the idea of losing. How does she sit with that remorse or that fear? Did I do something selfishly that is gonna cost the life of someone else? Am I my mother? There are a lot of things that she’s trying to navigate and work through.

Zaria, Faran has some things going on. What can you say about what’s going on with her situation? Between her own life and whatever is happening with her boyfriend, where do you even go with any of that?

ZARIA: That’s a perfect summation, “Whatever is happening.” He’s going through it too. It’s hard to be with someone that is trying to figure themselves out. The beauty of our show is that we’re not afraid to show you people not at their best. In Season 1, Faran is so sure that she is her best and that she is the best she will ever be and she will continue to be the best. And then, she has to recontextualize what it means to be the best. She has to redefine what she wants to be the best at. She has to redefine herself. She has to redefine her place in the world. Through Roberto [Aguirre-Sacasa] and Lindsay [Calhoon]’s amazing writing, she gets to run headfirst against boyfriend troubles, which she’s being a pretty little liar about. And also, she has to run face first into the trouble at work. I’d be hard-pressed to find a woman who can say, “Oh, yeah, I’ve never had to deal with people being very misogynistic at work.” It’s sad, but it’s true. It’s nice to be able to step into that role and figure her out. For a lot of the season, I was trying to figure her out too. I would call my acting coach and say, “Am I even Faran anymore? She doesn’t even have her stance. She doesn’t even have her clothes point. Her pointe shoes are gone.” That’s who she is this season. She’s just a ball of goop, figuring it out.

Related The ‘Pretty Little Liars’ Spinoff Sets Itself Apart From the Original Show in One Major Way Things get pretty scary in Millwood.

Maia, it seems that Noa is having a problem making a decision one way or the other.

MAIA REFICCO: Yeah.

What’s it like for her to figure out what’s going on? How hard will it be for her to just follow her heart?

REFICCO: I think she’s also a pile goop. We are all trying our best. After what happened in Season 1, it was inevitable. There was no way that these girls wouldn’t be messes. They have to deconstruct everything that they perceive of themselves to actually find who they are because they were in fight or flight and survival mode for so long. So for Noa, specifically, it’s understanding that maybe where she found comfort and safety before might not be the same as what it is now. It obviously takes her a while to come to terms with that, but that’s how it is in life. For me, that was beautiful to play with and I really enjoyed the way it was thought of and written by Roberto and Lindsay and our awesome team of writers. It felt truthful in the way that she’s just so confused. Her moral compass is there and sometimes she gets lost in it. Of course, in a perfect world, we wouldn’t lie so much, but she’s doing best. She’s trying. She really is. It pains her to hurt the people that she loves because, above all, she wants to defend them. Noa is just trying to hold on for dear life and make it through.

ZARIA: Hot mess summer.

The Cast of ‘Pretty Little Liars: Summer School’ Was Genuinely Scared of Bloody Rose
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What was it like for you guys to see what Bloody Rose would look like? Archie’s mask was bad enough and absolutely nightmare inducing, and now there’s this whole new character that’s going to haunt me.

MADISON: I love it. It was fun. I was just grossed out. I also felt so bad for the beautiful stuntwoman that was underneath it because she just had one eye to see through and two little holes [for her nose].

REFICCO: I have photos of her drinking so much water with a straw.

MADISON: And the blood is so sticky. We were in upstate New York, so she had mosquitoes sticking to her. But it was so fun to see how they created that. The final product was sick.

ZARIA: It’s genuinely scary. Imagine dipping gauze in blood and wrapping it around, every time you wanted to go out. That is a crazy person. Sorry, that is someone that you do not want to mess with. It’s so much more involved than just putting the thing on. You have to wrap your head in it.

Without spoilers, which scene for each of you guys did you think was creepiest or scariest this season? What hits your own scare factor? For me, it was was the animatronic band, especially with their faces melting.

