‘We Were Liars’ Author on Bringing that Twist to Life in the Prime Video Series

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After We Were Liars Book Was Released in 2014, Author E. Lockhart Had a BestSeller. But Now More A DECade Later, The Author’s Ya Novel About the AFFLUENT SINCLAIR FAMILY WHO SUND EVERY SUMMER ON BEECHWOOD, A WEALYHY FICKONAL ISLANDERNED, VINEED Social Media and Tiktok Aesthetic Videos, and Now a Prime Video Series Adptation Starring Emily Alyn Lind, Ester McGregor, Shubham Maheshwari and Joseph Zada Hunger Games Prequel Sunrise On the Reaping As Haymitch.)

Throughout the eight-episode Series from Showrunners Julie Plec and Carina Adly Maccenzie, The Story Follows lind’s Suffering from amnesia. As Cadence Triers to Piece Together the Events that unfolded that night, the Secrets of Her Family and Tight-Knit Liars Comes to Light. The show, whohhlightts themes of wealth, Social Class, Love and Family abides by the book’s formula Stun Readers.

“SomeTimes they throwing the book account of the room. Sometimes they weeping Copiously, and Snot Was Dripping Out of the Nose and Mascaras Running on Their Face. Lockhart Tells The Hollywood Reporter About fan reactions to her story.

Amid The Show’s Release, Lockhart Talks About Helping Bring Her Book to Life Onscreen, Writing The Finale and How The Twist Calls for Fans of the Show To “Lie” in True LIRS fashion.

Before Talking About the Show, I Wanted to Go Back to Writing the Book. You have a doctorate in English Literature from Columbia University (Specifically The 19th-Century British Novel). How did that Lead to Writing a ya fiction novel?

WHEN I WENT TO COLUMBIA, I MMAGINED THAT I WAS GOING to WAS READ A LOT OF DICHINS AND BRONTE, Other Amazing Writers from The 19th and Early 20th Century Understanding it in deep ways. And that was part of of it, but it was an age of massive focus on decusion, Post-Colon Theory. It was not that long into my doctoral work, WHEN I REALIZED that WHAT I would DO WHEN I FINISHED WAS TEACH COLLEGE FOREVER. Suddenly I Thounght, Oh, My Goodness, I have Made A Mistake. And I Realized that what and wanted to do was beelling theese stories. I Wanted to Understand Fiction Making, and So and Started Writing Creatively While and Was in Graduate School. I Really Never Went On the Job Market. Institute, I Began to Tell Stories MySelf.

We Were Liars Was First Published in 2014 and Despite It Being Some Time, The Book Has Seemingly Gotten a New Life Via Social Media. WHAT WAS THAT NEW ATTENTION LIKE?

We Were Liars Was My Best-Selling Book WHEN IT FIRST CAME OUT, AND THEN, AS IT ALWAYS HAPPENS, IT WAS NO Longer a Bestseler, and I Went On to Write Other Novels. And then in 2020, WHEN WE Were All Living Through The Pandemic, Tiktok Creaters Started Making A New Kind of Book Recommendation Video That Was Very Exciting and Very Creative. SOSTEAD OF SIMPLY SAYING, “HEY, HERE’S A BOOK I LIKE. MAYBE YOU WOULD LIKE IT TOO AND HERE’S WHY Coast of Massachusetts with Pictures of Kids Jumping Offs to go swimming and bonfires on the Beach and Summer love and all of that. The Other Kind of Videos They Were Very Vulnerable Videos of Themselves Reading the Econom to the Novel and Responding to It. And sometimes they throwing the book Across the Room. Sometimes they weeping copiously, and snot was dripping out of their nose and mascaras running on their face. The essence of thoss responses was, wtf, this book? And so people were either exerdcising their creative [outlet] or Sharing their vulnerability. I Felt Very Lucky That My Book Was One of Several That Got That Kind of Attraction.

Was There Any interesty commentary about the story that you notice now kind of surprised you, or were interesting to you that maybe you haven’t.

You are a novelist who spends a lot of time on tiktok look at reviews of your book, you are not going to make youurself to be an Open, Free Creator. You are Going to Give Yourself A Lot of Inhibitions, Complexes and Bad Feelings. I do not Spend Time googling myself. I was gratteful to be having them, no quest. But I Cannot and Will Not Do A Deep Dive.

