'PLL' Might Have a Pregnancy on Its Hands

When I heard that our dear Hanna could perhaps be up for a pregnancy scare this season on Pretty Little Liars, my initial thought was, "Ah. But of course." I mean, pregnancy scares aren't something that you could say happen often in Rosewood, but there's no denying the fact that the sheer soapy drama of the convention is perfect for the show.

Now, just where do these danged pregnancy rumors come from? Mr. Hanna Marin himself (or at least the actor who plays him), Tyler Blackburn: He revealed the (possible) spoiler in a recent game of Two Truths and a Lie with Yahoo! TV — and, given the nature of the game, left things pretty open to speculation. Take a look at his supremely well-crafted (and by "well-crafted," I mean "hard to guess") answers:

1. "Caleb almost gets burned alive." 2. "Ezra starts dating another high schooler." 3. "Hanna has a pregnancy scare."

Well, after the kiln incident in "Fresh Meat," we know the first one is true... that just leaves the second two — so either Ezra's going to date a third high school girl, or Hanna's going to have some major uterus drama. I don't know about you, but I'm thinking the pregnancy storyline is more likely. Bear with me — here are a few reasons why.

PLL's Done Pregnancy Drama Before

Remember how Flashback Ali had a pregnancy scare back in the days of Beach Hottie (not to be confused with Board Shorts, who turned out to be Ezra)? There's definitely a precedent for teen pregnancy on the show, and I think enough time has passed from Ali's false alarm that the convention could cycle through the show again.

Things With Caleb Are Too Good...

Now that the days of Ravenswood angst and binge drinking are behind us, things with Haleb are better than ever... which is always a red flag on Pretty Little Liars — their happiness (and possible upcoming steamy scenes) might just be the calm before the storm.

...Though the Rest of Hanna's Life is More Hectic Than Ever

She's got college tours like nobody's business, she's still grieving over Mona's death, and her mom just slept with Jason DiLaurentis (for crying out loud). Even though things with Caleb are more stable than ever, the rest of her life is in complete turmoil — which means it's ripe to get messed up even more. Think about it — a pregnancy scare could be used as a sort of magnifying glass for everything that's going wrong in Hanna's life right now, which could push her to breakdown (though hopefully not) — and we all know showrunner I. Marlene King loves pushing her characters past their breaking points.

It's Either Pregnancy or Super Creep-dom For Ezra

I don't know about you, but I've never been quite down with Mr. Fitz. Ezria's cute and all, but it's just so hard to get past the student-teacher creepiness. I'm able to turn a blind eye most of the time, but when it was revealed that Ezra also briefly dated Ali? It made it exponentially more difficult — I mean, two high schoolers? If they upped his tally to three, I think he'd become irredeemable in a lot of people's eyes — and that can't happen.

With the structure of Tyler's Two Truths and a Lie, either we get serial underage girl-dater Ezra, or we get (possibly) pregnant Hanna — and I think the Hanna storyline is better for the show. Besides...

PLL Will Handle a Pregnancy Storyline Well

I wouldn't say this about many shows, but I'd actually be interested to see how PLL would handle a pregnancy storyline for one of its main characters. I've always been impressed with the show's progressiveness — I especially love how they handled the issue of slut shaming in Season 5A (Remember when Ella's fiancé Zach was creeping on Hanna, and all the girls blamed her for how she was dressing? In the end, everyone realized how wrong they were — of course they should have been blaming the creepy older man, rather than Hanna, who was in no way to blame). PLL is sexy and edgy and soapy, but I love that they don't lose sight of their demographics, and just what an influence they can have.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying I'm gunning for a "lesson of the week"-type deal here where safe sex is advocated for, etc — I'm just saying I have confidence that PLL will be able to impart a positive message on the subject without going all preachy.

Will it happen? Won't it happen? Logically, we have about a 50/50 chance — though this seemingly innocent tweet from King might mean something:

It could be a simple salutation... or it could be something more. What do you think's happening next for Hanna?

Images: Eric McCandless/ABC Family; Giphy (4)