Rewriting Pretty Little Liars: Revisit - Aria AND EZRA Should've Been A
A couple years ago, I rewrote the final A reveal for the tv series Pretty Little Liars because the series finale left many PLL fans (including me) greatly confused and disappointed. When I rewrote PLL the first time, it literally gave me a headache trying to draw a cohesive storyline from the plot-hole littered source of the show, and the book series is even more disturbing and darker despite its cohesiveness - not to mention its eye-rolling cliches and cheesiness at times. I told myself back then that I was done with the show and would likely never rewrite it again.
Now, rewatching it casually for the first time in almost a decade (I literally felt the grey hairs grow out of my head), I see that the show as a whole just couldn't run as is in 2025; specifically, the ick-inducing relationship between Aria and her literal English teacher Ezra. So, I'm back at it again y'all rewriting Pretty Little Liars for a show-line that would pass the vibe check for gen z.. sorta, I guess - I mean as a zillennial I'm a sucker for nostalgia so I'm gonna outline a PLL series that honors the nostalgia of the 00's but compliments the gen z aesthetic compared to shows like Euphoria.
*disclaimer: this is like a rough TLDR version for now, I might flesh it out later but no promises
First, let's fix/rewrite the biggest problem: the Ezra/Aria relationship.
In my rewrite (fan-fiction, ig?), Ezra would be revealed to be another teenager like Aria who stole the identity of the real Ezra Fitz to pass as an English teacher. In this version of the show, Ezra's real name would be Ezra Fitzgerald (like we learn from the show) BUT he'd be a fellow high-school student who met Allison when she paraded as Vivian Darkbloom. Ezra would be brilliant and years above the literary skills/knowledge of his peers, making passing as an English teacher easy. He would still be Board Shorts, meeting Allison when she attended a summer arts/acting camp as Vivian Darkbloom (I thought this made sense in context of the whole black-and-white retro movies everyone in this show seems obsessed with; Allison wanted to be an actress, Ezra wanted to write films/direct). Allison dumps Ezra and he became kinda obsessed with her, so he moved to Rosewood to learn more about Allison and "write her story," only to meet Aria and suddenly fall in love with her instead. Ezra would be what Toby was supposed to be; stalker-ish, creepy. Ezra learns about the creepy stalker group the N.A.T. club with Allison's brother Jason to better stalk Allison, but as he falls in love with Aria and begins stalking her instead, he realizes she's A and confronts her to team up because he loves her and believes that she's a victim to Alison, and Alison should suffer for it.
Allison would be alive and would actually fulfill the redemption arc. The girl buried in her yard would be Allison's twin under the alias Bethany Young. Allison was first hit in the head with a shovel by Melissa Hastings (triggering a crash-out character arc for Spencer like Betty in Riverdale), but then she was rescued by Mona when she was secretly invited to the barn party by Hanna. As a thank you, Allison teaches Mona all her tricks and promises her she'll be "part of the group" before running away as Vivian Darkbloom. Aria would kill Bethany Young with her younger brother's field-hockey stick (wrongly implicating Ian), then her and her family would move to Iceland to try to treat her recent patterns for unhinged spontaneous violence (i.e. wrecking her dad's office, etc.).
Upon return from Iceland, Aria realizes that Mona has been become the new Alli/queen-bee and wants to join the group, so she entices Mona as A (pretending to be Alison) and instructs her to become A/take the fall for A so that she can become part of the group. Mona is revealed to be A and for the rest of the show has no clue who A is, but presumed it was Alison.
I think in this version Mona would need to actually die, but she'd visit Spencer as a ghost because the two think the same.
Aria would've killed Maya because Maya would catch A creeping around her house in the red coat (this is actually Alison trying to figure out who A is so she can return home). Before A sneaks into Radley and kills Mona, she would say "Miss Aria You're a Killer Not Ezra's Wife" because Mona has realized that Aria is A and A thinks she killed Alison, but Alison is unknowingly alive.