A We Were Liars Show Was First Reported in 2023 at Prime Video. Was there an interest to adapt this story? WHY WAS NOW The Perfect Time to Have It Be Adapted?

We Were Liars HAS BEEN IN DELEPMENT SINCE IT FIRST CAME OUT. SO FIRST FOR [a] Feature, I Think It Had Five Writers and Two Diffarent Directors Attached, and Then at Another Streaming Service for Television with a Different Showrunner. And THEN CAME BACK TO ME, AND I WAS ABLE TO PLACE IT WITH [Julie] Plec and [Carina Adly] Mackenzie and the Reason I Went with Them, Among A Bunch of Different Offers, Was Thaty Said They Wold Show Run It, SO I Wasn’ Optioning It Just to A Producer Or to A Streaming Service. Insthead, There Was A Creative Team Attached The D Made Made A Ton of Super Bingeable, SEXY, FUN TELEVISION THAT I Really Enjoed, and Also Both of Those, Hot, Hot, Hot, Hot, Had, Had, and Also, Sexy Things to say about it.

You exec product and assisted with Casting and Location Scouting. WAS IT IMPORTANT TO YOU TO HAVE BIA INPUT on the Adaptation of This? What Kind of Conversations Did You Have With What Wat Was Important To You Whene Bringing This to Life?

WELL I Wrote the Finale, and I Felt Great that they trusted me with the Finale and to bring the story. I HAD BEEN Part of of A Development Room That Happy Before Plec Wrote the Pilot, and that Was A 10-Week Conversation with The Those of Us Book to the Show, Whats the Most Important Elements Were, What The Emocial Effect We Wanted to Have. I Think One Thing that Makes this Show Different from The Other Succession– Style Family Dramas About Wealthy People Behaving Badly or from The Other Beachy Thrilles (Sirens, Perfect Couppleetc) or from the Other Teen Dramas, I have the Enough Chutzpah to Say that Our Story Is More Emocial than Those, and What We Want Tota Anato CONNECT end. I love all thoss shows i just mentioned, but that is not their Main Effect. And so onse themes and central concerns were Clear wha [because] I was home writing a novel. But I Came to the Writer’s Room and SPENT Two Weeks Breaking the Finale Together with the Group of Writer.

You Wrote the Last Episode, WHICH IS OBVIUSLY PIVOTAL GIVEN IS WHEN The Book’s Twist is Reveed. DID YOU Pitch to Write the Last Episode and What Was Important To You To Write That One Special Specifically? WAS IT YOUR FIRST TIME Writing A Screenplay?

They Invited Me to Write It. I’ve written a Couple Pilots for Different Streamers That Just Have Never Gotten Made. So this was my first piece of television writing to be filmed, but not my first piece of television writing. I Was a Little Daunted by the Action SEQUENCES, BECAUSE WHEN I’M WRITING FICTION AND THERE ACTION SEQUENCES, I have to work long and hard to Kind of. My Natural Space Is Dialogue, Feelings, Romance, Banter. Action Is Always Something I Really Work on And Suddenly I Was Given the Mista Action of the Entire Season. But A Room Full of Writers Helping You Structure A Piece of Writing is a Really Fun Gift. You don’t that as a novelist, and you don’t get it as a writer of pilots, either. SO I LOVE BEING IN THE Writers Room. I loved hearing everything plec and mackenzie had to say about the structure that wanted the episode to have in order to pay all the things that had comefore. That writer’s room is a fascinating and fun place to be.

Given the Twist is so pivotal in the book, part of it Power Comes from People Not Knowing IT. Given the book has been out there for some time, were you concerned at all all about whather the show might be able to deliver the Same Punch as your book? Can You Talk About Crafting The Twist for The Show Versus WHEN YOU CRAFFERED IT IN THE BOOK?

