‘Pretty Little Liars’ season 7: The (eventual) return of Pastor Ted

“Pretty Little Liars” may be keeping the faith as we near the end of its run — or at least faith in Ashley’s future? They’re bringing back a man who had some romantic aspirations towards her earlier in the series’ run, so maybe this is a chance at happiness / security if or when this show decides to stop killing people and sending out creepy text messages.

As first reported by TVLine, Ed Kerr is coming back in the second half of season 7 (otherwise known as season 7B) as Pastor Ted, the apprently good-hearted man who looks like the poster child for dad jokes everywhere. Just look at that face! Can’t you picture him mowing the yard and telling goofy stories about his barbecue grill having a mind of its own?

The last time we saw the guy at the end of season 5, Pastor Ted probably wasn’t so pleased, since he’d uncovered a few of Ashley’s secrets. Yet, time heals wounds, and that may be even more true since in the “PLL” timeline that was more than five years ago. Hopefully Pastor Ted’s still a Pastor since we don’t know what we’d call him otherwise. Insurance Adjuster Ted just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Also, hopefully he and Hanna’s mother are on good terms.

Now that we’ve hyped him up, let’s hope that Ted doesn’t have some sort of deep-seeded nefarious history, mostly because it’d be nice to see at least one religious person on scripted TV who doesn’t turn out to be the splitting image of the devil. We say that as someone who’s not particularly religious, but cognizant that there are good people of all faiths out there. Do we need to go back to talking about Pastor Ted’s face again? How could that guy do anything wrong? (Yes, we know that there are theories out there suggesting that he’s a mustache-twirling villain; we detect no mustache here!)

Before you go (but after you share your thoughts on Pastor Ted’s return below), head over here to read our most-recent “PLL” review! Also, be sure to sign up for more TV updates via our official CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: Freeform.)