Aria's motive for becoming A would be to find someone to blame for Allison's death because she thinks she killed her. By finding out her friend's secrets, she manipulates them to do whatever she wants them to, all while protecting her own secrets - seeing her presumed teacher and killing who she thought was Allison. Soon the power and control becomes too addictive for her and Ezra aggravates it further as a field-study for their writing.
TBH I'm struggling to think of a motive for Aria killing Allison aside from a buildup of their frenemy shit, but actually what I think might be tea is if Aria's family decided to take her to Iceland because Allison snitched on her for her erratic/misbehavior and Allison found out that Aria was a previous Radley patient. Aria would've killed Allison to protect her secret and so that she and their friends couldn't continue being friends without her, hence why the group is suddenly forced back together when she returns from Iceland as A.
Aria would be caught by Spencer when she realizes its like Scream and there are two killers; the endgame plan for catching A would be like writing their own movie, playing into the character's motifs of vintage movie stardom. I can't think of what the smoking gun would be off the top of my head, other than maybe Spencer would reread diaries Mona wrote during her time as A and realized it's similar to the script of Aria's favorite retro movie. Maybe Spencer would use Allison's diaries to lure out A.D. by treating them like a coveted manuscript for a movie Ezra and Aria want to star in, idk.
I think it would be more cohesive to the plot if the only A reveals were Mona, then Aria and Ezra. Or, in between Mona and A.D., have CeeCee or Melissa be revealed to be recruited by A because they thinks it's Alison disguised as Vivian Darkbloom when it's actually Aria. Ultimately, the primary storyline would be about how one liar (Alison) created a monster in Aria, the prettiest littlest liar. I think in the end Aria and Ezra would be arrested by police but then escape to France to live under aliases Daisy and J Gatsby, powerless against the liars because they no longer had lies to protect, but never quite guaranteed to be gone for good; it would be like a coming-of-age story about growing out of petty lying/vengeance and maturing to trust friends/partners when hurt/threatened. A major theme would also be that people can change for good, especially from who they were in high school.
This is all for now, may or may not revisit this and elaborate more in the future, but just thought it'd be fun to readapt such iconic source material.
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It has come to my attention that there's been a spin-off series of Pretty Little Liars called Original Sin. Apparently it takes place in the same universe as the original show but not in the same town and not with the same A. Based on several reviews I've seen for the new show on YouTube and TikTok, it sounds like the show overall has mixed reviews with most die-hard PLL fans disappointed. So, I believe a re-write is in order!
⚠️TW: suicide, Sexual Assault, Drug abuse, Bullying
For context, I have not actually watched the show yet, so this is entirely based off of recap/review videos I've seen on Youtube. It sounds like Emogen is the main protagonist, and befriends the other liars in a Breakfast Club-esque detention moment. The liars have secrets and tea (one just got back from juvie, the main character was impregnated by her SA, another is a ballerina with scoliosis and tries to hide her condition for the sake of acceptance and competition, etc.) but it sounds like the primary motive for A is to enact revenge on the liars' moms because the moms let a girl [unalive] herself at a party/dance when she asked them for help. The main character Imogene's mom does the same thing in the first episode of the show after receiving an invite to a party that essentially is meant to recreate the night that the girl died on; I guess it's insinuated that the guilt from this night drove Imogene's mom to end her life (I'm trying to be tactful without using the exact verbiage because, as a SH and depression survivor myself, I know sometimes seeing the exact word can be triggering.) In this re-write universe, we'll have it follow the plot and lore of my original PLL re-write, so if you haven't read that yet GO READ THAT ONE FIRST! Anyways, it sounds like the first half of the pilot was promising, but then things fell apart from there. So, with the context in mind, let's rewrite PLL: Original Sin!