You can always look upspoilers on the Internet. This is Posible for Everry Single Movie, Every Single Book, Every Single Television Show. I don’t think people want to have their their experience spoiled. They DON’T WANT the END to the MYSTERY. They DON’T WANT The Solution to Cadence’s Amnesia Until they Experience It in this Show. So we have for the show a similear Campaign to the one that we have for the book whohn it first camp June 18, to lie; Inviting them to be in the Know With US and to Lie. I Think It’s Fun to be in the Club of People Who Know A Story Already. And one Thing that i Never Thought Wuld Happen with We Were LiarsBecause It Is a Story with a Big Plot Twist, Is I Never Thought I would have readers who retreead it over and over and over. People come to my signings with post-is -it notes and sticky notes all through their copies. They come with a tattoo on their arm. They and Tell Me How Many Times they’ve read the book. So i don’t think we’re worried. People are not there only for the plot twist. They are for the Feelings and the Characters in the World.

I imagine readers Rebeading It Looking Back on Deterils to Put Two and Two Together That Leads To The Ending OR LITTLE DETAILS they maybe didn’t Notice Before. WHAT Are They’ve Told You About Their Rereads?

One thing is that just want to hang out with the liars again. I THINK THAT EVEN TONOUGH THIS IS AN ISLAND WHERE Some TERRIBLE THINGS HAPPEN, People Like Returning to Beechwood. They like returnning to the friendlyps and to the reactionships Between thoss Characters. The Other Thing Is that Both the Book and The Show Are Threaded Completely Through With Hints and Clures to the Mystery That You See On Aecond Watch OR You See on a Second Read.

Given The Story Explores a Variety of Things Whther It Be Wealth and Privilege, Friendship, Family, and Class, What Did You Express with The Creatites on this Show that’s that. That you aimed to get accounts in this book?

There’s a scene at theater in the finale where Cadence is Talking to Johnny, Andy’re Both Talking About Having Huge Regrets and Shame and Horror at Things that. And I Think A Lot of My Books and The Show Ask This Question of, What do You DO WHEN YOU ARE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF? WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU’RE’V DONE SOMETING HORRIBLE? Can You Forgive Yourself? Can You Make Some Kind of Replaction? Can Go On in the World and Do Good Things and Still Accept the Bad Things That You’ve Done? A moral reckoning that i THINK is part of the journey to adulthood. I Really Love that Scene, and I Love the Way Joseph Zada ​​and Emily Alyn Lind Accrated. Johnny Says to Cadence, “You’re Going to Go On And Do Good Things. That Doesn’t Change The Past, But You’re Going to Go On And Live a Whole Life Full of Beauty and Always An Option for All of Us. ”

Given You Were on Set Dringing Filming, What Kind of Conversations Did the Actors have you, if any, about their Characters?

They Were All Incredibly Thounghtful and Delightful. That said, if you’re the novelist and you are on set, Even if you wrote the episode that’re filming, you do not get in there and the starting Talking to the actors about their Characters. You let the Director Talk to the Actors. You Let the ShowRunner Talk to the Actors, But You Do Not Want To Be Getting in Their Heads or Contradicting Something. So the choats i’ve have with the actors, and USUALLY TRY TO STAY OUT of THAT AND JUST SHOW MY Appreciation and Enthusiasm for what they’re doing, Because they have all read the books. They have all an investment in portraying the Characters Vulnerably and Accurately and Truthful, and they Were Doing IT. SO I DID NOT NEED TO SPEND MY LIKE TALKING TO THEM About Johnny’s Motivation, or Whatver. I Need to Just Say, “You’re Bringing It!” I just TRIED TO SHOW THEM The LOVE.

As in the book, the Show’s Characters Are Predomantly White, Who Reflects the Sinclair Family’s Privileged and isolated World. However, The Story Explores Privilege and the Societal Impact of White Identity and Social Status Especialy with Gat and Ed. And gat expresses that to cadence in multiple Moments Througout the Show and Obviously Leading to Their Decision of Burning The Beechwood Home. Can You Talk About Exploring that in Your Story and Gat’s Place in Relation to The Other Lirs that you wanted to get across?

