‘Pretty Little Liars’ Spinoff ‘The Perfectionists’ Officially Coming to Freeform

Pretty Little Liars ended almost a year ago, but Freeform is bringing the franchise back with a spinoff called Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists.

The Disney-owned network announced on Monday that the project was picked up straight-to-series and will debut in 2019. The first season will consist of 10 episodes. The pilot was already filmed, so Freeform released a teaser, seen above.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Perfectionists started as a separate series in 2014, and is based on a Sara Shepard book. Since PLL is based on a different Shepard book, Freeform decided to redevelop it as a spin-off after PLL ended.

The Perfectionists is set in the seemingly perfect town of Beacon Heights and three overachieving college students. After the first-ever murder in the town, the students’ secrets, lies and alibis come to the forefront.

The PLL connection comes from Sasha Pieterse, who will play Alison DiLaurentis again. In PLL, Alison’s disappearance rocked Rosewood and provided the launch point for the series. Janel Parrish will also play Mona Vanderwaal again. Sydney Park will play the third “perfectionist,” Caitlin, who dreams of following her mother into politics.

Eli Brown, a newcomer, will play Dylan, a gifted cellist who loves music and his boyfriend, Andrew.

Franchise newcomers Sofia Carson, Graeme Thomas King, Kelly Rutherford and Hayley Erin round out the cast.

Rutherford of Gossip Girl will star as the matriarch of the Hotchkiss family, who founded the respected Beacon Heights University. General Hospital veteran Erin has a mysterious, unknown role.

I. Marlene King, the creator and showrunner for PLL, wrote the pilot and will executive produce The Perfectionists with PLL veterans Charlie Craig, Lisa Cochran-Neilan and Leslie Morgenstein. Gina Girolamo (The 100) is also an executive producer on the series. It is produced by Alloy Entertainment, Long Lake Media and Warner Horizon Scripted Television.

Shepard’s The Perfectionists was published in 2014 and followed by the 2015 sequel The Good Girls. She also wrote The Lying Game, which inspired a short-lived ABC Family series of the same name.

Pretty Little Liars ran on ABC Family and Freeform from 2010 to 2017 for seven season and 160 episodes. The series also starred Lucy Hale, Shay Mitchell, Troian Bellisario and Ashley Benson.

Freeform is also the home of the Black-ish spinoff Grown-ish, Young & Hungry, an upcoming spinoff of The Fosters and the upcoming Marvel series Cloak & Dagger.

Photo credit: ABC