We Talked With PLL’s Newest Mean Girl Ava Allan
If you’ve already watched last night’s episode of Pretty Little Liars, then you know there’s a new girl in town, and her name is Addison Derringer.
In addition to having the most sus initials ever, which so far no character on the show seems to have picked up on, Addison Derringer has it out for one of the OG liars, Emily Fields.
Even though Addison’s only been on PLL for one episode, she’s already causing hella trouble for Emily.
After getting in trouble for skipping practice, Addison narced on Emily with a made-up lie about how Emily’s inappropriately touching and staring at the underage girls on the swim team she coaches at Rosewood High.
And even though this lie got busted, it’s clear this is just the tip of what Addison has up her sleeve – especially since it seems like she maybe has Jenna Marshall on speed dial.
To try and shed some light on who Addison is and what’s going on with her, we talked with Ava Allan, the 17-year-old actress who plays her.
She spilled some tea on what fans should be looking out for and how so far nobody’s correctly guessed how PLL is gonna end yet.
READ MORE: Who is Holden on Pretty Little Liars?
What can you tell us about Addison Derringer ?
She plays Emily Field’s swim student — one of the swim students on the team. So, she’s a swimmer and Addison Derringer is basically a big trouble maker. She’s kind of catty and mean… The biggest hint on the show is that people are going to be really interested in her because of her name, Addison Derringer, which obviously has the initials “A.D.”
I watch the show and I’m staring at the name right now and I did not even put the “A.D.” thing together.
Yeah, I know. You know what, it’s funny. Some people don’t get it and then some people, especially when I announced it on my Instagram and Twitter, immediately people were like “A.D., A.D., A.D.”
Yeah, do people constantly talk about theories to you on social media?
Omg, I get so many tweets about theories and so many people think that I’m A.D., but the best part is that I know the ending because I was there for the table reads. So, I know all the secrets and it’s really fun to hear what people think and hear their theories and to see how close they are to the actual ending.
Has anybody gotten really close?
I mean there are a few people who have some pretty good theories. I swear these fans are so dedicated and the way they watch the show, they’re really, really paying attention to details. But no one’s actually got it yet, I will say that.
Do you think that as the season progresses that fans are going to be able to predict how the show ends or do you think it’s just going to blow everyone out of the water?
Oh God, honestly, I really think that it depends on the people. Put it this way, it shocked me. The ending shocked me — I was like whoa! So, that’s all I can say.
What’s the thing you like most about playing Addison?
I have to think about that because she is a mean girl. So, I can’t say that I like being mean, but it is fun to play someone that you’re not. But I think what I like about her the most is that they’re kind of labeling her as like the new Allison — like the young version of Allison — so that’s cool to get compared to that because I love Sasha and I loved her character on the show.
Without giving anything away, what’s one thing as fans that we should be paying more attention to on the show?
Oh God! I don’t know! That’s so hard to say because I don’t want to give anything away. Maybe A’s clues… I mean because sometimes A… yeah, A.D.’s clues. I would say A.D.’s clues — really pay attention to those.
What was it like to work with such a tight cast?
Amazing! Listen, this cast has been together for seven years, so, they’re like a family and they’re so close. And I’ve been a fan of the show since season one. So, it was like a dream come true to like work them and get to talk with them and just hang with them.
I think the best part is also is that I worked with Tyler Blackburn on a film of mine in the past. It was called “Love Is All You Need.” So, to get to see Tyler again was the best because he was in the makeup trailer and I just like joined right in and I was like “Tyler, are you surprised to see me?” and he was like, “Dude, I saw your name on the table read! And it was like so cool. I was so excited.” So, it was awesome to see him again as well. But the cast in general, they’re just so sweet.
When you were auditioning, how much about your character did you know up front?
It was crazy. When I had my audition all I had was the breakdown of who Addison was, which you know was like the mean girl, the new girl at Rosewood High School and that was pretty much it. They didn’t even let me know who I would be working with. My script actually had fake names over the actual ones. I didn’t know any of the characters that I was talking to. So, I didn’t know a lot. And they only gave me like eight pages of the material to audition with and that’s all I had.
Really when I got this audition, I was like I need to make sure this audition goes perfectly because like I said earlier, I was a huge fan of the show, so I really just wanted to book it. But they never had any really young girls on the show either. So that was something that was really exciting, that they were bringing in like this young generation to the last season. And I just wanted to make sure it went perfectly.
If you were old enough to audition for PLL when it was first going on the air, which character do you think you would have gone in for?
I would like to be Hanna or Aria. I think those are two of my favorite liars. I mean, honestly, you can’t go wrong. If I got to play any of them that would be like a blessing. But I think Hanna and Aria are really fun, especially Hanna. I think she has like some great, really funny lines. Her as a character and a person, is super fun. So, to play her would’ve been great.
How did you get started acting?
I started acting, well I’m 17 now, and I started acting just doing commercials when I was seven. I got involved with it because a family friend who was a photographer had a son who was in the business. And then she was like “you should get your girls in the business” and I met with the same agent her son had. And they really liked me and I got signed with them and I started doing print and commercial work at seven. And then when I was finally 10, I went into film and television.
Are you at all superstitious? Like when it comes to preparing for auditions or just in your process?
I’m incredibly superstitious about everything in life. But omg, yeah, for like my auditions for sure. I take them very seriously. I have like little things. I have like a certain necklace that I wear to like every single one of my auditions — you’ll never see me without this necklace in an audition. Even if it doesn’t match the role, I would take the necklace and I would stick it in my pocket. It has to come with me on every audition.
What are some tips you have for being young in Hollywood and not getting taken advantage of?
As far as not getting taken advantage of and just like making sure you know you want to be an actress, I think the best thing that I can say is just don’t give up. This business is incredibly tough and it definitely requires hard work and dedication. And I think the number one thing it also requires is patience.
But to not get taken advantage of, the main thing you need to have is a credible agent and then also after that you can get a manager. But you just have to make sure to have an agent who’s on your side, who’s going to be working for you. And if there’s anything sketchy, like especially for kids who are just getting into the business, know that if they’re asking for money from you to like work with them that is a scam — so make sure you stay away from that.
Tune in to Pretty Little Liars next week to see what Addison Derringer gets up to and make sure to keep refreshing your Twitter feed because Ava Allan’s gonna be live tweeting the episodes every week.
