What do Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin and Riverdale have in common besides the same creator? Apparently, they’re set in the same universe!
Showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa confirmed this fun detail to TVLine after the most recent episode of Original Sin had a reference that caught fans’ attention.
While the reboot has little in common with its predecessor, other than a mysterious villain named “A” and a group of high school girls at the center of it all, the show sent two of its characters off to Rosewood — the home of the original liars — in the latest episode.
Whether this means both Pretty Little Liars shows take place in the same universe is up for interpretation — a character they interact with in Rosewood existed in the original, but is played by a different actor here. But he speaks of the Sisters of Quiet Mercy in Riverdale, referencing the shady group home several Riverdale characters have been sent to over the course of the show.
“We kind of just wrote that line in,” Aguirre-Sacasa said. “I assumed that we wouldn’t be allowed to reference Riverdale, since it’s in a completely different universe, but it stayed in. So, yeah, I guess it does exist in the same universe.”
It’s hard to say what makes up the universe of Riverdale, exactly, as over the course of six seasons, it has gone from a teen drama with occasional musical numbers to a world filled with witches and time travel. What that means for Original Sin, if anything, remains to be seen.
New episodes of Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin drop on HBO Max on Thursdays.
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