We at SheWired have a not-so-secret obsession with Pretty Little Liars, largely (though not entirely) due to the burgeoning lesbian storyline of one of the four main characters, Emily Fields. (Check out our weekly Gay-Caps if you’re late to the PLL party.)
AfterEllen.com’s Assistant Editor Heather Hogan got to chat up the intoxicating actress who portrays Emily and is happy to report, “Whenever I ask someone from the Pretty Little Liars set to describe Shay Mitchell, they all say the same thing: ‘She’s as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside.’” SWOON!
Check out some choice selections from the AE interview, where Mitchell dishes on young out Emily’s lesbian love life prospects, the new secrets of season two, and why she’s not concerned with the thought of ‘typecasting’ after playing a lesbian.
Get ready to love Shay Mitchell even more than you already do:
AE: I talked to Marlene last week, and she said this is a big season for you because “A” is coming after Emily, guns blazing.
SM: Oh my God, yes. He/she/it/whatever is just after Emily this season. Every time we have a read-through, everyone’s like, “Aww, Emily.” It’s so intense. Emily came out, so A can’t threaten her with that anymore, so now he/she is like, “Fine, I’ll just shoot all my missiles at Emily.”
AE: Is that fun for you as an actor?
SM: Oh, definitely. It is so friggin’ creepy. I don’t know what I’d do if I was Emily in real life, probably just buy a plane ticket and run away to an island somewhere, just leave everyone behind and get the heck out of there!
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AE: Where’s Emily’s love life headed this season?
SM: Well, we’re definitely going to get to see more of Samara. But the potential move to Texas may bring even more women into Emily’s life. You know what I want to see for Emily? And this is what I loved about your last recap when you were saying she never gets to finish anything! I want Emily to find someone she can share a running, leaping kiss in the sunset with, like Ezra and Aria had in the last episode. When I saw that scene, I was like, “Oh! I want that for Emily!” And it will happen for Emily, I know it will. I was talking to Marlene about it, and I was like, “That was so beautiful! I need that to happen for Emily! Come on!”
AE: I really love that Emily is dating and having a good time. That’s never, ever something we get to see on TV. Usually the lesbian characters get a love interest for one or two episodes. But Emily’s love life is just as important on the show as the other Liars’.
SM: I love that, too. Marlene takes such good care of her characters — when she’s not letting “A” try to murder us! I think one reason Emily is reluctant with Samara is she knows what it felt like when Maya left, and she doesn’t want to have that kind of heartbreak again. And she doesn’t want to inflict it on another person. I don’t think Emily’s a player, even though some times I’m like, “Hey, Marlene! Who’s my next girlfriend?!”
AE: You know, 10 years ago, straight actresses who played lesbian characters always talked about being worried about being typecast or branded as a lesbian. But that just hasn’t crossed your mind at all, has it?
SM: Of course not. Why would it? What’s the difference between a gay person and a straight person, really? Who you’re attracted to? Who cares. I really think that the world is heading in that direction too, that they’re starting to understand that love is love. Someone asked me the other day if I would play another lesbian character on TV or in a movie, and I was like, “Uh, yes? That’s not even a question.” I love Emily. I am so lucky to be playing a character as awesome as her.
For more about the fate of the PLL’s against ‘A’ this season, Emily’s love life with the ladies, and her U-Stream sensation, The Buttah-Benzo Show, read the full interview on AfterEllen.com now.
Relive the season 1 fun with all of our PLL Gay-Caps now.