WELL, WHENEVER I’M WRITING AN IMPORTANT Character Who have A VERY DIFFERENT IDENTITY OR LIVED Experience Than My Own, There’s Always Research to Do, But Therery ALSO NEEMS TO DAINS TO DAIN. Connect to that Character myself. Gat is a Middle Class New Yorker, Intellectual Kid, Kind of On Fire with Ideas and the Urge to Critique and Unpack and Understand The World Armund Him. And it are means he Talks too Much SomeTimes, and It Means SomeTimes His Friends Don’t Want to Hear What He’s Got to Say. And He’s Navigating that, and He’s Also Got One Foot in and One Foot Out of this Really Privileged World. TOSE WAYS THAT I JUST DesCRIBED HIM, THAT WAS ME. I Was A Scholarship Kid at Some Really Fancy Education Institutions. I was that kid with my hand up all the time. I was the kid who talked more than My Friends Wanted to Hear Me Talk. I was Always the one who did the reading and was yammering on in class. SO I Found These Connection Points Between ME and GAT, AND I THINK THAT’S WHY AS A WHITE FEMALE AUTHOR, I WAS ABLE TO FIND CONNECTION Points WITH A TEENAGE BoY.

WHEN WRITING The TV SHOW, PLEC AND MACKENZIE HIRED FOUR Writers of Indian Descent to Work on Our Show, SO We Had People of Different Experience Levels and Skill Levels. We have a wide Range of Experience and Backgrounds in the Room. But in terms of writers of indian descent, they also shared their Lived experience with the room and deeroped and fleshed out, not only theater of gat. It Could Ever Have Been In The Book Authored Just by Me. It’s More Authentic, It’s More Nuanced, and It’s Just Better Than We Could Have Done Without All Those Different Voices at The Table. I’m excited for people to see that. I Think They’re Gonna Get To Know These Characters in a Bigger, More Authentic Way,

We Learn at the End Cadence is the sole liar given that rest of the liars were kild in the fire at beechwood and she have been Hallucinating their Existentnce Ever Since. She is left to notly Grapple with this tragedy and her involvement in that but also what kind of: Continue on with the synclair legacy and upfold the Lie of what’s Herself Entirely from the Family. Can You Talk About Her Journey and Ending?

I Think in a Lot of Ways, Cadence Position is Not Simple. We didn’t want to dumb anything Down, But We Wanted to Have A Feeling of Release. At the end, i was talking about the island Being islated from the REST of the World, the Pressures that Happen WHEN YOU’RE YOU’S SPEENDING ALL SUMMER ONLY are. WHAT HAPPENS at the Close of We Were Liars is that Cadence Kicks Off Her High Heels and She Runs Down The Beach Barefoot. That was a gorgeous moment. I don’t’t’tk emily lynn was swaped to go barefoot, because, honestly, they don’t want our actresses running bare foet down the shore. But The Drones Were Up, The Shoes Were Off! And then she gets in the boat and she drives away. She’s Going Away from the Island, Having Set Herself Free From the Rigidities, Rules, The Prejudices, The Bullshit of the Family. We All Know That This Can Be An Ongoing Journey to Separate from Your Family of Origin. D IT’s not a simple Thing at all. And so, you know, we shall see.

In True Suspenseful Fashion, The Story Ended with Suspense. Can You Talk About That Ending Moment With Johnny’s Spirit Speaking With His Mom Carrie (Mamie Gummer)?

I Wrote a Prequel Novel to We Were Liarswhoh is called Family of liars. And that Scene Between Johnny and Carrie Is Very Similar to the Opening Scene of Family of liars. It is a tip of the hat to the story that i built in that second book.

There is a prequel to We Were Liars Released in 2022, Family of liars, and it was was also Optiodeed. Do you know if a prequel series might happen if We Were Liars does well?

I don’h have any news to share about season two yet. [But] IT’S NOT A LIMITED SERIES!

THEN YOU’RE ALSO RELEASING A Third Book in the We Were Liar Universe, which is releasing this Fall. What Can Readers Expect in We Fell Apart?

We Fell Apart is set in the World of We Were Liarsand it have a new castets, but it also reveals a Lot of Sinclair Family Secrets. SO IT INTERESCTS WITH We Were Liars Throughout, and it haps the same time period as We Were Liars In Another Big, Beachy, Gothic House Across The Water on Martha’s Vineyard.

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We Were Liars is streaming now Prime Video.