“Pretty Little Liars’” famous time jump took its high school protagonists five years into the future, but the show’s star, Lucy Hale, is set to return to high school one last time. She and Kathryn Prescott (“24: Legacy”), Alexandra Shipp (“Straight Outta Compton”), and Awkwafina (“Neighbors 2”) play four best friends in the throes of senior year in “Dude,” a coming-of-age comedy directed by Olivia Milch. Deadline reports that Netflix just secured a world rights deal for the project.
The film follows the four girls in the final two weeks of their high school experience. “It’s a grounded comedy about dealing with the first real losses in life — leaving your best friends and contemplating death and the passage of time, that odd mixture of grief and nostalgia experienced by young people as they try to understand these losses. It is also about getting stoned with your friends in your car while listening to hip-hop,” Deadline summarizes.
“Dude” is produced by June Pictures, along with Heather Rae (“Tallulah”), Langley Perer (“I Am Number Four”), and Jen Isaacson (“Oprah’s Master Class”).
Milch co-wrote “Ocean’s 8,” the upcoming “Ocean’s 11” reboot starring Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Anne Hathaway, Rihanna, Mindy Kaling, Helena Bonham Carter, and Awkwafina.
The series finale of “Pretty Little Liars” will air on Freeform June 27. Marlene King created the mega hit mystery based on the book series by Sara Shepard. Up next for Hale is “Life Sentence,” a new CW series co-created by Erin Cardillo (“Fuller House”). She plays a woman who is diagnosed with terminal cancer, later finds out she’s not dying, and is forced to revisit the choices she made when she lived like there was no tomorrow.