Aria & Ezra Aren't Necessarily Endgame In 'PLL'

Despite their constant on again, off again status (and the fact that their relationship was, for many years, illegal), Aria and Ezra have always seemed endgame on Pretty Little Liars. There's always been the notion that they'd eventually end up together, even in the days when her parents were threatening to get him fired, and heck — even in the days when she found out he was spying on her and had originally started dating her to get more intel for his true crime novel.

Now, after the show's time jump, they've found their way back to each other and gotten engaged (plus, their relationship is finally legal) — but there's still a pretty major roadblock between them and the wedding bells: his other fiancée, Nicole. While the "Hold Your Piece" episode had Aria largely avoiding the concept of Ezra and Nicole's reunion after her kidnapping, the episode "Power Play" delved into the love triangle head on.

So, is Nicole just another blip in the Ezria radar, or could she be the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back? According to Ian Harding, she might cause a real shake up — he explained to Wetpaint, "I genuinely believe that Ezra was sort of shaping up to be with Nicole. I think that in his mind he genuinely thought, 'Oh, OK. This woman, Nicole, is the woman I'm supposed to be with.'"

Then, everything changed when she went missing — he slowly rebuilt his (now-legal) relationship with Aria, and the two of them wrote a book together, and even ended up getting engaged. But now, Nicole's back, and it's causing major confusion. To put it once again in Harding's words, "I think he genuinely doesn't know which one he should go with, or if he should go with either one, because the situation is such an emotional catastrophe."

Of course, chances are still high that an Ezria wedding is coming, but... maybe it would actually be better if it didn't? Take a second to think about it: after all, as Harding bluntly pointed out to Refinery 29, Ezra is actually a statutory rapist. Sure, they're both adults now, but that'll never change the fact that he was her high school English teacher, and she was his 16-year-old student. Older guys dating younger girls is weirdly normal in the Pretty Little Liars universe, but that doesn't make it OK — and it's worth pointing out that Ezra and Aria's relationship has always been dysfunctional, to boot. Again, remember the fact that he originally started dating her to research his true crime book about Ali? Who he also dated? When she was even younger than Aria was at the start of the series? These are all some harsh words, sure — but it's worth at least mulling over the possibility that the two might not end up together, especially in light of the Nicole drama.

Heck, there's also always the chance that either of them could end up being AD — in which case, the relationship's probably off (unless they're both AD, of course). Who knows — basically anything could happen in the last handful of remaining episodes. Guess we'll just have to wAit and see...