Warning: spoilers for Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin season 1 and Pretty Little Liars: Summer School ahead.
Is Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin coming back for season 3? With a not-so-new killer on the loose, the series looks far from over, but is the story really going to get a continuation? Well, we've scoured for clues on the internet to get you the most conclusive answer we can so far.
If you watched the first season of the Pretty Little Liars spinoff (and you should have), you're already familiar with our five final girls: Tabby, Noa, Imogen, Faran, and Mouse. But they've been through a lot since we last visited Millwood, Pennsylvania, and it's time to release (some of) that trauma. Season two of the show, officially retitled Pretty Little Liars: Summer School, traded the spooky fall vistas and winter coats of season 1 for pure summer energy. Think swimming pools, bikinis, lemonade stands, sunshine, and, oh, a new stalker threatening to ruin all the healing they've been attempting.
The show's first season wrapped up in late summer 2022 and received critical acclaim for its horror visuals, tone, characterization, and casting. Horror outlet Bloody Disgusting even called Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin “one of the best horror TV shows of the past two decades.” On September 7, 2022, the show's momentum was built even higher as HBO Max announced that it would be renewing the drama series for a second season, which arrived in May 2024 and wrapped in June 2024 with a major deadly return.
Based on the YA novels written by Sara Shepard, the original mystery-thriller series Pretty Little Liars riveted audiences from 2010 to 2017 with its dark, twisty plot and soapy drama, still ranking as the no. 1 series ever on Freeform, according to Deadline. Two spin-offs have been aired since the original series finale — 2013's supernatural Ravenswood and 2019's sequel series The Perfectionists —but both shows lasted only one season. Now, Original Sin is the latest installment in the PLL Universe to expand.
With Pretty Little Liars: Summer School done and dusted, now all eyes are on Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin season 3 — and whether it's happening or not. Keep reAding to find out everything you need to know about the potential season 3, or jump to your preferred section using the arrows below.
→ Renewal status
→ Plot details
→ Cast
→ Release date
→ Where to stream
Is Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin Season 3 confirmed?
At the time of writing Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin Season 3 has not been confirmed, though showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa told Deadline the team was "hopeful" the series could return while discussing the Summer School finale.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Aguirre-Sacasa and fellow showrunner Calhoon Bring also admitted the future of the show is up in the air at the moment.
“You know what we know. We love the show. We think we’re just getting started. We’re so hopeful for a season 3. I think in our minds, the same way that in season 1, Imogen was the final girl at the end, the way that Tabby was the final girl at the end of season 2 — our dream scenario would be that the show runs five seasons, so that each of the PLLs gets one last episode where they’re the ultimate, final, final girl. So we’re very hopeful and have had a lot of conversations,” Aguirre-Sacasa admitted.
What will Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin Season 3 be about?
As noted by Aguirre-Sacasa himself, Pretty Little Liars: Summer School was “almost a direct pickup" from season 1 of Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin. Both seasons saw our group of teen girls tormented by an unknown Assailant — A in season 1 and Bloody Rose in season 2 — so it's safe to assume a potential season 3 would follow the same pattern.
The finale of season 1 revealed what really happened to Angela Waters and, of course, A's identity as Archie Waters. The season 2 finale followed suit, revealing Bloody Rose as a joint “project” between Mrs. Langsberry and Wes. However, that doesn't mean everything was tied up with a bow — there are still a few loose ends left strategically by the show's writers to open up future storylines and that finale cliffhanger. Case in point: A's return.
In the finale's final scene, Dr. Sullivan (Annabeth Gish) gets brutally stabbed by Archie Waters, who was presumed to have died in prison, which definitely sets the stage for Pretty Little Liars: Original Sins season 3 should it get the green light. (A is on the loose once again, who would have thought!)
If you're a PLL fan, you know that there are always more secrets to uncover — and this could mean within the new generation of Little Liars, their parents, or within their universe. With A poised for a grand return in season 3, the girls' story could truly go anywhere.
