‘PLL: The Perfectionists’ Star Kelly Rutherford On Claire’s Intentions & The ‘Unexpected’ Finale

The first season of ‘PLL: The Perfectionists’ is building up to one epic finale. HL talked EXCLUSIVELY with Kelly Rutherford about what’s ahead in the final episodes, joining the ‘PLL’ universe, and more.

There are still so many questions surrounding Nolan’s death and Taylor’s decision to fake her own suicide on PLL: The Perfectionists. There’s clearly a lot of tension between Taylor and her mom, Claire, and fans are anxious to learn what’s gone down between this mother-daughter duo. Kelly Rutherford spoke EXCLUSIVELY with HollywoodLife and teased that we’ll get “a little bit more” backstory about Claire and Taylor in the coming episodes. She also dropped this about what fans can expect from the finale, airing May 22. “I think they’re definitely going to be wanting more,” Kelly said. “Marlene [King] does an amazing job on the finale and it was so much fun to read and to do. There’s going to be a lot more suspense and a lot of unexpected things happening.

When it comes to Pretty Little Liars and PLL: The Perfectionists, trusting characters is always very up in the air. You never know who you can trust because everyone has secrets. So, does Kelly think Claire has good intentions at the end of the day? “I do,” Kelly continued. “Again, I don’t know because that’s the fun part of the story and they don’t tell us all of what’s going on. But I think that the fun part is that we’re all suspects and that’s what keeps it exciting. As you get to know these characters and as you get to know Claire as a mother and as someone who is trying to protect her children, at the same time she doesn’t seem entirely innocent either. She doesn’t seem perfect either or what extent she would go to protect her children or to control the environment because a lot of her backstory was what happened to her husband, what happened to the daughter, and now what happened to her son.”

This isn’t the first time Kelly has played a TV mom. She starred as Serena van der Woodsen’s mom, Lily, on Gossip Girl for 6 seasons. HollywoodLife asked Kelly what it’s been like stepping into a new universe and fandom after the success of Gossip Girl. “It’s such a gift because both shows are iconic in their own ways and I’m so blessed to continue to work with all these amazing young actors and the audience is so much fun. It’s a lot of fun and it’s a different genre from Gossip Girl so that’s also really fun to get the mystery and the suspense. The characters are a little bit darker and we’re not quite sure what Claire’s about. She’s obviously dealing with different issues so it makes it fun for me as an actress because it’s different enough and yet it’s still something I really love.”

PLL: The Perfectionists also stars Sasha Pieterse, Janel Parrish, Sofia Carson, Sydney Park, Hayley Erin, and Eli Brown. The show airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on Freeform.