School starts and Emogen is back for the first time since the initial SA investigation from the party last spring break, roughly 6 months pregnant now. She cusses out a kid who pokes fun at her pregnancy in front of the entire class which lands her a cold seat in detention. Imogene's best friend sticks up for her, which also lands her in detention. There Emogen and her bestie meet the other liars, and after a few jokes and a mutual hatred for Karen Beasely, they sorta become friends. Then, after realizing that Karen is truly the most foul, Emogen proposes they all kill her. Initially it's taken as a dark joke, but then they discuss the hypothetical plan in more detail when one of the liars turns out to be a true-crime fanatic. After detention they dismiss the conversation, not actually planning to kill Karen but thankful to have made new friends with a mutual enemy.
The next day, Karen is killed - exactly as Emogen and the liars jokingly planned! How the hell did that happen?! The liars conduct in-house interrogations, too new of friends to be certain they can trust each other. They all follow leads to try to figure who may have killed Karen, and coincidentally they all start receiving personalized messages from A. The liars take their own leads given to them by A and meet each other per A's orchestration. A taunts them, then shows them another dead body - the school janitor. A now essentially orders the girls to cover up for A, or they'll pin the murders on them and share all of the liars' secrets (still kinda working on the red-herring motive).
But who the hell is A, and why target them? Well, ladies and gentlemen, A is for Allison, isn't it? So she has to be at least somewhat involved. When Allison ran away as Vivian Darkbloom, she didn't go far; the town Emogen and friends reside in is a hop skip and ugly little secret away. Here Allison rules the high school as queen bee, malicious and kniving as ever, under the name Vivian Darkbloom.
Vivian Darkbloom bullied and blackmailed everyone in her new town, and even recruited a group of friends to replicate her original clique back in Rosewood; a quirky artsy girl like Aria, a low-self esteem girl like Hanna - though ridiculed more for her thinness than bigness (because unfortunately haters body-shame all body types, so we ain't gonna leave our slim baddies to feel unrepresented), a smarty-pants like Spencer, and a pretty girl to love - and manipulate - like Emily.
Vivian couldn't leave the A-game alone; she missed the power and the games, she needed to feel control again. The replacement for Emily grows very close to Allison/Vivian. Her name is Bethany Young.
✨Now I know what you're thinking "CJ WHAT THE FUCK?!' But hear me out okay, this all gets hella confusing unless you read my original post about the Pretty Little Liars rewrite, so again READ THE ORIGINAL POST. And just stick w me bc shit's about to go down.
Bethany Young and Allison/Vivian become besties in this new town, and because Bethany is so much like Emily (she even has a crush on Vivian), Allison/Vivian strings her along and tells her some of her own secrets. One of those secrets is that she's actually a runaway from Radley Sanitarium, and before she moved to their town she ruled Rosewood as Allison DiLaurentis. Bethany doesn't believe Vivian/Allison at first - everyone makes fun of the 'loony bin' that is Radley - so Allison/Vivian sneaks them both in to see some of the crazy people Allison met while she was there. One of the 'crazy people' Allison met as "Aria" was Mrs. Kavanaugh, the mother of one of her classmates. Mrs. Kavanaugh was always 'so annoying' about her little Bible verses and her love for horses and the Christian farm she was raised at. Allison takes Bethany to the roof of Radley to show her the skyline of Rosewood, her home. Well Mrs. Kavanaugh catches Allison and Bethany, and Mrs. Kavanaugh realizes that Allison is who she thought was supposed to be Aria, and "Aria" escaped, so she goes to call for help to recapture "Aria" but then Allison pushes her off the roof. Bethany is shocked and mortified. Security comes running and Allison blames the incident on Bethany Young, and lies and says that she was there as a volunteer named Cece Drake and saw Bethany push her. Bethany is obtained and hospitalized, assumed guilty by her therapist Dr. Rollins because she's been having more and more violent encounters with her teammates in lacrosse at school. Allison gets away again, but Bethany's sister knows Allison/Vivian set her up - she always rubbed her the wrong way.
Bethany tells her sister the truth - about how Vivian is actually Allison and Allison used to pretend to be someone else as a patient at Radley. Bethany and her sister plot revenge on Allison by obtaining as much information as possible. Bethany's sister visits Rosewood under the name Sara Harvey.