“We start the season with Archie being arrested, and we talk a lot about Archie having the death penalty and Archie getting the electric chair. Then we talk about an off-camera prison riot in which one of the people killed in the prison riot is Archie. Then we talk about a deputy who is driving up to the jail to confirm that it's Archie's body, really, in the prison riot. And then we don't hear anything else about it. We don't hear word from the deputy. We don't hear anything,” Aguirre-Sacasa said when discussing A's return. “Lindsay and I, we talked a lot about that last beat with Archie Waters, and it was like, we can't not address where Archie Waters is. And Archie Waters can't die off-camera in a prison riot. So once you kind of lay it out like that, it's like, of course Archie Waters isn't dead. Of course Archie Waters escaped. And of course Archie Waters is killing Dr. Sullivan.”
Who is in the cast of Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin Season 3?
Judging by Aguirre-Sacasa's comment, all five members of the main quintet are expected to return should Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin be renewed for season 3. Bailee Madison, Chandler Kinney, Maia Reficco, Zaria, and Malia Pyles are committed to Imogen, Tabby, Noa, Faran, and Mouse, respectively. It's safe to assume Mallory Bechtel could also come back as Kelly Beasley.
It's safe to assume Annabeth Gish, who played Dr. Sullivan in the original series and season 2, will likely not return as she was, you know, murdered, but stranger things have happened, and flashbacks are always an option.
In April 2023, it was announced that actor Elias Kacavas (who you might have recognized as Young Cal from Euphoria season 2) was promoted to series regular. In season 1, Elias played Karen's boyfriend Greg. Minnie's love interest Ash, played by Jordan Gonzalez, was also upped to series regular in November 2022. The Little Liars' parents — Lea Salonga, Sharon Leal, Elena Goode, and Zakiya Young — could also return for S3.
On March 6, 2024, four new actors were added to the Pretty Little Liars: Summer School roster. Actors Antonio Cipriano, Ava Capri, Noah Alexander Gerry, and Loretta Ables Sayre joined the cast as Johny, Jen, Christian, and Lola.
Speaking to Deadline, Aguirre-Sacasa also teased some OG PLL cast members could return for season 3. “I think in Season 1, we made the conscious decision to reference a couple of things like Rosewood and the Radley Asylum and things like that. But we were really focused on building this version in this town of Millwood. I think Dr. Sullivan was so seamlessly integrated in Season 2. Should there be a Season 3, and we’re so hopeful, I think it would just have to feel totally organic and right. We would love it, but what would drive it is the story and it really making sense,” he said.
When could Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin season 3 air?
Let's look bAck at the timeline, shall we? Season 1 of Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin kicked off production back in spring-summer 2021, and the show debuted on HBO Max in summer 2022. With such a speedy renewal announcement, season 2 attempted to follow a similar production schedule to its first season but was delayed a bit by the Hollywood strikes during the summer of 2023.
Thanks to an IG post from series star Bailee Madison, we know that Pretty Little Liars: Summer School officially began production during the first week of April 2023. Bailee posted a set life photo dump that started with a group pic of the Liars — and Kelly!
In March 2024, EW was the first to confirm that new episodes of PLL:OS, or PLL:SS, will air on Max in spring 2024. And finally, at long last, MAX shared on April 9 that the Pretty Little Liars: Summer School release date is May 9, 2024, for the first two episodes. Judging by this timeline, Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin Season 3 likely won't arrive until the summer of 2025 earliest, if it gets renewed soon.
Where will I be able to watch Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin Season 3?
Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin and Pretty Little Liars: Original Summer School are both available to stream on Max — which also houses other teen dramas like Gossip Girl (R.I.P.) and Euphoria — but, if fan speculation is to be believed, season 3 might give the series a slight upgrade, going from Max Original to HBO show.
*We will keep updating this story as news about *Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin season 3 breaks.
