For Bailee Madison, playing pregnant teen Imogen Adams on Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin has been a real pain in the back.
“I wore the fake stomach for nine months, so basically full term, and it affected everything I physically did on set,” Madison tells TVLine. “I ended up getting actual back pain, which I had to work out after, but it was an experience. It was definitely a first for me — one I was excited to get to do.”
As for the baby’s father, who has yet to be identified in the three episodes currently streaming on HBO Max, “That’s a big part of the mystery throughout the show,” Madison teases. “I’m excited for it to unfold.”
Executive producer Lindsay Calhoon Bring echoes that sentiment, confirming that Imogen’s pregnancy is a “very important story,” along with one of the show’s driving mysteries. “You will know who the father is. It’s important, not only to Imogen, but also to the female friendships in the show. It leads towards a very strong bonding between the young women — a strong support system.”
Imogen appears mostly at peace with her situation, save for a moment of panic in the premiere when she asks the school nurse if it’s possible to get an abortion.
“I think it’s very honest with how Imogen feels, given the changes in her life,” Madison says. “She had a very different support [via her mother] when she first got this information. When that support is stripped away, the reality sinks in. She’s 16 years old, and she has this moment where she asks, ‘Does it make me an awful person to not be ready to be a mother?’ That’s a question that, unfortunately, a lot of women have to ask themselves and then carry a lot of remorse over something that shouldn’t have that weight due to someone being so young. That was one of the first scenes I read, the one I auditioned with, and it was very telling about the stories that we were going to tell on the show and the level of care we were going to put into them.”
The scene in question was written and filmed before the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and Bring assumes that “it’s going to hit differently” for people watching it now.
“As we say in the show, Imogen obviously knows that it’s not a possibility at six months pregnant. However, she’s a girl who’s been through so much. She’s at a breaking point, she’s at her wit’s end, and she’s just grasping for help and for a way out of this. It’s a big story for her to decide how she’s going to handle the pregnancy, what she’s going to do about the baby. We do hope that audience members feel seen, and I do support a woman’s right to choose. I completely understand and stand by Imogen’s breakdown.”
Tell us: Are you also dying to know who the father of Imogen’s child is? It might be too early for theories, but… any theories? Drop ’em in a comment below.
