Janel Parrish and Sasha Pieterse share what you need to know about 'Pretty Little Liars' spinoff 'The Perfectionists'
“Pretty Little Liars'" exciting new spin-off, "The Perfectionists," premieres tonight on Freeform.
Creator and showrunner Marlene King brings PLL fans right back into a tangled web of mystery, deception and murder with the new show, and some old faces from the original loved series are even on hand to help the drama play out.
PLL series regular Janel Parrish will reprise her famous role as Mona Vanderwaal, and Sasha Pieterse will bring Alison DiLaurentis back to the screen.
The new show, based on the book series by Sara Shepard, focuses on a murder that shocks the quiet town of Beacon Heights, where Vanderwaal and DiLaurentis have both coincidentally moved to.
Ahead of the premiere, Parrish spoke to “Good Morning America” about what to expect and how the new series compares to PLL.
"It’s more evolved," she said about "The Perfectionists." "It’s darker, it’s sexier, it’s more fun, it’s more mysterious. You’ll meet some new faces that I think people are going to fall in love with."
"If you were a PLL fan it’s definitely everything that you would want from PLL, with a couple more things added on top," she added. "If you weren’t a PLL fan I think it doesn’t take long to kind of pull you into this world."
Some new faces joining the PLL family include Kelly Rutherford as Claire Hotchkiss, Sofia Carson as Ava Jalali, Sydney Park as Caitlin Martell-Lewis, Eli Brown as Dylan Walker and Graeme King as Jeremy Beckett.
"It feels like they were always a part of our family," Parrish said on the additions.
She also spoke about where Mona is at the beginning of the series, after playing the character for all seven seasons of PLL, from the premiere in 2010 to the series finale in 2017.
"You see a little bit more of a humbled Mona," she shared. "She talks about what happened in Paris. You sort of get that it’s something that was not necessarily what she wanted."
"She comes to Beacon Heights wanting a fresh start, and Allison also comes sort of needing a fresh start, and the two of them find a bond in the fact that they are both in a similar place with wanting to start over," she added.
Her character and Pieterse’s interact a lot more than they did in the original series.
"You see them develop this really sweet friendship for once," she said. "They’ve always been frenemies, but now they’re actually becoming friends."
"Sasha and I have always been super close," she said on their real-life connection. "We've known each other now for 10 years, and we never really had that many scenes together. It’s really exiting to work together way more and kind of create this relationship together."
However, the murder derails both character’s plan for a fresh start.
"She and Ally find themselves right in the middle of another murder mystery -- even though she’s trying to change a bit, you still see, with her knee-jerk reactions that she’s definitely still Mona, so she’s still that character that everybody knows, just a little bit more evolved," she said.
Parrish jumped at the opportunity to play Mona once again because of how much she's grown to love the character.
"She’s so unpredictable," Parrish shared. "I love that she has a lot of different sides to her. She kind of keeps things close to the vest. She doesn’t always tell everybody entirely what she knows, so that she can play different angles, and I think that’s really fun to play."
"She’s usually the smartest person in the room," she added. "I think she keeps me on my toes as an actress as well."
Marlene King leading the spin-off was another one of the main reasons she wanted to get involved.
"She told me a little bit what it was about, and I just trust her entirely," she said.
"I knew that she would create something as brilliant as 'Pretty Little Liars' and I was excited to not leave that world and to still play Mona, this character that I grew up playing and loved playing so much, so I was definitely both feet in," she added.
Describing King as a 'dream' to work with, she added, "she is the kindest, most nourishing person."
"I always call her 'Mama Mar,' because she's our mama -- she takes care of all of us," she continued. "I mean she was at my wedding. Professionally, I think she’s brilliant, and I love her writing. She’s the captain of our ship, and we all trust her completely."
During an appearance on GMA on Wednesday, Pieterse also shared how much she appreciates King.
"Marlene always creates characters that they can see themselves," she said of the fans of the show. "When I watch TV and movies, that's what I love too. That's relatable. Thanks to social media, we've been able to connect with people all over the world."
Parrish describes "The Perfectionists" as, "a bit of a love letter to our PLL fans as well."
"If they come with us and trust that the show stays true to the PLL world, they're gonna get just that," she said of viewers. "Fans old and new will love it.”
The duo said that PLL fans are already showing support for the show. Pieterse revealed some are even going to extreme measures to see get a glimpse of what's to come in "The Perfectionists."
"There were a couple of drones, kind of spying," she said about the filming process of the show. She added that she's run into plenty of fans who are obsessed with the show -- and not afraid to show it. One fan she met at a PLL convention even got a tattoo on his arm of her face!
"I didn't know what to say!" she said.
Check out the trailer below and tune in to the premiere tonight at 8 p.m. on Freeform.
Freeform and ABC News are both owned by parent company Disney.
