Pretty Little Liars: Fifteen Years Since “A’s” First Text
Written by Amy Alexander, Edited by Charlotte Lewis
Spoilers Ahead*
Some TV shows are binge-watched and forgotten. Others define your teenage years. Pretty Little Liars premiered fifteen years ago and quickly became a series of unforgettable moments. Set in the fictional town of Rosewood, Pennsylvania, the show followed four high school friends through nearly a decade of secrets, lies, mysterious encounters, and reckless choices that shaped their lives. It set the standard for dramatised teen angst, edgy fashion, and became a widely discussed pop culture phenomenon.
Based on the novels by Sara Shepard, Pretty Little Liars was one of the first shows to introduce us to the teen horror-thriller genre of the 2010s, with a core focus on secrecy and suspicion.
Each of the four main girls embodied a different archetype of suburban girlhood. Aria Montgomery (Lucy Hale) was edgy, artistic, and often naive. Spencer Hastings (Troian Bellisario) was book-smart and driven — described by many as a perfectionist. Hanna Marin (Ashley Benson) had the wardrobe of a fashion icon, a sharp tongue, and a shoplifting habit. Emily Fields (Shay Mitchell) was quiet and kind, with a subtle vulnerability, especially when it came to her feelings for Alison, the group’s Queen Bee who mysteriously vanished.
The girls drifted apart after Alison disappeared during a sleepover in Spencer's barn. They reunite after her supposed funeral when each of them begins receiving disturbing anonymous texts from a mysterious figure known only as “A.” The messages are threatening and invasive, and it becomes clear someone knows everything about them. Alison, played by a then-twelve-year-old Sasha Pieterse, is later revealed to be alive, reappearing near the end of Season 3.
Under “A”’s watchful eye, the girls endure threats, home invasions, kidnappings, and even imprisonment in life-sized dollhouses. Over time, “A” takes on multiple identities, and the stakes continue to rise. The final season was over-the-top and chaotic — full of murders, implausible twists, and long-awaited revelations. In the final episodes, the show reveals (spoiler alert) that “A” is Spencer’s secret twin from the UK, complete with an impressively bad British accent.
Despite the increasingly convoluted plot, we all kept watching. The drama, the suspense, and the iconic soundtrack made it addictive. Each week, it felt like we were stepping into a surreal parallel world. At the time, I didn’t realize I was watching a show that would become a blueprint for the teen thriller genre. It captured the paranoia of secrecy so well. Every scene with “A” lurking felt ominous — like something awful was about to unfold. It was the show for teens: dark, twisted, and completely wild in all the best ways.
Back in school, we gossiped endlessly about whether Spencer should be with Wren (Julian Morris) or Toby (Keegan Allen). We wondered if Jenna (Tammin Sursok) would get her eyesight back and finally exact her revenge. I’d stay up past 3 a.m. reading tweets, Tumblr threads, and fan forums, obsessed with fan theories that got wilder each season. Most of them turned out to be wrong; but that was the fun of it. Pretty Little Liars became a fixture in the lives of millions of teens, and fifteen years later, it’s a deeply nostalgic watch.
At the time, Aria’s relationship with her English teacher Ezra Fitz (Ian Harding) felt like the epitome of scandal. In a Hollywood Reporter interview, Lucy Hale said she would “stand behind their love story forever,” adding that the forbidden nature of the relationship drew people in. For a show that aired fifteen years ago, a student-teacher romance wasn't unusual in teen TV. Today, though, it would likely be met with more criticism.
Especially after Season 4 revealed that Ezra had known Aria was underage when they met — and that he had a secret lair where he tracked the girls. As the couple's popularity grew, the show shifted Ezra’s arc away from anything too dark, turning him into one of the show’s most beloved characters. Ian Harding later shared that he doesn’t regret their storyline, saying it felt like a “safe haven in the storm.” The two ended up married by the finale.
The show’s fashion was everything to a 2010s teen. Alison’s now-iconic yellow top, worn the night she disappeared, was identified by the Tumblr account Pretty Little Liars Fashion in 2014 as the Talula Tiered Frill Top by Aritzia. The costume team reportedly repurchased it thirteen times for filming, since Alison was “buried” more than once, and other characters also wore the same top in flashbacks.
Costume designer Mandi Line told Teen Vogue in 2013 that Aria’s style reflected her “fashion schizophrenia,” shifting between boho and edgy looks. Hanna was the trend-setter; “the girl flipping through Vogue, wanting to be the head-turner.” Emily’s style remained cool and understated, representing her quiet resilience and personal growth. Spencer’s wardrobe was described as “preppy with a twist,” perfectly reflecting her polished, yet complicated persona.
It’s hard to believe it’s been fifteen years since Pretty Little Liars first aired — a show that gave us mystery, horror, romance, and more drama than we knew what to do with. It can’t be recreated, and if you watched it when it aired, you know why. Even now, when I hear the theme song in my head, I’m tempted to rewatch and get lost in all the secrets again.
Aria, Hanna, Emily, Spencer, and Alison became cultural icons. They reflected every facet of teenage curiosity — the urge to know, to feel, to rebel, and to protect your friends. For many of us, the show was something we watched with people we loved, dissecting every detail in search of the truth behind “A.” Most of our guesses were wrong, but that was part of the thrill.
Pretty Little Liars pulled us in from the start. And now, with a new generation discovering the show, it’ll be fascinating to see if its popularity rises once more.