Pretty Little Liars: A Reboot Will Destroy The Legacy
Let’s get this out the way early. There is no reason to reboot Pretty Little Liars. Yes, loyal fans will come back but wasn’t that the idea with Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionist? After one season, that show was canned. A good reason for that may have been there were only two original cast members from PLL.
Now there are talks that the once-popular show will get a reboot and fans are torn. The reason for that is, it’s hard to perfect perfection. Nevermind what went down the last season or with the finale. Pretty Little Liars is still a show that will be talked about for ages.
Doing a reboot now will do nothing but weaken the legacy in which the original show stands on.
What made PLL such an entertaining show was their ability to keep all secrets and the big reveal hidden. In a reboot, fans will know what to look for and may study the scenes even harder. The element of surprise is now gone.
Of course, there will be a new “A” under disguise but will he/she be as good as the original? Looking at a new cast seems smart but will there ever be another Aria, Spencer, Emily, Hanna, or Alison? A reboot hinges on the success of a well-written script and an element of surprise.
It’s been tried with Ravenswood and The Perfectionist. Neither show made it past their first season. Fans of PLL are all about the originals. For 7 seasons, viewers identified with that cast. To ask those same loyal followers to fall in love with another team may be asking too much.
There is a reason why a show like Lost never had a spinoff or did a reboot even at the height of their popularity or request from fans. Shows like that just need to remembered as a moment in history.
Pretty Little Liars fits that bill. It’s a show that offered great acting, awesome storylines, and a mystery that lasted its entire run. It’s just hard to duplicate that type of success.
Even if the original cast does agree to come back for cameos, adding new characters and an entire new storyline will destroy what the show built. If it’s successful then that’s good but if it fails as the others did, that’s what will be remembered about Pretty Little Liars. Four shows and one hit. That’s not the legacy any show wants to leave behind.
Mark has been covering Sports and Entertainment for the past six years. His work has been featured on Bleacher Report, ESPN, Fox Sports, Teen Vogue, and many other websites.
