Tuesday's series finale of Pretty Little Liars provided much-needed closure for fans eager to learn exactly how the mysteries of Rosewood would be wrapped up. While a lot happened during PLL's two-hour finale — including an Ezria wedding and the reveal of not one, but two Emison babies — the biggest twist of them all was the unmasking of Uber A, a.k.a. "A.D." It turns out that Spencer's (Troian Bellisario) evil twin Alex Drake was the one wreaking havoc, much to the shock of the Liars. However, while Spencer was certainly shocked, maybe fans shouldn't have been. It turns out PLL showrunner I. Marlene King all but revealed the truth about Spencer's double in an interview — three years ago.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
Okay, to say that she "revealed" the ending of her own show is a bit of a stretch, but she certainly implied that the appearance of Twincer would be a clever twist. In an interview with The Wrap at PaleyFest in March of 2014, King was asked what her favorite fan theory she heard about A's identity was. That's when King talked about what would ultimately becoming the mythology of the show.
"Troian [Bellisario] sent me a theory the other day that I thought was amazing, and it was so well thought out. It was that Spencer has a twin, and that person is A. When I read through all of the information the person delved out, I thought 'Oh my gosh, this is a really well thought out plan, and it's kind of a good one.'"
As we all know, that was the route the show ended up going down. However, King seemingly had Uber A's identity mapped out even before she gave this interview in 2014 — which means that she was essentially giving fans a big clue that they had no idea was an actual clue. According to Bellisario's interview with Elle, the showrunner first approached her about the idea at the beginning of shooting season 5. That season began airing in March of 2014 as well — which means that King already knew what Alex Drake was up to before PaleyFest.
"I was first told [about the twin] in the beginning of season five. Marlene took me aside and told me, 'I have an idea, but I don't know if the network will let me do it...' Then she sat me down and explained this whole ending to me," Bellisario told Elle. "She said, 'You cannot tell anybody. It might not even happen.' So I sat on it for over a year. Then at the end of season six, she said, 'We're going to do it.' It was like the starting gun at the races."
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
She added:
"The conversation actually took place while I was shooting a scene. In between takes I would come back to Marlene and sit down cross-legged to hear more... I didn't even know about Mary Drake — we hadn't really introduced that character's story yet. So I didn't know about Spencer being adopted either. She had a lot to tell me."
It's not just King who clued fans into the ending of the show without them even realising it. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Bellisario admitted that she used to spill spoilers about PLL — but that fans wouldn't believe her when she gave stuff away.
"I feel like in the past I’ve definitely said the truth about some things because I knew people wouldn’t believe me," Bellisario revealed to EW. "That was the best way to keep the secret — to bluntly say exactly what would happen and then say, 'But can you ever trust me?' And because I’ve been on a show with the word 'liar' in the title, nobody believed me!"
Now that we know Alex Drake is our ultimate villain, it's clear that we should have taken these "little liars" at face value.