Pretty Little Liars: Summer School: ‘A’ New Villain Hunts the Girls in Full Trailer — Plus, Look Who’s Back!

The survivors of Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin are gearing up for a cruel summer on Max, as revealed in the just-released trailer for the series’ long-awaited return.

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Now called Pretty Little Liars: Summer School, the new season will premiere with two episodes on Thursday May 9, TVLine has learned. After that, individual new episodes will be released weekly, with the finale streaming on June 20.

Picking up shortly after the events of Season 1, the show will continue to draw inspiration from classic horror movies, with this summer-set season giving off Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Midsommar vibes at times, according to a recent interview with co-showrunners Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Lindsay Calhoon Bring. Overall, “the scares are a bit bigger, and badder and bolder” for the residents of Millwood this time around.

And as you’ll see in the trailer, summer brings all sorts of fun developments to Millwood — new jobs, new relationships and, of course, new dangers. (And did someone say Dr. Sullivan?)

Read on for a breakdown of everything we’ve learned about Pretty Little Liars: Summer School thus far, complete with first-look photos of returning characters, fresh faces and even the season’s new killer. When you’re done, drop a comment with your hopes for your summer in Millwood.

When Does Pretty Little Liars: Summer School Premiere?

When Does Pretty Little Liars: Summer School Premiere?
When Does Pretty Little Liars: Summer School Premiere?

Pretty Little Liars: Summer School will drop May 9 on Max with two episodes. After that, new episodes will stream weekly through June 20.

Who Is Returning to Pretty Little Liars: Summer School?

Who Is Returning to Pretty Little Liars: Summer School?
Who Is Returning to Pretty Little Liars: Summer School?

Don’t worry, even though there are some major changes coming to Pretty Little Liars this season, returning viewers will still be greeted by a handful of familiar favorites.

For starters, the core Liars — Bailee Madison as Imogen, Chandler Kinney as Tabby, Zaria as Faran, Malia Pyles as Mouse, Maia Reficco as Noa and Mallory Bechtel as Kelly — will all be back for more fun and games.

In addition to Alex Aiono as Shawn, we’ll also be seeing more of Jordan Gonzalez as Ash and Elias Kacavas as Greg, both of whom have been promoted to series regulars this season.

And what would this show be without those #PLLMoms? Unless we hear otherwise, we’re expecting (or at least hoping for) more appearances from the previous generation of Liars.

Who Is Joining Pretty Little Liars: Summer School?

Who Is Joining Pretty Little Liars: Summer School?
Who Is Joining Pretty Little Liars: Summer School?

Millwood will be welcoming several new faces this summer. But can any of them be trusted? That’s a question for another day. Here’s a breakdown of who you can expect to meet this season:

* Ava Capri (Do Revenge) as Noa’s former juvie cell mate Jen, who lands back at school among the titular Liars and draws Noa into her messy drama.

* Antonio Cipriano (National Treasure: Edge of History) as Johnny, a self-described player who melts Imogen’s heart while working alongside her at Millwood’s Ice Creamery.

* Noah Alexander Gerry (Station 19) as Christian, a New York transplant who works with Tabby at the Orpheum, where they strike up a romance straight out of a horror flick.

* Loretta Ables Sayre (The White Lotus) as Lola, Mouse’s grandmother who becomes concerned when she gets involved in a creepypasta-like online community.”

What Is Pretty Little Liars: Summer School About?

What Is Pretty Little Liars: Summer School About?
What Is Pretty Little Liars: Summer School About?

Honestly, the better question would be: What isn’t this season about? The Liars and those in their orbit will find themselves up to their A’s in drama this season, including..

* Imogen will find romance with Johnny, her coworker at an ice cream shop in Millwood, with whom she has an “instant attraction” in Episode 3.

* Tabby will learn to let her guard down upon meeting fellow cinephile Christian, who brings much-needed sweetness into her life after enduring such a dark experience.

* Noa will explore “unspoken and unresolved affection” with Jen, a girl from her past with whom she’s about to have a present-day fling. From the moment they reunite in Millwood, it’s “obvious that there are deeper feelings there.”

* Mouse will become dangerously invested in a creepypasta-style website called SpookySpaghetti, which takes her on “scary and dangerous adventures.” She and Ash are “stronger than ever and fully in love,” but Mouse’s obsession with lore about Archie Waters will certainly test that strength.

* Faran will spend her summer as the only female lifeguard at a pool, where she’ll develop an “affectionate rivalry” with Greg.

* Speaking of Greg, he and Kelly will get involved with a youth group, ultimately uncovering the dark side of a “fringe, non-denominational church” in town. The EPs promise “strangely comedic gold” from the duo’s misadventures, which pave the way for a “powerful storyline.”

Who Is the Villain of Pretty Little Liars: Summer School?

Who Is the Villain of Pretty Little Liars: Summer School?
Who Is the Villain of Pretty Little Liars: Summer School?

Summer School will pit the Liars against an “apocalyptic, terrifying” female villain known as Bloody Rose, someone who will “test every one of the girls,” sending them on their own individual journeys. As Bring explains, “the mythology of the look of her face is very tied to into the mythology of the show, and that’s something that [we’ll] reveal a bit later in the season.”

“We knew we had to make a villain scarier than ‘A,’ and it was pretty scary in Season 1,” Aguirre-Sacasa says, with Bring dropping one more little nugget: Bloody Rose is “possibly connected to Archie Waters, as we’ll learn early on in Episode 1.”

Which Legacy Pretty Little Liars Characters Are Returning?

Which Legacy Pretty Little Liars Characters Are Returning?
Which Legacy Pretty Little Liars Characters Are Returning?

Just as Original Sin contained several references to the original Pretty Little Liars series — from the appearance of Radley’s own Eddie Lamb to the finale’s Aria/Ezra adoption reveal — so too will Summer School drop Easter eggs for longtime fans of the franchise. Pretty huge Easter eggs, actually.

For starters, Annabeth Gish will recur as the Liars’ therapist Dr. Sullivan, making her the first actress from the original ABC Family/Freeform series to appear in Max’s reboot.

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