'Pretty Little Liars' to end after Season 7

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Freeform series Pretty Little Liars is ending after Season 7.

Showrunner I. Marlene King and stars Troian Bellisario, Ashley Benson, Lucy Hale, Shay Mitchell and Sasha Pieterse announced the news in a Facebook Live interview Monday, just a day before the show's mid-season finale.

"After tomorrow night's summer finale, which is awesome and spectacular, the next ten episodes of the show are really going to be the last ten episodes of the series. We're saying goodbye," King said. "The PLL endgame begins in April 2017."

"It's been such an amazing chapter of our lives and we're so glad that you guys could share it with us," Hale, who plays Aria Montgomery, added. "All good things must come to an end, and these last ten episodes are pretty crazy, so we're going out with a bang."

King promised the final episodes will answer all the show's lingering questions, with Bellisario adding that fans will be "very, very satisfied." Freeform executive Karey Burke later told Variety that the series was always meant to end after seven seasons.

"It's rare that you have a chance to send a series out on top," Burke said. "It ultimately comes down to Marlene and her vision, and her sense of where the natural place for the narrative to end was, and this was that."

"The cast [have] been phenomenal," she added. "I think they're thrilled for the opportunity the show has given them and they've formed an amazing family. It's bittersweet. I think they're all excited for their next chapters."

The Pretty Little Liars mid-season finale will air Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET. King will turn her focus to her new Freeform series, Famous in Love, which released a first trailer starring Bella Thorne this week.