Pretty Little Liars (Indonesian TV series)

Pretty Little Liars is an Indonesian teen drama streaming television series, based on the American television series Pretty Little Liars.^[1] The series features an ensemble cast, headed by Shindy Huang as Aria, Anya Geraldine as Hanna, Eyka Farhana / Caitlin Halderman as Ema, Valerie Thomas as Sabrina, and Yuki Kato as Alissa.^[2] The series also features Wulan Guritno, Tarra Budiman, Naufal Samudra, Jennifer Coppen, Cindy Nirmala, Giulio Parengkuan in starring roles. The first season premiered on April 22, 2020 on Viu with 10 episodes.^[3] The second season is set to premiere in 2022.^[4]

Premise[]

Set in the fictional town of Amerta, Bali, it follows the lives of four female college students whose clique falls apart when their leader, Alissa, goes mysteriously missing in the night of their high school graduation. One year later, Hanna, Ema, Sabrina and Aria find themselves reunited when they begin to receive messages from a mysterious figure known as "A", who threatens to expose their darkest secrets.

Cast and characters[]

Main[]

• Yuki Kato as Alissa Gabriela, the manipulative and charming queen bee of the group who mysteriously disappeared the night of her high school graduation.
• Anya Geraldine as Hanna, an it girl with eating disorder. As victims of Alissa's bullying, she along with Mona then transformed into the most popular girl in campus after Alissa's disappearance.
• Eyka Farhana (season 1) and Caitlin Halderman (season 2–present) as Ema, a shy girl coming from a religious Malaysian family. She has been in a long-term relationship with Benny, before having an interest on Mahesa.
• Valerie Thomas as Sabrina, an academically-bright student who grew up in a competitive family, making her sister, Melissa, as her biggest rival. As the only person who isn't afraid of Alissa, she often challenges her.
• Shindy Huang as Aria, the one with the most secret to hide. Upon returning to Amerta, after spending a year in Jakarta due to his father's cheating, Aria then started her own private relationship with her lecturer.
• Wulan Guritno as Amira, Hanna’s loving and recently-divorced mother
• Tarra Budiman as Eric, a new lecturer who’s having a secret affair with Aria
• Naufal Samudra as Mahesa, a new boy moving into Alissa’s former house. He formed a friendship with Ema and became close friends, which is disapproved by Ema's mother as she sees Mahesa as a bad influence
• Jennifer Coppen as Mona, a nerd girl who used to be tormented by Alissa. She transformed herself into Alissa once the latter disappeared, taking her place as the most popular girl on campus and continues Alissa's bullying towards Raka.
• Cindy Nirmala as Jihan, step-sister of Tama who molested and forced him into having a relationship with her
• Giulio Parengkuan as Tama, an older kid Alissa used to bully. He has a tattoo to celebrate his freedom from Jihan, a favor Alissa did for him.

Recurring[]

• Marcell Darwin as Reno, a doctor and Melissa’s fiancé
• Evan Marvino as Benny (season 1), Ema's long-term boyfriend
• Chicco Kurniawan as Raka, another student Alissa used to bully
• Tegar Satrya as Darma, a detective investigating Alissa’s death
• Naufal Azhar as Sandy, Hanna’s boyfriend who refuses to be flirty with her
• Sebastian Teti as Alex, Sabrina's love interest who works in a tennis club
• Farish Nahdi as Jason, Alissa's older brother
• Cheryl Marella as Illa, Aria’s and Miko's mother who works on a gallery. She later left the house after finding out Byron's affair
• Irgi Fahrezi as Bondan, Illa's unfaithful husband who had an affair with a student. After getting caught by Aria and Alissa, Byron broke off the affair and took his family to live in Jakarta for a year, before returning to Amerta.
• Anastasia Herzigova Mustikandrina as Melissa, Sabrina's "perfect" sister and rival
• Imelda Laish as Vero, Sabrina's and Melissa's attorney mother
• Ricardo Coppen as Peter, Vero's husband
• Nazia Mustafar as Indah, Ema’s religious mother
• Damara Adelardo as Novan, a handsome and popular student that Aria used to have a crush on
• Pascal Azhar as Tommy, Hanna’s father who left his family for another woman.
• Muhammad Ditra as Ian, Melissa’s ex-boyfriend who had a secret relationship with Alissa

Production[]

Casting[]

The series was announced on August 27, 2019. Anya Geraldine, Eyka Farhana, Valerie Thomas, and Shindy Huang had been revealed to play the main characters Hanna, Ema, Sabrina, and Aria. It's also revealed Yuki Kato had joined in the role of Alissa, the famous it girl and queen bee of the group.^[2] The first season was filmed in Bali, Indonesia in 40 days from June to August 2019.^[3]

Eyka Farhana who played Ema in the first season had decided not to return for season two due to her another role and COVID-19.^[5] Caitlin Halderman had reportedly joined the cast to replace Eyka in the role of Ema.^[6]

Renewal[]

Although the series had never been renewed officially, it has been confirmed by Viu on Instagram in September 2020 that the second season is already on development. Anya Geraldine later that year said the production for the second season will most likely begin in June 2021.

Filming for the second season officially began in August 2021, before shutting down the production due to Indonesia’s partial-lockdown. The filming continues a month later in September.

Accolades[]

References[]