The Pretty Little Liars Cast reflects on the controversial age-gap relationships that defined the teen drama series.
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Pretty Little Liars, which defined PLL
Lucy Hale and Ian Harding brought to life one of TV’s most talked-about couples.
Their characters met at a bar before Aria started her junior year, not knowing that Ezra would become her English teacher.
Despite being a 16-year-old girl dating her college graduate teacher, “Ezria” became the show’s longest-running romance.
“Back then, we didn’t talk about grooming.”
Creator Marlene King put it simply, looking back. “What we know about grooming today was not a topic of our conversation fifteen years ago,” she told The Hollywood Reporter.
Even while acknowledging the problematic nature, she still believes they deserved their happy ending “because they were everybody’s favorite couple.”
Harding’s unabashed view
Ian Harding once jokingly called his character “America’s most lovable pedophile” in his 2017 book.
Now, he’s more reflective: “As society has progressed, we’ve realized how inappropriate that was.”
Still, he defends the storyline by saying it’s fiction. “Just because you show something on TV doesn’t mean you condone that behavior,” he explained.
“It sparked difficult discussions about the difference between abuse and love.”
Hale still stands by that love story
Unlike her co-star, Lucy Hale is still fully on Team Ezria. “I will always stand by their love story,” she declared.
“That story of forbidden love fascinated so many people.”
She admits her perspective has changed with age. “When I was cast as Aria, I was 19 and not thinking about bigger themes. I was just happy to be on a TV show.”
That wasn’t the only questionable age difference
“Azaria” wasn’t the only couple that crossed boundaries.
Spencer Hastings (Troian Bellisario) had relationships with older men, while Sasha Pieterse was just 12 when filming began, and had to work with much older actors.
Peterse, now a mother herself, muses: “When I look back, I think, ‘How did I feel filming that?’ I always felt safe.
But it’s weird because those stories still feature minors, even though most of the actors were over 18.”
The cast’s mixed feelings reflect how audiences viewed these relationships – problematic but fascinating.
As King so aptly put it: “We were definitely crossing a line that I wouldn’t cross now, but I also don’t want to take away what they had between them.”