In anticipation of tonight’s season-five premiere, ABC Family has ordered two more seasons of ratings darling “Pretty Little Liars,” Variety has learned.
Season six is set to air mid-2015, and season seven will air mid-2016.
The teen drama, which originally focused on four high schoolers trying to solve their friend’s murder while also being the victims of a mysterious bully, is the top series in the network’s history in both total viewers (3.8 million) and across all target demos. It has also been TV’s top cable telecast in the hour for 95 consecutive original telecasts in females 12-34.
The show’s success stems largely from its integrated social-media strategies, which helped it break the record for the most-tweeted scripted series telecast of all time. “Liars” recently became Instagram’s top scripted television series based on total followers, according to ListenFirst Media, and luxury car dealer Audi recently announced a partnership with the series to show choice “Liars” tidbits on teen-friendly social site Snapchat.
“’Pretty Little Liars’ has taken its place in the zeitgeist and reigns supreme in pop culture,” said ABC Family prexy Tom Ascheim, who announced the news with Kate Juergens, exec VP of original programming and development and CCO. “I am glad to bring another two seasons to our audience, because ‘A’ has a lot in store for our Liars.”
“Liars” was created by I. Marlene King and is based on the series of books by Sara Shepard. It is produced by Alloy Entertainment, Gaslight Productions and Russian Hill Productions in association with Warner Horizon Television, and is exec produced by King, Oliver Goldstick, Leslie Morgenstein and Joseph Dougherty.
It returns at 8 p.m. tonight.
