ABC Family’s Pretty Little Liars spinoff, Ravenswood, has been coming together over the past couple of months. About a week ago, the show finally made its first casting move, announcing Pretty Little Liars regular Tyler Blackburn would be moving to the network’s new series. Now, Ravenswood producers have signed on The L.A. Complex’s Brett Dier and newcomer Elizabeth Whitson to play regular roles in the new show.
Dier has had plenty of acting experience, most notably in The L.A. Complex, but also in guest roles on shows as varied as V and Emily Owens M.D.. In Ravenswood, he’ll play a twin named Abel who is described as a “lone wolf.” Whitson has had less lengthy acting experience. Her character, Olivia, is Abel’s twin sister who used to be “carefree and happy,” but who has suffered hardship and who has changed because of that hardship. The two characters will appear in the Pretty Little Liars Halloween episode next fall before appearing on Ravenswood.
We haven’t gotten a ton of plot news about the new series, but according to a network press release, the show will follow five youngsters who get caught up in solving the mystery of the same curse. I’ve never been a big fan of PLL, but the title and the plot synopsis for Ravenswood sounds far more intriguing.
TV spinoffs are super trendy right now. Between CBS’ possible NCIS: Los Angeles spinoff, ABC’s potential Once Upon A Time spinoff, and the CW’s already picked-up The Originals pilot (a spinoff of The Vampire Diaries), network television is flush with spinoffs and it's not a real surprise that a cable network like ABC Family would want to give a spinoff of the successful Pretty Little Liars series a go. What’s a little more surprising is that ABC Family is moving forward with Ravenswood without even bothering to put out a pilot and give the show a test run. That’s a lot of confidence in the new program, but good news for actors like Dier and Whitson, who have already signed on.
