Bloody Rose Waters isn’t messing around.
WhenPretty Little Liars: Summer Schoolkicks off, the Liars are still reeling from theirnumerous near-death experiences.
But as the season progresses, it becomes clear that Archie is no longer their biggest concern.
‘Pretty Little Liars: Summer School’ season 2.Karolina Wojtasik/Max
Entertainment Weeklyspoke with co-showrunnersRoberto Aguirre-Sacasaand Lindsay Calhoon Bring about what to expect from season 2.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Heading into season 2, what elements of season 1 did you want to carry over?
ROBERTO AGUIRRE-SACASA:The great thing about season 2 is the girls are already friends.
Bloosy Rose Waters on ‘Pretty Little Liars: Summer School’.Karolina Wojtasik/Max
That’s the show.
We were really emboldened and heartened that the fans loved all those horror elements.
Those were the two things that we knew we wanted to keep alive and thriving in season 2.
LINDSAY CALHOON BRING:That tied in thematically with summer school.
So, we wanted to double-check that we kept that alive but still kept them moving forward.
But we also have a villain putting them throughSaw-like tests all season.
What was your inspiration for this season’s killer, Bloody Rose Waters?
AGUIRRE-SACASA:In theFriday the 13thmovies and inHalloween, the constant is Jason.
The constant is Michael Myers.
And for us, our constant is the girls.
We talked a lot about, “Do we want another season with ‘A’?”
It felt like, “No.
We’ve done that.”
Something that really clicked for us was the Slender Man.
That was definitely a big inspiration for Bloody Rose.
It felt like a nice inversion of that.
And so we asked, “What does Archie look like?
What’s behind the mask?
What’s the mask?”
That’s so terrifying.
What’s the story there?
How did that mask come to be?"
And we thought the most horrific version of that was, “Well, he skinned his mother.
He skinned his mother’s face and he sewed it up and he wears it around.”
So, we loved the iconography of this sort of skinless woman.
BRING:We were very inspired by her and loved that look of gauze.
We think she thrifts.
She’s a little bit of a thrifter.
We’re obsessed with Bloody Rose.
We’re terrified by her, and we think she’s a star.
Pretty Little Liars: Summer Schoolpremieres with two episodes on Thursday, May 9, on Max.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
