‘We Were Liars’ Showrunner, 53, Reveals How TV Writers Make You Root for a Ship Without Even Realizing It

At least once, everyone should experience what it feels like to realize two television characters are into each other romantically several episodes — if not seasons — before they get together. According to We Were Liars co-showrunner Julie Plec, creating those moments for the audience is an alternatively frustrating and gratifying task. At an “Escape With Prime Video” luncheon event in New York City, celebrating the female-focused storytelling on the streamer’s summer slate, Plec discussed how, as show-runner for The Vampire Diaries and The Originals in addition to We Were Liars, she and her writers are able to lay the foundation for the fiercest ‘shipping wars for unsuspecting fans. The event’s first panel, which also included The Better Sister creator Olivia Milch and Culpa mía writer Mercedes Ron and covered everything from what constitutes a “complex female character” in 2025 to the thrills of YA romance.

We’ve all been there. You think that you’ve noticed something that nobody else has, and that’s thrilling. You have a conversation with a coworker or an online friend, and realize that you aren’t the only one, and thus, a fandom is born. You remember every time those two characters glanced at each other and every word they’ve said to each other. It’s the same behavior we display when we have crushes on other people, right? The waiting, hoping that they (the characters and/or the writers) see what you see and admit to the feelings, starts to become maddening. Trust the process, according to Plec:

“One moment where his eyes drop down to her lips, and the audience doesn’t even realize what you’ve just done, which is basically said ‘watch these two.’ And you can take the next season and a half to build on those moments until the audience is screaming at you on social media: ‘Why won’t you give us this?!’ ‘How could you?’ ‘You’re the worst writer in the world because you won’t give us what we want!’ And you’re sitting there, kind of a little smug, being like ‘duh… I told you what you wanted.‘”

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Emily Alyn Lind as Cadence with her forehead leaning on Shubham Maheshwari as Gat in We Were Liars. — Image via Prime Video

Television is a visual medium. Nonverbal moments are part of storytelling, too. To open the discussion, Plec talked about a My So-Called Life moment in Episode 12 that affected her thirty years ago. The teenage protagonist Angela Chase (Claire Danes) has been making out with her crush, Jordan Catalano (Jared Leto), in the school’s boiler room. This is what she thought she’d wanted all season. But he ignores her in public. She works up the courage to confront him about this, and at the end of the episode, he breaks off from his friends in a crowded hallway and takes Angela’s hand. It’s simple. It’s not a declaration of love. But it’s kind of perfect, and it was absolutely intentional.

A custom image featuring scenes from Bridgerton and Nobody Wants This.

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“How lucky I am to stand by your side and soak up even a little bit of your light.”

Sure, there are definitely cases in which fans have latched on to moments that the folks behind the scenes did not intend to be read in a certain way. But it’s nice to have the affirmation that, most of the time, these things were the plan all along. It does make sense when you think about it. So many people are involved in taking a television show from the page to the screen. Moments like that, most of the time, are not by accident. The writers make choices. The directors make choices. The actors make choices. The editor makes choices.

Plec’s current show, the mysterious We Were Liars, may not be the best example of this. Due to some unconventional circumstances, the central love stories are not exactly “endgame” in the traditional sense. While there may be a Season 2, it might not involve the same characters. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t pick up on small moments at the beginning of the season that indicate what’s coming, romantically and otherwise, later on down the road. Like Mirren (Ester McGregor) and Ebon (Dempsey Bryk), am I right? It’s the kind of storytelling you only get with television, and thank goodness for that.

We Were Liars is available to stream on Prime Video.