‘Pretty Little Liars’ will jump four years into the future in season 6

On ABC Family’s hit, Pretty Little Liars, the titular liars are constantly chasing answers to the mystery of who the torturous A really is. At home, viewers are often baffled by the mystery of how, after five seasons, the Liars are still in high school. Time moves differently in Rosewood than it does in the rest of the world, and that’s okay, but PLL executive producer Marlene King says time is going to speed up for the Liars between now and the end of season six.

Specifically, the Liars are going to jump ahead four years into the future. Time jumps aren’t super common on TV shows, but they’re certainly not new territory (shows like Parks and Recreation, One Tree Hill, Glee and Desperate Housewives have taken their characters years into the future between seasons). The PLL jump won’t just take the Liars out of high school, when all is said and done, it will put them post-grad from college.

“I did say we’re going to do a four-year time jump and we will honor that before the end of season six,” Marlene King told E! “It’s really exciting I can’t wait to see the girls after they come back from college. It’s going to be awesome.”

King went on to explain that season six will start right where season five left off, with the Liars and (SPOILERS AHEAD) not-really-dead-but-didn’t-you-see-that-coming Mona trapped in A’s  (AKA Charles DiLaurentis) creeptastic dollhouse. They’ll escape and graduate from Rosewood High…but not until later in the season.

“When we end the finale, it’s already late April-early May…but in 10 episodes, the Liars will be graduating,” King explained. “They will be putting this episode of Pretty Little Liars to bed.”

So, when the Liars return, we can expect a mid-season time jump (remember, King said she’ll honor that promise “before the end” of season six) and to (hopefully — like dear god hopefully) learn more about Charles DiLaurentis and why he became A.

Pretty Little Liars knows just how to string us along and fill us with the combination of wild anticipation and blind fury that only a PLL finale can. They promise answers and they technically deliver, but every answer comes with a dozen more questions we never knew we needed to ask. I’ll be counting down until season six and overthinking everything until then.