Maya Goldsmith: PLL Writer Tells All!

Glitter Magazine recently sat down with ABC Family’s hit show, Pretty Little Liars, writer Maya Goldsmith to talk all things Pretty Little Liars, “Big A,” the closing of season four and a little bit of season five. Read on and get the exclusive on all things PLL!

GLITTER: You were in charge of the last episode of PLL. We have to try to get a little bit out of you without revealing too much. Was it really hard to write that episode?

MAYA: It was very satisfying. It was great to give Aria the opportunity to have this super emotional scene. And also for Ezra too! For him to finally get a chance to finally tell her what he’s been holding back. The actors did such a great job. It was such a great opportunity to be able to write to that.

GLITTER: You and Marlene King have basically said that Ezra is not the “big A,” correct?

MAYA: Ezra has explained that everything that he was doing to survey them and keep an eye on them was towards this book. He came to Rosewood to write and falling in love with Aria became the obstacle. He didn’t realize he was going to develop such deep connections with the people he has come to talk to, to find out the truth about this girl’s disappearance.

GLITTER: Was there a reason it was Aria, or was it supposed to be?

MAYA: I really believe that you can say it was divine coincidence. As Ezra explains, he did know who all of them were. So when he saw her, he knew exactly who he was talking to. He had basically applied to be a teacher at Rosewood to get closer to Alison’s friends and find out more about Alison. But obviously, you talk about fate and he ends up falling in love with this girl. I think we have to believe that that’s a special connection. He wouldn’t have had that if he had crossed with Hanna first or Spencer.

GLITTER: Yeah. That makes sense. So we can believe what he’s saying about his story?

MAYA: I say yes. But, you are always going to have people watching who say “no.” They still don’t trust him, but everything that has been said in that conversation is true. It’s what we planned. It’s the reveal of the truth.

GLITTER: Isn’t he still technically stalking the girls? We saw him with cameras!

MAYA: Obviously him revealing why he was doing all of that isn’t going to take away anything. One of the things I was curious about on Twitter was if people think that Aria can forgive him for that. He’s not A, he wasn’t torturing them, but he was holding back this huge secret. Obviously at the time, he felt like he had to do that to get to the bottom of the story and the greater truth, and she and her fans and the fans are going to feel like that was a big betrayal. How does one come back from that? How does he redeem himself? You’ll just have to keep watching to find out!

GLITTER: Do you think he has any knowledge of who A is?

MAYA: That is a great question, and we are definitely going to be exploring that in the next couple episodes.

GLITTER: I think that people were surprised she didn’t jump at that from the beginning.

MAYA: You know, when you watch her reaction is so real and true and there is always stages to one’s reaction to a traumatic experience. The first is just SO emotional. I’m glad that we kept it to that place. I’m sure that as you keep watching, there is going to be lots of fallout from this experience. We will definitely cover all those questions.

GLITTER: Everyone is so sad that it’s coming to an end! We have to wait for Season 5!

MAYA: That’s so great. It’s so satisfying to see people so invested in these characters. I know that people get upset when we take them on the emotional ride sometimes, but we are all equally as invested in all of these characters and we want to serve them in the most authentic way possible.

GLITTER: Is there anything that you can tell fans about the next few episodes?

MAYA: I can tell them that there is lots of exciting stuff. A lot of the questions and that fans want to see, they should tune in. It’s going to be a very emotional and wild ride.

GLITTER: Does Alison still affect the girls, or are they more turning to the Ezra situation?

MAYA: I think those things go hand in hand. Ezra has revealed that he has been on the trail of this, and I think those things go hand in hand.

GLITTER: What inspires you to write these story lines?

MAYA: It’s really a team effort. We have a great room of writers. We work all these stories out together, and we are just lucky enough to have actors that are capable of giving so much. We can give them comedy, heavy emotional scenes, and they always rise to it. For Troin and Lucy to have the kind of scenes they’ve had, that requires so much. They are game, and they are always bringing all of themselves to it. We can write to that.

GLITTER: When you go back and watch the old episodes you can see everyone thinking that Ezra is such a good guy and innocent, and Ian acts that so well! He really had to change his dynamic for this season!

MAYA: A lot of that was the audience being able to project their expectations. The truth behind it is that you realize he had a lot of anxiety because he had been keeping back this secret that he was really working on for the book, and he knew he wasn’t being honest. You let the audience interpret those moments in any way.

GLITTER: Have you always wanted to be a writer? How did you get with PLL?

MAYA: I’ve always loved to write, and I’ve always loved to tell stories. I was lucky enough to meet Oliver Goldstick years ago, and I was able to work with him on Lipstick Jungle, and that was the first episode I was able to write for television was actually the series finale for that show. That’s how I was lucky enough to be brought into the PLL family.

GLITTER: Is there anything else that you want to tell fans about the show leading up to the finale?

MAYA: Like you said, we just had this huge reveal, and there is going to be a lot of fall out. There is a lot of romance, a lot of things for the fans to look forward to. It’ll be great to see how people react, and we are already starting season 5 and I’m really excited and think the fans will be too.