Why The Pretty Little Liars Spin-Off Ravenswood Was Canceled After One Season

I. Marlene King's mega-hit teen drama, "Pretty Little Liars," opens with a straightforward pilot episode. In the episode's cold open, a young girl goes missing during a sleepover, setting the stage for a one-year time-jump revolving around the other girls who were there when it happened. The missing girl, Alison DiLaurentis (Sasha Pieterse), still hasn't been found, but her friends collectively receive threatening messages from a certain "A," who seems to know a lot about each of their deepest, darkest secrets. With time, we (along with the girls) learn more about that fateful night, along with the central group's complicated dynamics with one another, especially with the mean-spirited Alicent. There's plenty of drama and intrigue to unwrap here, as this is a show that hinges on snappy dialogue and red herrings to create a convoluted mystery with no obvious solutions.

As confusing and thematically iffy as "Pretty Little Liars" can be at times, the show embraces its unhinged sensibilities without compromise and commits to them (much like the absurd, astounding CW series, "Riverdale.") Sandwiched between unpredictable mystery and brutal teen drama is a huge chunk of outrageous character moments that often feel like caricatures. However, these aspects played out so often and so intensely that "Pretty Little Liars" feels better for it, where this brand of extreme camp meshes well with the fabric of the show. Given the popularity of the series, "Pretty Little Liars" ran for seven seasons and ended with a controversial yet memorable series finale, leaving fans clamoring for more. As a result, three (!) spin-offs were ordered in quick succession, but each one of them got canceled pretty early due to a combination of factors. 

When "Ravenswood" was first announced, it emerged as the spin-off that had the most potential, as the series had a direct connection to the parent show in the form of a single character: Caleb (Tyler Blackburn). Despite this strong link, "Ravenswood" failed to pique audience interest or recapture the essence of the mega-popular teen series it was an offshoot of. What exactly went wrong here? 

Spoilers for "Pretty Little Liars" and "Ravenswood" to follow.

While every character in "Pretty Little Liars" undergoes something deeply traumatic, Caleb contends with especially difficult circumstances that are impossible to simply move past. A troubled foster kid with a complicated outlook towards close relationships, Caleb perennially sought out parental figures (along with his real father) after being abandoned as a child. In season 1 of the show, Caleb crosses paths with the titular Liars and develops an intense dynamic with Hanna (Ashley Benson), whom he gradually begins to view as a source of comfort and stability. Caleb and Hanna experience a strong, eventful romantic arc in "Pretty Little Liars", and Caleb's skills as a technical expert come in handy while uncovering who "A" is as a part of the show's central mystery.

Once Caleb decides to leave Rosewood, he makes his way toward — you guessed it — Ravenswood, but soon gets embroiled in a supernatural mystery that can only take place in "a town where people throw parties in cemeteries." Caleb's description of Ravenswood isn't too far-fetched, as it is a quaint, eerie place that has more headstones than houses, lined up neatly beside the narrow, somber streets. The town seems to come alive and loom maliciously over its residents, as spooky stuff like haunted mansions and cursed objects are pretty commonplace here. While all of this does sound fun, "Ravenswood" indulges in the stalest interpretation of horror tropes and doesn't bother to mask it with competent storytelling. In fact, things often get so lackluster that the dark, campy shenanigans of the Liars feel infinitely superior to such drab genre fare.

Is "Ravenswood" unwatchable? No, far from it. But it is an aggressively mediocre supernatural show that has little in common with its frenetic parent series. While this would usually be a good thing (like how "The Vampire Diaries" spin-off "Legacies" takes a fresh, lighthearted approach to the franchise's supernatural core), "Ravenswood" fails to stand on it own merits, and its association with "Pretty Little Liars" only serves to hurt its credibility. Perhaps this is why viewership fell off by the time the show wrapped up its season 1 finale, dropping from 2.1 million viewers (at launch) to 1.1 million viewers (which is less than half of the viewership "Pretty Little Liars" steadily drew in per episode).

In case you're looking for a "Pretty Little Liars" spin-off that is closer to the lead-in series in terms of tone and subject matter, be sure to check out "Original Sin," which does a great job of granting a fresh spin to a familiar premise.