Exclusive

Pretty Little Liars Postmortem: Marlene King Spills on [Spoiler!]'s Murder, Ezra's Shocking Sacrifice and Season 5 Secrets!

Exclusive! Read on for jaw-dropping details about tonight's jaw-dropping episode from the executive producer.

By Leanne Aguilera Mar 19, 2014 1:00 AMTags
Pretty Little Liars, FinaleABC FAMILY/Eric McCandless

WARNING: We're about to recap the season four finale of Pretty Little Liars and spill some serious scoop on what's ahead. If you don't want to know, we suggest moving to Ravenswood. For everyone else, let's discuss!

What the $^#&! just happened?!

Tonight's season four finale of Pretty Little Liars promised fans an action-packed, answer-filled hour of heart-pounding thrills—and that's exactly what we got! We know that many of you are still trying to process the avalanche of answers that just suffocated you so here are the episodes' biggest twists and turns…

Spencer (Troian Bellisario) did not hurt Ali (Sasha Pieterse) the night she dissapeared. However, someone didcome up behind Ali and knocked her unconscious with a rock. Mrs. DiLaurentis witnessed the entire thing and then proceeded to bury her daughter in the backyard—she just didn't know that Alison was still alive! It appears that Melissa Hastings (Torey DeVitto) was actually the one who killed that poor girl that is now buried in Ali's grave. The episode ended with a shocking "A" confrontation, and although we did not discover who was behind the mask, Ezra (Ian Harding) did get shot in an effort to protect the girls! 

To help clarify some of the night's most jaw-dropping moments and find out what's ahead, we chatted with executive producer (and keeper of the secrets!) Marlene King. Read on for exclusive answers about Ezra's (Ian Harding) true intentions, who Mrs. DiLaurentis (Andrea Parker) was trying to protect, __ and more!

Many fans have been wondering if Ezra could ever redeem himself for all the lies and deceit he has put Aria (Lucy Hale) through. Tonight, when he literally took a bullet for the girls, was this his first step toward redemption?
Marlene King:
For me, when I see that scene on the roof, where he takes a bullet for these girls and Aria's reaction to him falling on the ground it's just so real. I think that you see that she still loves him. She can acknowledge that he has betrayed her in a huge way, and maybe the start of their relationship was built on a built on a lie, but you can see that there is still so much love there. So that says a lot moving forward.  

Not to always play Devil's advocate, but is it possible that Ezra taking the bullet for the girls was staged between him and "A"?
I never rule anything in or out, but I will say that Ezra's motives for his lair were definitely to write the book and then it did become finding A. He started writing the book and then he realized that "A" is still out there, and there was a shift in his motives and he wanted to find "A" before "A" hurt the Pretty Little Liars.

ABC FAMILY/Eric McCandless

So recently Ezra has been trying to help protect the four girls?
I think he's been very proactive. I think you'll realize that he has hired private detectives, he has put security systems in place—all of those cameras were to watch those girls to keep them safe.

Before Ezra was shot, Hanna (Ashley Benson) was holding the gun and we all know she doesn't have the best of luck with the Rosewood P.D. Could Hanna's fingerprints on the gun come back to haunt her next season?
I don't know, that's a good question. I wouldn't assume just yet. I love that scene though—the girls are so kickass and it was just really fun.

We can only imagine how shocked fans are going to be when they find out, in those last few seconds, that Mrs. DiLaurentis has been killed. Does this have anything to do with the person Mrs. D. was covering up for when she, unknowingly, buried her daughter alive?
When she's doing it, she's crying and she's saying, 'What have you done? What have you done?' So the girls say in the episode...well, Spencer of course says, 'You're mother was protecting someone, but who?' So we don't know the answer to that.

ABC FAMILY/Eric McCandless

Immediately our first reaction is that she is protecting Jason, are we wrong?
That's the go-to, the immediate go-to would be Jason, but as you know, nothing is as straight forward as it seems.

Looking ahead, what can fans expect from this summer's season five premiere?
I will say the June premiere really feels like it's a two-parter. It feels like a finale. It feels like just sixty more minutes of the finale, and I think the ride just keeps going. It's going to be a very big season in general and I think there will definitely be a big reveal in the 100th episode—it's going to be an emotionally epic episode.

We know that Ali (Sasha Pieterse) is finally going to be moving back to Rosewood, what can you tease for the little liar's grand debut?
It's spectacular. It's so much fun. It's such an added layer of depth to the show that we haven't had the opportunity to explore and she's been gone two years. Her character has changed very much. She's gone through a lot. So I think season five really is about has she really changed? Can people change, or do they just revert back to who they were before? It's a lot of secrets. So many secrets.

How on Earth is Ali going to be able to explain the fact that she supposedly died two years ago to her peers and residents of Rosewood?
Yeah well she's going to have to come up with a pretty good story. It's really actually a very fascinating thing. We're breaking those stories now and there's a fascinating twist in the second episode of what that story is and how it comes about.

Season five of Pretty Little Liars will premiere Tuesday, June 10.

What did you think of tonight's mind-blowing season four finale?

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