Now things are gonna get confusing so here's what you need to know for this timeline to make sense; Alison ran away 'that night' pretending to be Aria. Allison as Aria escapes Radley, real Aria moves to Iceland. No body was found or buried 'that night'; Mona thinks she killed Allison, but has fugue memory as a trauma response to the attempted murder and forgets the night ever happened. Spencer's sister Melissa said she buried Allison to protect Spencer - she lied, she buried Allison for Mona. Then Aria pulls Allison out of the ground, Ezra drives Allison to Radley, etc. Spencer was high on pills and thought she was arguing with Allison, but she was arguing with Cece, who had the same outfit as Allison on because they were besties and loved to twin outfits. Spencer goes back inside. Obviously after this night Allison is living large as Vivian Darkbloom after she realizes Aria is abandoning her by moving to Iceland, instead of helping her escape like she had promised. Allison befriends Bethany then falsely accuses her. Bethany's sister does some investigating under the name Sara Harvey and befriends Cece Drake after a spring break trip. Sara and Cece become friends after a mutual resentment for Allison; Allison got Cece thrown out of the NAT club and put Bethany in Radley.
Melissa confides in Cece when she gets psychologically overwhelmed by the supposed murder of Allison - she needs to make sure she and Mona get away with it. So, Melissa, Sara and Cece get their faces fitted and they attempt to create Allison masks to occasionally parade as her, that way Allison's friends can see that and think Allison is alive.
One night Bethany gets frustrated and escapes Radley to confront Cece, Sara, and Melissa, who all think Allison is dead. Bethany wants to be certain that Allison is dead - she doesn't want Allison to escape her revenge when she's been sneaky with her personas already. Ian is outside watching Bethany approach the house and thinks it's Allison, so he runs to Melissa's barn house, grabs his trophy, then kills her. Cece, Melissa, and Sara see this then Cece gets an A message threatening to expose them all for the murder of Bethany and the "supposed" murder of Allison. Cece realizes that the -A signature was usually used by Allison, so she digs up the hole under the gazebo and they realize Allison was never dead. Now they gotta cover two birds with one blanket - and try to get at least one step ahead of Allison. Scared and confused, Cece goes to Jessica DiLaurentis and tells her the truth - well, part of the truth. She claims Allison disappeared because she killed a classmate, and now Cece doesn't know how to protect Allison because they found the classmate's body. Jessica agrees to protect Allison and Cece, and helps bury Bethany - Cece remembers the outfit she was twinning with Allison the night she was reported missing, so they dress Bethany in that outfit and bury her under the gazebo construction area. Jessica plans to lie to officials if the body is ever found and pretend it's Allison. Cece and Melissa vow to help Sara enact revenge on Allison via the A team, and they must first find Allison by interrogating her friends.
Skip to the timeline of Original Sin: Sara Harvey didn't die like she did in the original tv show. Instead, Emily turns her in to the police and Sara is kept in Radley after blaming her grief and remorse for Bethany to join the A team and torment the girls. She is hospitalized with Cece, who comes up with this elaborate lie to get into Radley and hopefully one day appeal to leave. Sara thinks Cece is going to help Sara leave as well, or at least escape under an alias, but she doesn't. Sara thinks Cece abandoned her, but she realizes Allison murdered Cece. Allison and Aria have already been caught and hospitalized in an undisclosed location, from which Allison supposedly escaped again. So, Sara finds the daughters of Bethany's high school friends to bring the group back together. They joke about killing their own equivalent of Allison - Karen - and Sara kills her as A. Sara torments the girls and their mothers, hoping to draw out Allison for one last hurrah before finally ending the - A urban legend by destroying Allison, Aria, and herself - who she calls Alias-on (a play on Allison).
Emogen and her friends must end the generational curse of Allison's - A reign by putting the pieces together to avenge Bethany's death.
That is what Original Sin should've been about; tie it back to the original PLL universe and maintain plot line consistency/tie up lose ends we never got answered in the original show.
