‘Pretty Little Liars’: 7 Secrets Revealed in ‘5 Years Forward’ Special

ABC Family series returns with a five-year time jump Jan. 12 at 8 p.m.

PRETTY LITTLE LIARS – “Pretty Little Liars: 5 Years Forward” – In advance of the celebrated return of the hit original series “Pretty Little Liars,” the cast and crew sit down to discuss the highly anticipated series time jump with “Pretty Little Liars: 5 Years Forward,” a one-hour behind-the-scenes special airing Tuesday, November 24 at 8:00 – 9:00 PM ET/PT. (ABC Family) LUCY HALE, ASHLEY BENSON, TROIAN BELLISARIO, SHAY MITCHELL

Fans will have to wait until January for the winter premiere of “Pretty Little Liars,” but ABC Family shared a taste of the show post-time jump in Tuesday’s special.

Featuring interviews with the cast and the show’s production team, “Pretty Little Liars: Five Years Forward” teased the show’s new mysteries, broken relationships and darker tone for the second half of Season 6, which debuts Jan. 12.

Find the seven biggest revelations from the hourlong special below:

The couples are on the rocks
Hanna and Caleb moved to New York together during the time jump, but she’s engaged to another guy when the show returns for Season 6B; Spencer and Toby fell apart when she moved away for school and he stayed back to join Rosewood’s police department; and Aria and Ezra went their separate ways in the midseason finale, and she’s seeing someone else entirely after the time jump.

Emily “comes back with the biggest secret”
The girls have gone their separate ways after high school, and when they return after five years, they’re all changed by it. But showrunner I. Marlene King promised that Emily has the most to hide when she moves back to Rosewood from California. That is the only thing she let slip — though, what that secret is and how it’ll come into play when the show resumes went unsaid.

Ezra has “the most emotional baggage”
Emily isn’t the only one who has hit some tough times during the time jump. If she has the biggest secret, King said Ezra is the “most damaged.” And according to Ian Harding, he’s turned to the bottle to help him deal with that baggage.

Radley is a hotel now
Radley Sanitarium, the backdrop for some of the show’s most dramatic moments across its four-and-a-half seasons, is no longer the mental institution that housed Charlotte and Mona, among others. Five years later, it’s under new ownership and been renovated into a hotel.

The moms did not die in the basement
Though there was no official explanation for how the Liars’ moms got out of the basement, the special did confirm that they survived the capture. The actresses behind the moms also offered their own theory for how they got out: Surviving off of the DiLaurentis family wine and scotch, they were eventually discovered, either by a shocked Mr. DiLaurentis or their concerned daughters.

Ashley Benson chose the show’s theme song
During filming on the show’s pilot, it was Ashley Benson who suggested that “Secret” by The Pierces should be the show’s theme song. “People think that song was written for our show because it’s so perfect,” King said.

The stakes are life and death
With the “A” mystery wrapped up, King promised that the new mystery would take the show in a more adult direction. When the Liars start receiving anonymous messages again, it’s clear that there’s more at stake than their reputations and high school boyfriends.

“Because it’s life or death so quickly, you guys fight back right away,” King said to the show’s stars. “You’re not victims.”

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