Does ‘Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin’ Take Place in the Same Universe as ‘Riverdale’?

We already knew that the Pretty Little Liars Easter eggs would be coming fast and furious starting with this week’s episodes of Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin. And Episode 6, “Chapter Six Scars”, delivered, as Imogen (Bailee Madison) and Tabby (Chandler Kinney) traveled to the town of Rosewood — and the Radley Sanitarium in particular — to find out more about the mysterious, dead Angela Waters (Gabriella Pizzolo). But what you might not have expected is that the episode also seemingly confirmed that Pretty Little Liars and Riverdale take place in the same universe.

Spoilers for Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin Season 1, Episode 6 “Chapter Six: Scars” past this point.

In the hour, Imogen and Tabby play hooky from school to investigate Angela’s mother, who went mad after her daughter committed suicide at the Y2K dance back in 1999. Once the duo get to the Radley Sanitarium, though, they discover it’s been turned into the Radley Hotel. Though the concierge is a little put off by the girls’ bubbly behavior, he does tell them that there’s one person who might know something about the sanitarium: Eddie Lamb, a former maintenance man who will be familiar to anyone who watched Pretty Little Liars as an attendant at the asylum, last seen in Season 5 of the original series.

Unfortunately, Eddie is out for the night. So Imogen uses the money she raised back on Halloween to pay for her rent to instead get a swanky hotel room filled with chocolate covered strawberries, robes, and a bed that feels like a marshmallow. Good financial planning? No. Good night’s sleep for Imogen? Yes. It also gives time for another Easter egg, as Tabby hits the town to explore the book shop scene. She does find a shop, the eye-openingly named “Ezra’s Books.” For fans of the original series, we’ll note that Ezra Fitz (Ian Harding) worked at a bookstore in Rosewood called Rear Window Brews. It’s entirely possible that this is the same shop with a new name; or Ezra branched out and opened his own store. Either way, it’s ironic that Tabby, whose plotline with her boss at the Millwood movie theater parallels (though does not explicitly respond to) the grooming storyline between Ezra and Aria (Lucy Hale) in the original series, would end up in a bookstore owned by Ezra. But we digress.

Back to the meat of the matter, the next morning Imogen and Tabby meet with Eddie, who helpfully lays out the story — or at least what he knows — about Angela’s mom. She was, indeed, housed at the Radley Sanitarium, and was often visited by five girls who signed in as “A. Waters”… The same five girls who are our new Liars’ mothers, who essentially bullied Angela to death. The pair later find out that a sixth person signed in, but before they do Eddie explains that after the asylum shut down, some of the patients like Angela’s mother were bussed out of town, while others were sent to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy in the town of Riverdale.

Yep, that Riverdale, another town — over on The CW — known for sexy teens and sexier murders. In that show, Sisters of Quiet Mercy is a terrifying nunnery known for everything from conversion therapy to torture, to working as a front for a candy drugs operation. And in case you’re wondering about the connection, not only is Original Sin co-showrun by Riverdale creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, but the production company is Warner Bros. for both — meaning the cross-network crossover isn’t a big issue.

And in fact, the Easter eggs don’t stop there… In today’s other new episode, “Chapter Seven: Carnival or Souls”, we briefly meet the receptionist at Millwood High. Her name? Mrs. Bell, which is the same name as the receptionist at Riverdale High, over on Riverdale. They’re different actresses, but perhaps related? Maybe mother and daughter? I don’t know.

So should we expect the Liars to head over to Riverdale to continue to explore the mystery of Angela Waters? Are Jughead (Cole Sprouse) and Betty (Lili Reinhart) going to pop in to help give them some investigative tips? Does Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin take place in the same universe as Riverdale???

Though Aguirre-Sacasa seemed to confirm the shared universe to TV Line, I would still say… Probably not. It is a fun Easter egg, and the possibility is there. It isn’t even the first Easter egg from the so-called Archie-verse… In Episode 3 of PLL:OS, a librarian was spotted reading “Buxom and the Beast,” a book written by Hilda Spellman (Lucy Davis) over on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. But earlier in the episode, Mouse (Malia Pyles) dishes to the other Liars about her upcoming date with Ash (Jordan Gonzalez), who gets described in another winky moment as looking like a “teen Cole Sprouse.” Sprouse, of course, stars in Riverdale. Not to mention, Lucy Hale also played a role in Riverdale and its spinoff as the titular character, Katy Keene. So unless both Cole Sprouse and his identical cousin Jughead Jones, as well as Lucy Hale’s Aria and Katy Keene all exist in the same universe, chances are this is just Aguirre-Sacasa and company having a fun time.

Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin premieres new episodes every Thursday on HBO Max.