8. Sasha Pieterse, who would go on to play Alison DiLaurentis, was this close to landing the function of Hanna prior to manufacturers found she was just 12 years of ages. “I knew what Hanna was going to do and I was like, ‘Do we really want a 12-year-old doing those things?'” King remembered in an interview with Variety. “But also, they can only work a certain amount of hours under the age of 16. So that’s when we just said she’s Alison. She read with a few of the girls as Alison, she was several years younger than all of them, but she scared the hell out of everyone in a good way.”
9. Ashley Benson was the last of the 4 primary stars cast, with King exposing to Variety, “I remember her coming in for her audition and she remained in tears due to the fact that she was on a program called Eastwick and she had actually simply discovered it was canceled, therefore she came by to this audition.”
King continued, “We knew we wanted a blonde for this role because it was one of the last roles to cast and other than Alison, we did not have a blonde in the show. We couldn’t find the right person and she came in … there’s just something magical that happens with her and the way the camera captures her and those eyes. We all knew in the room that we found our Hanna.”
