Pretty Little Liars alums Lucy Hale and Ian Harding are still fervent “Ezria” shippers — despite the characters’ now-controversial age difference.
“It was a different time. Would that story line exist if it were being made now? I’m not sure, but probably not,” Hale, 36, told The Hollywood Reporter in a Friday, June 20, profile. “At the time I was cast as Aria, I was 19 years old and I wasn’t really thinking about the bigger themes of it all. I was just stoked to be cast in a TV show.”
She added, “Of course, it hits differently at my age now and I think about the bigger message in anything I play. I don’t have regrets, though. I stand behind their love story forever. That forbidden love story drew a lot of people in.”
Hale played Aria Montgomery on all seven seasons of ABC Family’s (now Freeform) PLL, in which she met Ezra Fitz (Harding) at a bar in the pilot. She insinuated that she was a college student before they hooked up in the bathroom. Days later, Ezra was revealed to be her new English teacher on her first day of junior year at Rosewood High School.
Aria and Ezra, of course, dated on and off throughout her high school tenure without any school administrators’ knowledge. They eventually got married in the series finale, which aired in 2017.
While fans of the show often questioned Aria and Ezra’s controversial age gap, the actors were always on board.
“What we tried to demonstrate over and over was that there was a meaningful connection,” Harding, 38, told THR. “Hopefully, that was enough to justify the deeply problematic relationship that was certainly not great at the time. Especially as society has progressed, we realized how wildly inappropriate it was.”
He continued, “I’m happy with the way it turned out because maybe that makes it a little less icky, which is always tough to say because I also love those characters. I love Ezra and as an actor, you have to advocate for this person, no matter who they are. They both found happiness, and there was little collateral damage or pain inflicted by the relationship. There was plenty of pain and horror everywhere on the show, but oddly enough, their relationship seemed to be a safe haven in the storm.”
Aria and Ezra kiss in the pilot episode of ‘Pretty Little Liars.’ Eike Schroter / © ABC Family / Courtesy: Everett Collection
Harding further pointed out that their relationship was meant to be “purposely taboo.”
“We were playing into this fantasy. I certainly had the teacher fantasy thing when I was in high school, but at the same time, just because you depict something on TV doesn’t mean you condone the behavior,” the Hallmark actor said. “It is a story meant for entertainment, and the show was a thriller. Now that I look back on it, I see that it was just like the show, with the twists and turns, and it had some horror elements and then it also had this romance component. I don’t deeply regret it because it’s fiction.”
PLL was adapted from I. Marlene King’s book series of the same name. King, 63, also addressed Aria and Ezra’s connection in the THR series retrospective.
“What we know now about grooming, that was not something we talked about 15 years ago. I’ve always thought that if we revisit the world, we would have to deal with that,” King told the outlet. “That would be a story line we’d have to pay attention to and give focus to. But, I think they can have their happily ever after because they were everybody’s favorite couple.”
She added, “I know people argue that they weren’t, but they were very popular — and they really loved each other in spite of the fact that he knew who she was before she found out. We tried to always make sure there were consequences to their relationship. It wasn’t easy. We were definitely probably crossing a line I wouldn’t cross now, but I don’t want to take away from what they had, either. It was very satisfying for a lot of fans.”
King and the rest of the writers also wanted to make sure that Hale had “as much agency as possible” while filming intimate scenes with Harding.
Aria and Ezra’s wedding in the ‘Pretty Little Liars’ series finale. Freeform/Eric McCandles
“Marlene and the writers did a really good job of giving Lucy as much agency as possible. I didn’t feel as if my character initiated a lot of encounters with her,” Harding recalled. “It always felt like she was the driver of that part of the relationship. Half the time, the scenes she and I had were practically domestic. We were talking about what was happening at school while I was cooking or we would be journaling together.”
He jokingly added of Ezra’s wardrobe, “When you’re putting on sweater vests, that doesn’t get the libido going. The writers and creators tried to play down that side and ramp up Lucy’s sense of agency. There was never a moment where my character was trying to somehow leverage the power he had.”
