The New 'PLL' Promo Looks Bad For Hanna

The last time we saw the Liars, a key member of their close-knit group was in a life-threatening situation: Hanna Marin. Now a clip that has premiered on Twitter begs the question: will Hanna die in Pretty Little Liars ? In our most recent visit to Rosewood, Hanna and her ex-boyfriend had decided to use Hanna as bait to finally catch the new, Uber A in town. But when the precautions the Liars set up to catch their new tormentor failed, Hanna was kidnapped and the group faced a whole new predicament: how were they going to catch Uber A now when Uber A (Mary Drake and Elliot) was holding all the aces?

The new clip shows what looks like Elliot dragging an unconscious, bloodied Hanna somewhere and luring the group to a church where doubtless there's another intricate trap set up for the most persecuted girls on the small screen. Spookily, a church bell rings and the girls chant in unison "The bell tolls for Hanna," as if citing a clue given to them by "A." But it's not just Hanna in danger: we see Alison waking in a hospital bed in where we can presume is whichever mental institution has replaced Radley (she checked herself in last season) to see a figure coming towards her with a needle. The clip ends on a blonde figure (and this is key: it could be either Hanna or Ali) suspended from a rope in what looks like a barn and the PLL non blondes screaming. See for yourselves:

So what does this mean for the show? I'd speculate the makers of the show want us to keep us on the edge of our seats in fear for both Ali and Hanna during the last segment of the series, thus the wonderfully ambiguous shot of the blonde suspended from the ceiling of what looks like barn. Both are effectively at the mercy of Mary Drake, with Hanna being in her and Elliot's physical reach and Ali, now Elliot's wife, being within easy reach at a mental institution. Elliot has double access to her via his profession as a doctor specializing in mental illness and thanks to their matrimony.

But I think the fact that the makers of the show have launched a Twitter campaign focused on Hanna: #savehanna, not #saveali is telling. For me, Hanna Marin is the heart and soul of the show. Aria, Spencer and Emily are all a little too perfect to be relatable: Aria's written a spellbinding novel just a few years after graduating college, Spencer has superhuman focus and intellect while Emily's strength and endless kindness are lovely, but not necessarily something I've seen reflected in a real person. Potty-mouthed, impulsive Hanna, with her quips and her outbursts, is the show's everywoman. And I don't believe for a moment that Freeform will kill off the woman I'd speculate is their most popular character.

But I do believe the show requires a main character's death to end, otherwise fans could continually campaign for its revival. And who better to kill off in the show than Ali? After all, during the first few seasons Ali was more defined than her absence than her presence: we met her only via her friends' memories, and she was never meant to be a character viewers liked. She was far too cruel and bullying to her friends for that. The show has struggled with reestablishing live-Ali on the screen: her new incarnation doesn't seem to have a consistent character (remember when she went briefly back to mean girl-ing the rest of her group in Season 5?) and her Season 6 self is memorable only for her overwhelming blandness.

Repenting her past, Ali has become the woman she never was: sweet and completely vanilla, like some creepy Rosewood incarnation of Jess on New Girl minus the wit and weirdness. And perhaps this was on purpose. Perhaps we were never meant to like or connect with Ali, because Ali had always been destined for something that Hanna Marin isn't: a sticky ending. Either way, we'll have to see how events play out when the promo turns into actual episodes.

Images: ABC (2), Giphy