New Clue Hints 'PLL' Maya May Return From The Dead

After five and a half seasons of Pretty Little Liars, we finally got the answer to some of our biggest questions. We found out that Cece is Big A and Ali's older sister, Mona bashed Bethany over the head, and that the very same Bethany pushed Toby's mother off the roof and blamed it on an innocent Cece, who then went by Charles. Season 6A's "Summer of Answers" delivered, but it didn't give us the entire story — which is pretty perfect, considering we still have a season and a half of show to go. Now, the title of a Season 6B episode is making fans freak out about the fate of a character we never quite got all of the answers on. Could Maya really be alive? The episode title hints that it's absolutely possible.

Pretty Little Liars' episode titles have had plenty of significance over the years, from "For Whom The Bell Tolls," in which Spencer is attacked by Ian in the bell tower, to "Taking This One To The Grave," the episode where Mona is "killed" by A. That's why the episode title for Season 6, episode 19, the penultimate episode of the season, is so suspicious: it's taken directly from a quote that will mean a lot to longtime fans of the show. Here's the Instagram pic, posted by Pretty Little Liars writer Joseph Dougherty, that sparked so much controversy:

This line is lifted directly from Ali, who asked the girls "did you miss me?" the minute they realized that she was never dead at all. Ali being alive is easily one of the most jaw-dropping moments in Pretty Little Liars history, and the line is iconic. If the show is going to use it for an episode title, it's likely for a major reason — like, say, another "dead" character coming back to Rosewood?

So far there's no word on whether there will actually be a pseudo resurrection on Pretty Little Liars, but if there's one character that fans have long suspected of secretly being alive, it's Emily's first love Maya. Maya' death never quite felt like an open-and-shut case in the Pretty Little Liars universe, despite the fact that we found out who really killed her back in Season 3. "Nate" — really Lyndon, Maya's True North stalker — confessed that he was the one who hit Maya in a jealous rage sparked by their breakup, which he did shortly before attempting to murder both Emily and Paige as an act of revenge.

Nate's confession is part of the reason why so many Pretty Little Liars fans find Maya's death so suspicious. Prior to learning that Nate was a truly heinous dude, the Liars were investigating Maya's death in part of the overall mystery: Mona even hinted that Maya knew something about Ali, but what that was was never truly explained. While some fans assumed that it was just another way for Mona to mess with the girls while she was playing the A game, others thought that maybe Maya was connected to Ali in a surprising way. The episode title hints that maybe, just maybe, these fans are right.

Season 6B might be the perfect time to bring Maya back, if she really isn't as dead as we think she is. (Did you see a body? I didn't see a body... and even if we did see a body, Mona looked pretty damn dead herself.) The creators have stated that we've officially shut the book on the Big A story, but we know that someone else is chasing Ali after the five-year time jump. Maya could have a big connection to another one of Rosewood's big bads, which is why she had to fake her death to escape him in the first place.

Maya secretly being alive is definitely one of Pretty Little Liars biggest conspiracy theories to date, and the upcoming episode's title gives believers in it some credence. If Maya does return from the dead, she'll crack open an even bigger mystery for Season 6B — and she may even lead us to the identity of this mysterious "he."

Images: ABC Family (screenshot); Giphy (2)