Spoiler Alert: This review contains spoilers for Season 1 of Amazon Prime Video’s We Were Liars.
The world of “We Were Liars” expands Tuesday with the release of E. Lockhart’s new novel, “We Fell Apart.”
Set in the same world as the ultra-wealthy Sinclair family at the center of the We Were Liars book series and the Emily Alyn Lind-led Amazon television series of the same name, We Fell Apart introduces a new cast of characters with secrets to protect and mysteries to solve.
Matilda is invited to spend the summer with her long-lost father, a reclusive artist named Kingsley Cello. When she arrives at her beach house, Hidden Beach, Kingsley is nowhere to be seen, but she meets her half-brother Mia, former child actor Brock, and brooding boy Tatum, who live in a crumbling mansion inspired by Kingsley’s castle.
The second season of We Were Liars is being produced by showrunners Julie Plec and Carina Adley McKenzie and original author Lockhart, but We Fell Apart provides Beechwood Island fans with plenty of compelling storylines until they see where the TV drama goes. And now that Cadence Sinclair learns that her beloved cousin and childhood sweetheart, “The Liars,” perished in a fire that she and they both blamed, the plan is to dive into the dark past of Cadence’s mother and aunt, which will be explored in the sequel, “Family of Liars.”
Here, author Lockhart talks to Variety about the central story of We Fell Apart and hints at how it could tie into Season 2 of Amazon’s We Were Liars.
How did you come up with the idea for We Fell Apart? And how does that connect to the first two books, We Were Liars?
I got the idea to write this book when I visited this wonderful property on Martha’s Vineyard that was the summer home of an architect named Arardo Cossutta. And I toured this property and it was incredibly beautiful and run down. There was a huge circular pool filled with fallen leaves, algae, and sludge, and a tower that looked like a castle. And I was excited to write a classic Gothic house story that was also beachy. I thought, “This is close to the world of this story,” but I didn’t think it was connected to “We Were Liars.” I thought of it as my own book.
And so I started doing that, and at the same time I was working on the TV show We Were Liars on the side. So I completely immersed myself in the world of TV shows. As we were casting and filming as we were finishing up the book, the world of We Were Liars started to seep into We Fell Apart more and more to the point where I thought, “Oh, this is really a book from the same world.” So it started as a standalone and became a book in the same world.
The first thing I want to say is that this book can be read as a standalone, but if you’ve read We Were Liars, you’ll probably like it best near the beginning, when the characters invade Beechwood Island. So Matilda, her half-brother Mia, and two other boys took this boat at night to cross the ocean from Martha’s Vineyard to Beechwood Island, where a recent tragedy had occurred. And it’s kind of a brutal, teenage trespassing adventure. And they see the scene of the tragedy, then go further into the island, go to the tennis court, go to a small beach. It featured in many scenes in “We Were Liars.” So this is a chance for people to see the world of “We Were Liars” from a different perspective. If you want to know more of the Sinclair family’s secrets, you can find them in “We Fell Apart.” But that’s its own story.
Emily Alyn Lind, Esther McGregor, Joseph Zada, Shubham Maheshwari
Jesse Redmond/Prime
“We Fell Apart” has a gothic beach vibe, but it’s a very different setting than “We Were Liars,” despite the physical proximity. What are the implications of the differences and their juxtapositions?
The kingdom appears in all three books. In the first two books of this series, the kingdom is Beechwood Island, ruled by the patriarch Harris Sinclair, and is an established kingdom, so to speak. And the kingdom in “We Fell Apart” is ruled by an absentee patriarch and is a separate kingdom. There is a very clearly articulated way of life and values in this house, in contrast to the kind of values held by the Sinclair family in the other two books. But it is still a kingdom and has a ruler. So, thematically, it’s about deciding whether you’re part of the kingdom or not, and whether you’re going to keep or expose the secrets of that kingdom.
Will ‘We Fell Apart’ plot points be incorporated into Amazon’s ‘We Were Liars’ Season 2?
I think all I can say is that Julie Plec and Karina Adley McKenzie read this book.
How far along is production on Season 2 so far? Season 1 has already borrowed parts from the second book, Family of Liars, so how closely will it follow that book?
There’s not much I can say, but the new season will be part of the “Family of Liars” story. At the same time, we also know that the showrunners have a lot of tricks up their sleeves so that people who read “Family of Liars” will still be surprised. So without going in a completely new direction, they still find a new twist. And with the current storyline, Caitlin Fitzgerald, Candice King, and Mamie Gummer will be back. David Morse is back. Joseph Zada is back. Emily Alyn Lind is back. So these characters have new storylines that intersect with the Family of Liars storyline and any new stories that the showrunners come up with.
Jesse Redmond/Prime
Beyond the plot of the book, did you give any guidance as to where you thought the story should go in the current storyline of Cadence?
I don’t think my role on this show is to teach. I feel like I’m just part of the team that’s making this show. Julie and Karina are the showrunners and I’m excited to be on this ride with them, but this is their ride.
They really care about these characters. They’re making really fun, really entertaining television, but they’re also very focused on complex, nuanced, difficult characters who are going through a lot. They are not interested in simplifying or simplifying anything. They’re interested in creating an experience in season two that’s similar to the experience they had in season one. It invests emotion into big, nasty characters.
Amazon’s Prime Video has a new TV series based on one of your books, “The Real Deception,” starring Layne Spencer from “The Summer I Got Clean.” Where is the project in the development process?
I think Layne Spencer is amazing and really versatile as an actress. She’s very funny and a very good dramatic actor as well. And we have a showrunner named Sinead Daly. He’s the showrunner for “Midnight Sun” (Stephanie Meyer’s book, which is basically “Twilight” from Edward’s point of view). It has been animated and is currently in the process of being animated. That’s why she is free to come and run my show. She’s written the pilot, Rain is on board, and it’s going to be great.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
