‘PLL: Perfectionists' star Graeme Thomas King opens up about his mysterious new role and teases new spin-off series

Fans of ‘Pretty Little Liars’ have bene anxiously awaiting the release of it’s new spin-off ‘PLL Perfectionists’, created by ‘Pretty Little Liars’ creator Marlene King and starring PLL alums Sasha Pieterse and Janel Parrish. While there will clearly be some familiar faces, ‘PLL Perfectionists’ will introduce us to a slew of new and mysterious characters, including Jeremy Beckett, played by Graeme Thomas King. Jeremy is a young scientist with a shocking secret who works at Beacon Heights’ prestigious Hotchkiss Technologies and is an instrumental part of the show’s new mystery. MEAWW sat down with King to get the inside scoop on his character and the pivotal role he will be playing in the show. While there are millions of people around the world that are die hard ‘Pretty Little Liars’ fans, King wasn’t that familiar with the show before getting cast, which he expanded on.
“When I got the audition I was in a pub with my mate who is an American actor and he was like, you know how big that show is, right? And I said no, I’ve never heard of it. Now I realize obviously how big it is, just with the amount of people that are so excited for this to come out. The fans are all around the world from Brazil to the UK, it’s absolutely mad! I don’t know too many shows like that, really. So it’s incredible to have that level or support.”
As we all can guess, ‘PLL Perfectionists’ not only has two of the same cast members from the original series but it also has a very similar and mysterious vibe. That said, there are certainly differences between the two shows, and according to King, even if you were not familiar with the original ‘Pretty Little Liars’, ‘PLL Perfectionists’ will still be just as enjoyable. King spoke on the similarities and differences between the two series and how it will attract both fans of ‘Pretty Little Liars’ and new audiences as well.
“There are definitely parallels between the shows, I think Marlene is smart enough to give people what they want…she really is a genius and was amazing to work with. It certainly has enough to draw people in from the original show, but I do think that people wanted something new. It has a new cast, with of course the exception of Sasha and Janelle, so they have a really good balance of the old and the new. If you are a huge fan of the original show you can easily just pick up and watch this but also be excited about the new aspects of the show. And if you are totally new to the show you don’t need to have watched the original, I don’t think so anyway. I think you will probably end up going back and watching the original because there are so many references.”
While King’s character is only in short moments throughout the pilot, he revealed to us that those scenes were just a small taste of what is to come for Jeremy. Even though from the pilot it may not seem like Jeremy is a central character, that is far from the truth. King spoke more on this and how the show, in certain ways, revolves around his character.
“I flash in and out of the pilot and that was the idea as I became increasingly aware that this character has a lot that has happened to him and the people around him. Like all of the characters, they have so many secrets they have to deal with. I would say going forward a lot revolves around him, as well as the other characters.”
For those familiar with the PLL universe, one important thing to remember is that no character can truly be trusted, some more than others. ‘Pretty Little Liars’ has always used the device of the “red herring” to distract from the real villains and liars on the show, and it is yet to be seen if King’s character is what he seems or something more. With the little that King could reveal, he did tell us that he himself isn’t even quite sure if he trusts his character.
“He’s English and I was told to never trust anyone that was English in ‘Pretty Little Liars’, so probably best not to trust him. But you can’t trust anyone in the show, I still don’t trust them and I was in it! That’s the beauty of the writing, you don’t know who to trust and Marlene and Charlie Craig and all the writers, they create these multilayered characters and that’s so interesting as an actor to work with that sort of stuff.”
‘PLL Perfectionists’ is a new series that you will not want to miss. Make sure to check out the premiere on March 20th on Freeform!