Calling all sleuths: viewers are invited to spot the lies in Universal Television and Amazon Studio’s adaptation of E. Lockhart’s bestselling YA novel We Were Liars, which premieres its eight-episode series on Prime Video on June 18.

We Were Liars centers around four teens—Cadence, Mirren, Gat, and Joseph—all members of the uber-wealthy Sinclair family, who meet every summer on Beechwood Island for an escape from their hectic lives. During their 16th summer, however, things take a dark turn when Cadence awakens washed up on the beach with no memory of how she got there. She returns the next summer to learn what happened to her. But the more Cadence digs, the more she uproots the ugly secrets hidden beneath the shiny Sinclair veneer, and her investigation threatens to upend everything she thought she knew about herself and her family.

The book, originally released in 2014 by Delacorte Press, was optioned that same year by Imperative Entertainment as a feature film, and later on by Netflix but neither came to fruition. It was during this second run that Lockhart first met showrunners Julie Plec, co-creator of CW’s The Vampire Diaries, and Carina Adly MacKenzie, creator of the reboot of Roswell, New Mexico and screenwriter for CW’s The Originals.

“The novel is this stunningly emotional mood piece,” said co-showrunner and executive producer Plec on what drew her to Lockhart’s book. “A story of young love, friendship, family, and trauma, all wrapped in a palpable mystery. It hit all my sweet spots, and I loved it instantly.”

When Netflix finally relinquished the project, MacKenzie was the first to hear about it and immediately brought the news to Plec.

“She called me, I called Universal TV, we all called Amazon, and within a very quick window we had a writers’ room open and a quick push to series,” Plec said.

“They make super bingeable television, and they have an incredible respect for the young adult audience,” Lockhart told PW of collaborating with Plec and MacKenzie. “They have an interest in storytelling that centers young women and young people generally, and see their experiences as valid and worthy of prolonged exploration.”

Lockhart acted as an executive producer, spending 10 weeks with the cast and crew filming the show in Nova Scotia, and was heavily involved in the process: she wrote the season finale, and assisted on a range of projects from post-production, to casting, which was an open call.

The series features Emily Alyn Lind as Cadence, Esther McGregor as Mirren, Joseph Zada as Johnny, and Shubham Maheshwari as Gat. Maheshwari was a particular standout for Lockhart, who noted that despite this being his first professional acting role, he was “really everything we could have hoped for.”

“He discovered his own damn self!” Lockhart said. “We didn’t discover him, but it was a moment of here’s an actor that has never been on TV before, and we’re going to be a part of him sharing his brilliance with the world. That was really the most moving part of the process.”

Changes are a natural part of any adaptation process, and a major change those familiar with the book will notice is the expansion of the adults’ role in the story. The eldest trio of sisters in the Sinclair family—Penny, Carrie, and Bess—are played by Caitlin FitzGerald, Mamie Gummer, and Candice King, respectively. Plec and MacKenzie were able to turn to Lockhart’s 2022 prequel novel, Family of Liars, which centers on the Sinclair sisters as teens, to help guide their dynamic for the adaptation.

“It opened up the backstory of the whole family beautifully, and gave us a lot more context for all of the adult characters,” Plec said. “That really helped us flesh out our ensemble stories nicely.”

“There’s all kinds of juicy family drama that happens when Cadence is not there in the TV show, right?” Lockhart said. “I think people are going to really like seeing those characters developed in that authentic way.”

2025 marks a big year for Lockhart, as the adaptation aligns with the book’s 10-year anniversary, which took place on May 6. Delacorte released deluxe editions of We Were Liars and Family of Liars that feature sprayed edges and exclusive content. And Lockhart has plans to continue expanding the Liars universe with We Fell Apart, a new book that revisits Beechwood. She said she hopes that this TV adaptation runs parallel to the novel’s theme of “acknowledging the political climate in some subtle but telling ways.”

“Carina and I both really hope that in addition to the emotional rollercoaster, the underlying message is also clear: it’s okay to take a stand against the powers that be,” Plec said. “Just maybe don’t be as youthfully misguided in the execution of your anarchy as our young Liars turn out to be.”