Prime Video's We Were Liars season 1 sucked me in from the first episode this summer. After waiting months for renewal news, the streamer has renewed the mystery thriller created by Julie Plec and Carina Adly MacKenzie for a second season. The show is based on E. Lockhart's bestselling 2014 novel by the same name.
This article contains spoilers from We Were Liars books and show.
Lockhart confirmed that MacKenzie and Plec have "big, big plans for season 2, including everything readers of my books are dying to see onscreen - and a lot of surprises."
The ending also gives a "tip of the hat" to Lorkhart's prequel story, Family of Liars. Hopefully, that's the direction the series is headed. As Plec and MacKenzie shared, there's "still plenty of Beechwood Island secrets," and we know it started long before "The Liars" were born.
We Were Liars season 1 recap
We Were Liars stuck as closely to the book as possible, in my opinion. As someone who didn't read the books first, the ending gutted me. I sat in shock after the truth came to light and almost missed the nod to Family of Liars. The final minutes left me wanting more, which led me to the books. Finally, after waiting months, Prime Video renewed the show, and we'll finally see those stories onscreen.
Cadence Sinclair Eastman (Emily Alyn Lind), Gat Patil (Shubham Maheshwari), Mirren Sinclair Sheffield (Esther McGregor), and Johnny Sinclair Dennis (Joseph Zada), known as "The Liars," experience the highest highs and the lowest lows during the summertime. Every year, since summer 8, the four of them have run around their grandfather's (Harris Sinclair, portrayed by David Morse) New England private island of Breechwood, causing trouble and making memories. As Cadence tells the audience, the Sinclairs are American royalty, known for their good looks, old money, and enviable bon. Summer 16 changes everything for Cadence and her family. The lies pile up as she tries to seek the truth about her accident that left her partly clothed in the water.
After they solved the mystery of Cadence's accident, I thought that was final. That nothing else was hidden in the family, but I was very wrong. Bess Sinclair (Candice King) confides in her sister, Carrie Sinclair (Mamie Gummer), about the summer she was 16 and the terrible thing they did. Her fears of being punished for something they did as a teenager aren't even the tip of the iceberg of secrets. As Carrie and Ed Patil (Rahul Kohli) are leaving Breechwood, Carrie goes back into the house for her pills. Johnny's ghost sits on the kitchen counter waiting for her, unable to leave until he knows the Sinclair secrets.
Family of Liars storyline for season 2
Entertainment Tonight shared the renewal news with an interview where David Morse and Julie Plec confirmed there are more secrets beneath what season 1 uncovers. There's plenty of source material for them to play around with and dive deeper into the Sinclair family. Julie Plec told Entertainment after season one, "Thank god for the prequel. It gave us everything we need to be able to both go backwards in time and still move forward."
We Were Liars explores "The Liars" troubles, while its prequel, Family of Liars, takes readers back in time to 1987, when the Sinclair sisters (the moms) were teenagers. Cadence narrates book 1, while her Aunt Carrie (Jonny's mom) narrates the prequel.
She tells Johnny's ghost her story: "My full name is Carolie Lennox Taft Sinclair, but people call me Carrie. I was born in 1970. This is the story of my seventeenth summer." It's a chilling story, one that explains a little more about the family's secrets and lies. It shows how far they'll go to lie for each other, bury the truth, and protect one another.
When will We Were Liars season 2 release?
Currently, we only have the renewal news and a "coming soon" note from a collaboration Instagram post by We Were Liars Prime, Universal TV, Prime Video, Amazon MGM Studios, and E. Lockhart. No cast are confirmed yet, but Plec and MacKenzie did say they "loved making this show with so many spectacular humans," so I'm hoping that means we'll see more than Mamie Gummer (Carrie Sinclair) and Joseph Zada (Johnny Sinclair) return to Breechwood Island. Although it is a teenage version of the Sinclair sisters, I hope we see the aftermath like Plec hinted at.
Regardless, fans know from the plot of Family of Liars that the We Were Liars ending scene with Carrie and Johnny should likely continue as she tells him the story of summer 17. Again, nothing is confirmed, but hopefully we'll have more news soon.
Stay tuned to Show Snob for more We Were Liars updates.