The actress in now starring in a new thriller, 'Borrego.'
Lucy Hale is expressing gratitude for Pretty Little Liars. ET's Denny Directo spoke with the 32-year-old actress in support of her new flick, Borrego, and Hale was shocked to learn that the five-year anniversary of the PLL finale is right around the corner.
"Well, now I feel old, because I thought it was three years ago. But what has the last two years been, anyway?" Hale told ET, alluding to quarantine and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. "I'm confused. Wow. That's really humbling."
Hale starred as Aria Montgomery on the Freeform series, from its premiere in 2010 to its finale in June 2017. The experience, she said, "changed my life."
"[I'm] grateful for it. Grateful for all it brought to me," she said. "I now get to do all different types of roles because of that show. I'll never forget that. I'll always have gratitude for that."
Back in September 2020, HBO Max announced that it's given a direct-to-series order to a new PLL series. Titled Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, the show, which will be helmed by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Lindsay Calhoon Bring, will take place in a new town, with new secrets and new Little Liars, but remain in the PLL universe. Chandler Kinney, Maia Reficco, Bailee Madison, Zaria and Malia Pyles are set to star.
"I'm excited for this new group of girls. I hope it does well. I really do," Hale told ET. "I think people want me to be upset about it and I'm stoked for them. I want to watch. It's exciting."
As for the advice she'd offer the new Little Liars, Hale said, "Just enjoy it. Your life's going to change. Just soak it all in. I wasn't always that way. I was always thinking 10 steps ahead, so I would miss out on moments. Ride the wave. Stay around good people."
Given her excitement for the upcoming series, Hale said she "totally would" appear on the reboot if asked. "I mean, if they were like, 'Lucy, do you want to play a mom?' I'm like, 'I'm not quite that old yet. OK?'" she quipped.
For now, though, Hale is focused on Borrego, which will hit theaters and be available on demand Jan. 14. The thriller follows Hale's Elly after she's kidnapped in the Borrego desert and must fight to survive.
"We shot this in Spain. It was an amazing Spanish crew. We had a handful of people from the States and we all rolled up our sleeves and we were like, 'Let's go make this crazy movie,'" she said of the film, which she also produced. "We knew it would be blood, sweat and tears, nights, running. I pulled a muscle the first day in my leg... It was cold, it was hot, it was emotional; just challenging in all the right ways. That just made it so rewarding. We had a blast."
As for what attracted her to the project, Hale said she was "just really moved by the story."
"I was really moved by Elly's storyline, because I saw a lot of myself in her... I just thought the characters, who were all so drastically different, all had so much in common," she told ET. "I just thought that was a beautiful message: people from different walks of life, we all hurt, and we all run away, and we all are desperate for human connection... I think that we forget how much we have in common as human beings, and I think we need that more than ever now."
Borrego will hit theaters and be available on demand Jan. 14.
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