Actress Ashley Benson was in tears when she auditioned for the role of Hanna Marin in Pretty Little Liars, because she had just learned her previous show had been canceled.
The young star was on a show called Eastwick when she was offered the chance to try out for Hanna.
"It (Eastwick) was canceled at 8am on a Monday (and) the next morning, we had her in our casting offices," Pretty Little Liars showrunner Marlene King tells Cosmopolitan.com. "She was literally crying in the office because she just found out her show got canceled."
Benson became the last of the leads to be cast on the show, which ends after seven seasons on Tuesday night (18Apr17), and the stars have gathered to discuss the quirks of the drama that made them all famous.
Lucy Hale, who plays Aria Montgomery, can't understand why she and her castmates were always "dressed to the nines", adding,
"(We were) always running in the woods in heels."
And co-star Troian Bellisario chuckles, "We live in Pennsylvania, but there's never been snow except for the Christmas episode."
Meanwhile, production designer Jakub Durkoth fears the show paved the way for Donald Trump to become U.S. President: "It's just about what you want to believe at all times, and ignoring the obvious truths, and people just go with you for seven years on that," he says.
"There are so many times of like, 'Go to the police! Don't make this more difficult than it needs to be!' It's all about misinformation and a complete lack of logic. We just saturated the United States with it. I think we're secretly to blame for the current President."