Has Janel Parrish Already Solved Pretty Little Liars' Murder Mystery?!

We chatted with the PLL star after last night's heartbreaking finale, which saw the death of a fan-favorite

By Lauren Piester Aug 27, 2014 6:30 PMTags
Janel Parrish, Pretty Little LiarsABC FAMILY/ERIC MCCANDLESS

Good morning, Pretty Little Liars fans! Before we begin, we're issuing a spoiler alert for fans who have yet to  watch Tuesday night's episode, which featured the death of a major character. Avert your eyeballs now!

Like many of you, we're still reeling over the death of Mona Vanderwaal in the summer finale. Right after she had finally begun to prove that she could be trusted (and we had finally started to like her), Mona was murdered by a mysterious black-clad someone whose only known feature is a head full of long, familiar-looking blonde hair. The police didn't find a body in Mona's totally trashed house, but they did find a lot of blood and signs of an obvious struggle. We almost had hope, but when Mona's clearly dead body was shown in the trunk of A's car, all of our hopes were dashed.

We momentarily put our grief aside this morning to chat with Janel Parrish all about Mona's untimely demise and why we haven't seen the last of her on the ABC Family hit series. Plus, she even clued us in on who she thinks may have murdered Mona. Read on to find out!

E! Online: That episode was heartbreaking!
Janel Parrish: It's a really sad ending, but you know what? She went out with a fight, so I'm proud of her.

When did you find out about your death?
I found out the day before the table read, so Marlene [King] gave me a call and said, "Hey, you're about to get the script, you're gonna see it, I just want you to know this is happening, but don't worry, you still have a job in flashbacks, now." So it's sad, but I'm also excited that I'm still going to be on the show, and I think it's gonna be great to show more backstory as far as Mona's concerned. So I think it's actually going to be really, really fun.

Do you know who murdered you, and if not, do you have a theory?
I don't have an exact answer, because the writers are so good about keeping secrets, but I think my theory is the same as everybody's that it's Alison. And she looked pretty smug outside my house, so I think it's her. 

ABC FAMILY/Ron Tom

Do you have a favorite ridiculous fan theory?
I've heard a lot of theories. My favorite ridiculous theory is that it's one of the girls. How would they do that? And like, why would they do all these things to themselves? It wouldn't make any sense. But you know, it's a fun out-there theory. I don't think it really makes any sense that it's any of the four girls who are being bullied by A.

Was it gratifying to get to a point in Mona's journey where everyone was actually sad to see her go?
Yeah, it was really, really nice because, you know, the episodes leading up to the finale, I was getting a lot of tweets being like, "You're such a bitch, I hate you, you're a terrible person," regarding Mona. I was like, "Nooooo! They don't like me!" And then this past episode, once it aired and Mona really redeemed herself and she convinced the girls to trust her and then she proved that she was on their side, then I got a lot of tweets of people being like, "No, I just finally started liking your character and then you died and I'm sad." I was like, "Oh that's sad, they love me!" I hate to say it, but I was actually really happy that people were sad about my death. 

ABC FAMILY/ERIC MCCANDLESS

Do you have a favorite fan interaction?
Yeah, I'm lucky. Usually when I go out in public, people are happy to see me and excited and aren't scared or confrontational about my character so that's great. The only negative interaction I've ever had with fans has been on Twitter, and it's usually more directed towards Mona than to Janel, which is good. It just means that I'm doing my job.

Do you have a favorite Mona moment?
I always love Madhouse Mona, because anything at Radley Sanitarium is just so creepy and I love it when the show has that creepy, dark aspect to it. I think it makes it different than a lot of the other shows out there in our category. So yeah, I love those moments.

What is your favorite episode?
I like the episode "Unmasked," the season two finale where I'm unmasked as the first A. I think it was just such a fun episode. It was important, it was the first time you see A with a face, and I think it had such a big impact on the show.

 Was there any sort of send-off to living Mona on set?
I think a lot of people were sad, a lot of people were like, "No, we love Mona!" But again, I'm not going anywhere, so it's not too sad. It's just gonna be different, which I'm totally down for.