Prime Video’s next YA book-based TV show with a big audience and set at the beach will likely be We Were Liars, based on the book by E. Lockhart.
The rights to the best-selling novel were optioned in 2022 by Julie Plec’s My So-Called Company and Universal Television.
Read on for everything we know about the We Were Liars television series:
When will We Were Liars come out?
A release date hasn’t been specified for the series.
Is We Were Liars in production?
Yes! The series is in production, and according to pilot director Nzingha Stewart, the first episode has been shot.
Who will be in We Were Liars?
Emily Alyn Lind (Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire), Subham Maheshwari, Esther McGregor (Baby Girl) and Joseph Zada (Total Control), will play the titular four liars, or the main quartet of kids that take center stage in Lockhart’s novel.
Lind plays Cadence, the eldest Sinclair granddaughter of the family who has a fling one summer and fights a traumatic brain injury the next. Maheshwari will play Gat, a New York City kid who is thoughtful, smart and ambitious, but who feels he sticks out against the elite on the private island owned by the Sinclair family. McGregor plays Mirren, an artest who watches the world closely. Zada will play Johnny, the reckless, chaotic and charming ringleader of the four liars’ trouble-making.
Mamie Gummer (True Detective), Caitlin FitzGerald (Succession) and Candice King (The Vampire Diaries) will also play leads leads — the three Sinclair sisters.
RELATED: ‘We Were Liars’: Mamie Gummer, Caitlin FitzGerald & Candice King To Star In Amazon Series Based On Book
Gummer will play Carrie Sinclair, eldest daughter of wealthy media mogul and patriarc TK. Her parents own Beechwood Island, where the family vacations every summer. She has two sons, but the upcoming summer may challenge her sobriety.
FitzGerald will play Penny Sinclair, who breeds golden retrievers and is in the midst of a messy divorce.
King plays Bess Sinclair, the youngest daughter of the Sinclairs. She has three children, and her meticulousness and organization know no bounds.
Wendy Crewson (Tracker, Gray) is set for a heavily recurring role, as is Rahul Kohli (The Fall of the House of Usher), who replaced Arsher Ali in the role of Ed, partner of Carrie.
Who else is behind We Were Liars?
The series is written and executive produced by Plec and MacKenzie, with the former writing the first episode and the latter writing the second. Executive producers also include Emily Cummins for My So-Called Company and the novel’s author, Lockhart. Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, and Amazon MGM Studios are the studios. Nzingha Stewart will be directing the first episode.
RELATED: ‘We Were Liars’ Series Adaptation In The Works At Amazon From Julie Plec, Carina Adly MacKenzie & Universal TV
The show was given a series order by Prime Video in March 2023.
What is We Were Liars about?
Set on the Sinclair family’s privately owned island off the coast of Massachusetts, the story explores the lives of the perfect-on-the-surface Sinclair family, who have secrets among them. The three Sinclair daughters and their children spend every summer on Beechwood Island.
Something happens to Cadence at 15 years old one summer, and her the other three liars prompt her to remember the full story two years later.
How will Lockhart’s prequel book Family of Liars fit into all of this?
Plec will also adapt the prequel book, which tells the secretive story of a different Sinclair generation.
