So Uh, Apparently "Riverdale" And "Pretty Little Liars" Exist In The Same Universe

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Unless you've somehow been living under a rock the last few years, I'm assuming you've heard of a little show called Riverdale.

cast of Riverdale in a high school
Katie Yu / The CW Network / Courtesy Everett Collection

And you've also heard of Pretty Little Liars, right? The OG teen drama series ran from 2010 to 2017. It took place in a town called Rosewood, where every single awful thing imaginable seemed to happen.

Liars sitting around a table
ABC Family/Courtesy Everett Collection

And then there's Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, the latest installment in the PLL universe. It's about a brand-new group of Liars in a nearby town, Millwood.

new Liars

Everyone still with me? Good!

Karolina Wojtasik/HBO Max

In a new episode of Original Sin, Tabby and Imogen take a field trip to Rosewood. They visit a hotel called the Radley, which used to be known as Radley Sanitarium. Several of the OG Pretty Little Liars characters stayed there, including Spencer and Mona.

Mona in the hospital
Eric Mccandless / Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

Then, the hotel's maintenance manager, Eddie Lamb, tells them that the mother of Angela Waters (Angela is a deceased girl from the past that the Imogen and Tabby are trying to get more information on) was a patient at Radley for years.

Eddie at a table

Eddie's character was also in the OG Pretty Little Liars, but he was played by a different actor.

HBO Max

Sooo, what exactly does this have to do with Riverdale, you ask? WELL, Eddie's next words change everything:

Eddie talking

SOME OF THE PATIENTS WERE SENT TO THE SISTERS OF QUIET MERCY IN RIVERDALE!!!

HBO Max

If you watched the early seasons of Riverdale, you'll remember that Cheryl's mother once sent her to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy for anti-gay conversion therapy. Polly, Betty, and Ethel also stayed there at different points.

Cheryl at the hospital

Luckily Toni came to rescue Cheryl!

The CW

Executive producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who's also the creator of Riverdale, confirmed that this means Pretty Little Liars and Riverdale take place in the same universe. "We kind of just wrote that line in," he said in an interview with TVLine. "I assumed that we wouldn’t be allowed to reference Riverdale, since it’s in a completely different universe, but it stayed in. So, yeah, I guess it does exist in the same universe."

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa being interviewed
Albert L. Ortega / Getty Images

That alone is quite a revelation, right? But things get even wilder from here. In this same episode, Tabby references Cole Sprouse...who, as you know, plays Jughead in Riverdale.

Cole Sprouse smiling

So, uh...apparently Cole and Jughead BOTH exist in this universe??!

Axelle / FilmMagic / Getty Images

And the chaos doesn't stop there. Remember the 2020 Riverdale spinoff Katy Keene? It aired for one season and starred Lucy Hale as the titular character.

Lucy Hale as Katy Keene
Barbara Nitke / The CW / Courtesy Everett Collection

Lucy Hale...who also played...Aria Montgomery on the OG Pretty Little Liars.

Aria in a classroom holding a phone
Eike Schroter / Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

So, if I'm understanding this correctly, Riverdale, Pretty Little Liars, Cole Sprouse, Jughead Jones, Katy Keene, AND Aria Montgomery all exist in the SAME UNIVERSE?????

Charlie Day looking frazzled and pointing to documents
FX

You know what? I give up. It's Riverdale's world, and we're all just living in it.