MADISON: We dipped into that set at two o’clock in the morning. Malia [Pyles] had been screaming and crawling all day, and we just had to come in and try to save her, so we were a bit delusional and hanging out with the animatronics.

REFICCO: That’s definitely underselling it. We were absolutely delusional. We were on 17 bottles of energy drinks, all of us fidgeting and shaking and trying to make it through the night. But that was really fun.

ZARIA: I am a scaredy cat, actually. I cannot watch scary things, so it’s interesting watching this show because I do know what happens, but I do still get scared. The most frightening thing that I can think of is actually a scene that I can’t talk about, but it has to do with Imogen. The way in which Bailee committed herself to the action of that scene, there were mark. She was really just going for it.

REFICCO: And you’ve gotta love Bailee Madison’s scream.

MADISON: A cute quality of Maia’s is that she just doesn’t like blood.

REFICCO: No, I hate it.

MADISON: Which is so funny because our show is covered in blood.

REFICCO: I had to stitch somebody up, and it was a real arm. It was a prosthetic, obviously, because I’m not trained to stitch somebody up, but it was on somebody’s arm and I was losing my mind. It quite literally looked and felt like I was stitching this person up. I hated it, but at the same time, once I did it, I got a kick out of it. Now, I’m a little concerned because I loved it.

ZARIA: She’s gonna be a doctor next.

REFICCO: Absolutely!

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Was it fun to get to do episode three, where you got to have a roller skating party at a roller rink? Was it fun to break up all the horrible things that are happening to these girls with something like that?

MADISON: So fun.

REFICCO: At the end of the day, they’re still teenagers. So, getting to tap into that and having fun and having these moments of young energy, it was just so beautiful to play with. We’re also such good friends, all of us, so we actually, genuinely are having the best time. We also missed Malia.

ZARIA: We also had such a fun time in the hair and makeup trailer, playing “Xanadu” on repeat at five o’clock in the morning.

MADISON: It’s also so nice this season to see the girls. That’s part of the fight, as well. It’s not just the fight to stay alive, but the fight to feel normal and to have fun. You constantly see them trying to make the best out of the worst-case scenario. Last season, we were just dark, so the fact that we can have that this season, it’s nice to see these girls laugh and smile, and then fall apart again.

Bailee Madison, Zaria & Maia Reficco Say the ‘Pretty Little Liars: Summer School’ Finale is Both Terrifying and Satisfying

How did you guys feel when you learned how the season would end? What was your reaction?

ZARIA: What’s interesting about Roberto and Lindsay’s process is that we really go on the ride, as if we were the audience. We have to wait for our scripts, and we’re itching for them. We are just as excited as the fans. So, when we found out who it was, it was such a reward because it made sense, but it was also surprising, in a very nice way, and it was gratifying. It felt like they knew exactly what they wanted from the beginning. It’s always really nice to know, even when your creators might not let you see the whole thing, that they know where you’re going.

MADISON: We still haven’t seen the finale, so it will be really exciting to see it all put together. I’m just not talking because I don’t wanna spoil anything.

REFICCO: I have the Tom Holland curse. I will spoil everything.

Do you feel like you were more surprised by the ending of Season 1, or by the ending of Season 2?

MADISON: I’m not answering that. It was different. The surprise is there. Everything you’re looking for, I truly believe they’ll give you. The finale is satisfying and super surprising, but it’s terrifying because you know something is coming. That’s what’s such fun about it.

When you’re a part of it all, does it make you any better at guessing what’s coming?

REFICCO: We were desperately guessing in the makeup chair every day. Our department heads knew, so I would drive them crazy with, “Is it this? Is it that?” I was desperate to know, and they never told me.

MADISON: Looking back, I did guess the finale last season. Before we got the scripts – spoiler for Season 1, if anyone hasn’t watched – I said to Principal Clanton, “I bet you’re a part of this.” This time, I had ideas, but I didn’t see it coming.

Pretty Little Liars: Summer School is available to stream on Max. Check out the trailer:

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