TV

Toby's Fate in Pretty Little Liars Could Have Been So Much Darker

Toby's Fate in Pretty Little Liars Could Have Been So Much Darker
Image credit: Legion-Media

It only played into the show's hands that the showrunners did not follow the character's book fate.

Pretty Little Liars is a popular show about friendship, love and secrets. The series ended six years ago, but still has a lot of fans around the world.

The story tells us about five friends who were inseparable until the disappearance of one of them. Alison was a popular girl and the leader of the group.

After her disappearance, Aria, Spencer, Hanna and Emily stopped talking to each other, but a mysterious incident forced them to reunite – a creepy "A" began writing to the girls, intimidating them and threatening to reveal their secrets, secrets that only Alison knew.

The show was based on Sara Shepard's Pretty Little Liars series of books. Although the series received positive reviews from viewers, it had significant differences from the original source. And the fans are most grateful to the screenwriters for one particular difference.

Toby Cavanaugh is a minor character – a shy guy and Jenna Marshall's half-brother. For a while, the girls believe him to be an "A," so he disappears, but after a while Toby returns free of all suspicion and becomes an important part of the show.

He started dating Spencer and the couple became one of the fan favorites.

However, Toby's fate in the books is much darker and shorter, and the writers originally planned to follow the original story by killing off the character in the sixth episode of the first season.

In the original source, Toby sexually assaults Jenna, but then feels so remorseful that he confesses to Emily and passes away from taking too many pills.

Toby in the book is the exact opposite of his show version. Fans of the series liked this character so much that the writers decided to change his fate and make his participation in Pretty Little Liars more significant.

In the summer of 2022, the first season of the spin-off of the original series called Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin was released. The characters of the spin-off are once again high school students.

The girls received a message from an anonymous person who knows their secrets, and they will have to pay for the sins of their parents and solve the mystery of the tragedy 20 years ago.

The series received positive reviews from audience and critics and has been renewed for a second season, but an exact release date has not yet been announced.