Tonight marks the 100th episode of Pretty Little Liars. For Sasha Pieterse, though, it's really only episode number five — unless you count all that time she appeared on the show as the hazy, conniving, flashback-ghost version of her character, Alison DiLaurentis. Cosmopolitan.com called Pieterse to get the dirt on this season's big secrets, why being alive beats being a ghost (it's not not the wardrobe), and how, when you're in Rosewood, you should never assume someone is dead until you see the body.

Welcome back to the land of the living. How is being alive treating you?

There are a lot of pros. Flashbacks are great, but it's a lot of fun to be alive. Mainly just because I can now wear current clothes. And I just have more interactions with people now. I have scenes with all these characters I never would have been in scenes with before: the detectives, Tyler [Blackburn], who plays Caleb. It's our first interaction … Now I get to spend more time with everyone. So on screen and off screen, it's been so much better.

How does your portrayal of Ali change now that she's a living, breathing person, instead of flashback-Ali, who is really limited by how the other girls remember her?

She's a completely different person. [In flashbacks] I have to really think about what [the other girls] want to see in each different scene. She was very manipulative in the flashbacks. But now that she's alive, you see her as a person, not just this evil person. You see all her emotions and ranges. You see what she was going through when she disappeared. There's a lot more dimension to her character. I'm creating a new Alison. I have the beauty of playing around in my character and trying to just transform her into so many situations I was never able to do before. So, just as an actress, it's been rewarding and fun. [The writers and I] have been working together to navigate Alison through this new storyline.

I'm amazed that all the girls still care about Ali and want her in their lives, given everything she's put them through. Why do you think they've stayed friends with her?

You're absolutely right. She's done so much damage. If someone was like that in my real life, I wouldn't want to see them again. But there's so much history with her, and they've gone through so many things together, and they know A is after all five of them. It's more complicated than just being Alison's friend. There are certain things they obviously don't agree with her on. There's constantly a power struggle, and you'll see that as these episodes go on. It's going to be really hard for the viewers, I think, to watch, because there [are] so many changes in these girls' lives, and it complicates things for everyone. It's been fun for us to play, but it'll be interesting to see how viewers react to it.

Marlene [King, the showrunner] keeps reassuring me, "It's going to be OK!" She says she tries to tell me as much as she can. We don't even know everything that they're planning. They keep everything under wraps for us as well, which I get mad at, but I understand at the same time. They want us to focus on how the character is supposed to feel right now, and because we've got so many webs, it could get crazy.

I am basically a professional Pretty Little Liars viewer, and I still have no idea what is going on sometimes. A character will come up, or someone will mention a trick A pulled, and I think, Wait, what? Who is that person? Can you follow all these plot twists? Can your hardcore fans?

Believe me, we think the same thing! We've got really crazy fans. They're little investigators, and they pay attention to the most miniscule details, which is great, because we plant those things there for those fans to find. And a lot of them, at premieres or finales, they'll go back and watch all of the seasons, or the current season, and connect the dots and see what clues we left. But it's very hard.

People have their own theories, and now that characters are coming back from the previous seasons, viewers are looking into every character now. "What about this person? I've never crossed them off my list." We know more than you guys do, but at the same time, we don't really know where it's going.

What's the craziest fan theory you've ever heard?

Many people believe maybe it's a teacher or another parent. But I think the craziest one, which actually makes more sense, is that it's Maya. I don't think that the writers will go there, but you really know that someone is dead when you see their actual dead body. Like Shana; she's really dead. But when you don't see their body — if they're in a body bag — there's a good chance that they might not actually be dead. And we never saw Maya's body!

When I'm watching the show — I know it's all fake, BUT — sometimes I just want to yell, "Why isn't anyone calling the police?" Also, where are everyone's parents? They're in high school, and their friend was murdered/went missing/is still being stalked, and their parents are just constantly MIA. Do you talk about this stuff on set?

Totally. All the time. Spencer's parents are never there. Where are they? They're always on some trip, and not together. Melissa just disappears out of nowhere. Emily's parents aren't there. We joke about Pam, like, "What is she doing? Baking cookies all day? How does she not know what's happening to Emily?" I think the most important thing is to remember it is a heightened reality. That is not what you should do in real life.

Are you surprised at the age range of people watching the show? It's really so much broader than just a teenage audience.

Our demographic has totally changed and grown. And I think the reason for that is, when we originally started, we had such a fan base because of the books, and the books were targeted to teenagers and really young adults, 18 max. And because of how we transformed, parents started to watch it with their kids. And our writers got smarter about that, to put stuff in there that parents and slightly older ages could relate to. And some of the things that go over [younger] people's heads — like the black-and-white episode has things from old movies that 12- and 13-year-old girls will never know about — the older fans will know and appreciate. The funny thing about [age] is, I shot the pilot when I was 12, and I was younger than Ali is supposed to be. And now I'm older than Ali is supposed to be.

What's next for you, outside the PLL world?

I really want to do more movies; that's where my heart is. I have a movie called Inherent Vice coming out with Martin Short, Joaquin Phoenix, and Reese Witherspoon, and everyone is just brilliant. I'm a druggie that's involved with Martin Short's character.

Sounds completely different from the show.

Oh, definitely. I don't suggest all the fans of Pretty Little Liars see this one.

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Photo Credit: ABC Family



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Jessica M. Goldstein Jessica Goldstein is a writer covering all things culture.

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