Is Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists renewed for season 2, canceled?

With tonight serving as the big Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists finale, there is no better time to start wondering about a season 2. Is it going to happen at Freeform, and should it? There’s a lot to go through here, mostly because we feel like going into this spring, the network was prepared for this to be one of their next big hits. They spent a lot of time developing this show and making sure it felt both like the original series but also something a little bit new. They even got some of the core cast back on board for more!

So, what happened along the way? That’s a good question, because regardless of whether or not it gets renewed, it’s hard to look at the ratings for The Perfectionists without thinking, on some level, that they are a disappointment. Think about it this way — the final season of Pretty Little Liars proper ended up generating a 0.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic and over 1.1 million live viewers. Meanwhile, The Perfectionists at the moment is averaging a little over a 0.1 rating and around 260,000 viewers a week. Basically, less than 25% of the demo audience for the original show is still sticking around for the spin-off. That’s not great, and the numbers weren’t exactly great from the start.

What’s the problem? A big part of it can just be traced to Pretty Little Liars being very much a zeitgeist show, one that fared really well because a certain audience got addicted to it at a very particular point in their lives — then, following the series finale, they either aged out of Freeform’s target audience or decided that they didn’t need to get hooked on another show. That happens sometimes, when you determine as a viewer that you are ready to move on and try some other things.

We’re also in a different era now than back when Pretty Little Liars began — because many of those viewers may have formed a habit out of watching it live when it first aired so many years ago, Freeform was able to keep them even though even though the Netflix/streaming area really kicked off during its run. Now, it’s a little bit harder to get people watching in that same habit when they aren’t anywhere near as hooked on doing so.

Ultimately, we think the renewal/cancellation decision for The Perfectionists will depend on two different things: The DVR/streaming numbers and then also whether or not Freeform foresees there being more opportunities for growth on the horizon with this show — such as if people are going to want to binge-watch it over the next few months leading up to a second season. It’s going to be rather tricky trying to cancel this show given all of the investment the network’s put into it — it’s going to look like a failure for them, and given that this is such a huge property, they may decide that, in the end, this is a show worth at least one more kick at the can, just to see what happens.

For a little bit more news regarding Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists…

Be sure to visit the link here, and be sure to come back later for all sorts of additional discussion on both the series and also its future.

What do you think about the ratings right now for Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, and do you want to see the series renewed for a season 2? Be sure to share right now in the comments, and remember to come back soon for some additional news. (Photo: Freeform.)