Sharon Leal and the ‘Pretty Little Liars: Summer School’ Creators Break Down the First Episode

Sharon Leal brings the character of Sidney Hawthorne to life on Pretty Little Liars: Summer School, a series created, written, and executive produced by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Lindsay Calhoon Bring. New episodes will be released weekly, Thursdays through June 20 on Max. This interview will contain spoilers for 2×01.

Following the harrowing events of Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, our Pretty Little Liars face a fate worse than death — summer school. However, Millwood High isn’t the only thing getting in the way of their fun summer jobs and new, dreamy love interests. A new villain, who may or may not have a connection to A, has come to town and is going to put them all to the test.

“When you see them at the beginning of season two, everyone’s just high stress. I think Sidney’s just like, ‘is everyone okay,’ kind of thing, right? Everybody’s PTSD is on high levels,” Leal told me. “I feel like the tone is, and you’ll see it when you watch the second season, just the way it looks, it’s vibrant. You’re hoping that the girls have come out of this dark place and into the sun, and she’s just there to go, ‘I’m happy you don’t hate me and you still love me.’”

“After season one and after we’d gotten renewed for season two, [one of the biggest discussions] was are we going to continue with A as our villain the way Michael Myers continues to be the villain in Halloween and Jason continues to be the villain in Friday the 13th Part 2 through infinity? One of the things Lindsay and I said was that in those movies, it’s the killer who is the continuity. Every movie, you meet a new group of teenagers, but for our show, the teen girls, the Pretty Little Liars, they’re the continuity,” Aguirre-Sacasa explained. “So we thought, ‘Oh, let’s put the challenge of introducing a new villain.’ That said, we loved A. We loved the actor who played A and we didn’t want to kill them off.”

Calhoon Bring added, “We also loved sort of keeping A out there as a threat. So while this cast of characters are grappling with a new horror villain, we’re still stressed because A is a superhuman being, and who knows what A might do while he’s awaiting his execution.”