The sixth season of “Pretty Little Liars” has, hands down, been the scariest one yet. We’ve seen enough creepy porcelain dolls to last us a lifetime, we watched Maddie Ziegler perform a dark, twisted dance routine in Spencer’s dreams, and the liars were trapped in a freaking doll house and tortured for two weeks. Oh, and let’s not forget A performed surgery on them so he could implant tracking devices into their necks.

But while the show may come off as straight-up terrifying to viewers (like us) at home, things on set are a little different, as Lucy Hale (Aria Montgomery) can attest.

“I’m always blown away by our set decorators and props and everything, because you walk on set, and it’s pretty creepy, everything’s really dark, but on the flip side of that, it’s such a light-hearted cast,” Hale explained to The Huffington Post over the phone. “We’re always having such a great time.”

She continued, “I used to get freaked out, but six years in, I guess I’ve just gotten used to it. I would agree though, this season is definitely a bit edgier, a bit scarier and I’m glad it translates.”

For the past six seasons, Hale has been part of what might be the most complicated friend circle in TV history, but there’s no drama off-screen.

“I think I knew right from the beginning, when I met the girls, these weren’t just ordinary actors and ordinary people. These were people I was going to have great chemistry with and I knew we were on this journey together. And I think that’s what’s brought us all even closer,” she said.

And, like a real family, Hale noted they’ve “celebrated birthdays together, we’ve experienced loss together … We really are like a family. I would do anything for all of them.”

Lucky for Hale (and us), “Pretty Little Liars” has been renewed for a seventh season, which means she’ll get to hang out with her TV BFFs for a little while longer. And as we already know, after the midseason finale, the girls will finally be done with high school (though maybe not the drama that comes with it).

So what can we expect for Aria, Emily, Spencer and Hannah?

“I’m not sure if I can say how significant the time jump is, but they’ve definitely grown up a lot and they’ve definitely experienced some sort of normalcy. They’ve gone to college and they have jobs now and they have these [new] relationships,” Hale explained.

But don’t hold your breath for a happy ending just yet.

“Of course, events occur that bring them back to Rosewood, and they’re thrown into this whirlwind again,” she continued. “But we just started the time jump so I don’t even know what to expect.”

“I think next season, for sure, we’ve got to top ourselves in pleasing the audience and giving them all the answers they’ve been sticking around for for so long.”

The Season 6 summer finale of “Pretty Little Liars” will air on ABC Family on Aug. 11 at 8 p.m.

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