PRETTY LITTLE LIARS: Scoop on the Summer Finale from Troian Bellisario & Shay Mitchell

Tonight on ABC Family, Pretty Little Liars will air its much-anticipated mid-season finale and recently NiceGirlsTV had the opportunity to participate in a set visit with the cast, which included lead actresses Troian Bellisario and Shay Mitchell, who play Spencer and Emily.

Troian Bellisario

When asked what is coming up for Spencer and Toby, Troian revealed, “The finale is going to be huge for them. Their relationship over this season has only been growing, deepening and becoming even more beautiful. “A” zones in on that and goes right for it in a brutal way.”

She also shared that the girls will be sent on individual journeys in the mid-season finale. “It will be unlike anything we’ve ever done and now that “A” has live bait (Dr. Sullivan went missing in last week’s episode), “A” is going to make her suffer (if they don’t do what “A” says) and that’s terrifying for the girls because it’s their actions that have brought Dr. Sullivan to this place.”

Shay was asked about Emily’s love life now that Maya reappeared in last week’s episode. She explained that, “Emily (is) always going to have somebody new (in her life). There (are) always new girls who come to Rosewood, but (they) get to hang out for a bit. As to where that relationship will go, you will have to wait and see.” She further countered that she wants “to see Emily have a serious relationship, like Ezra and Aria.”

When asked about whether she was a swimmer like her character, since that plays an important role in Emily’s life, Shay explained that, “I was a swimmer when I was younger. (In fact), I was put in the water when I was about one-and-a-half years old. (So) I’ve always been in the water, but never a swimmer like on a swim team.” She also shared that all the shots of Emily swimming are actually her.

Shay Mitchell

In line with that discussion was the fact that “A” dosed Emily with the human growth hormone. She was asked how difficult it was to film the scene with the doctor telling her about this newest revelation, sharing, “At first the writer just put ‘HGH’ (in the script) so I didn’t have to say the whole word and, of course, I was getting very emotional with it. I was like, how dare “A” do this, but then I had to say the whole thing, actually say it out loud and that really hit me. I can’t believe that she would do this to Emily’s whole career in swimming.”

Troian was also asked if viewers would find out more about the NAT, the secret group for which Ian, Garrett and Jason were members, she shared, “You’re going to find out that the club is still very much in session and active.”

And, when asked about Spencer standing up for herself, confronting Jenna and whether viewers would see more of that from Spencer, Troian joked, “When are you not going to see that from her (in fact) that’s my favorite thing (about her), but it’s also going to get in the way.” She and Shay shared that, “We’ll be doing a couple of scenes between Emily and Spencer that’s going to be too confrontational for comfort.”

On that note, viewers need to tune in to the Pretty Little Liars mid-season finale tonight at 8 PM on ABC Family.

Reminder: There will be a special stand-alone Halloween episode on October 19 with the rest of the current season premiering in January 2012.