Exclusive: ‘Pretty Little Liars’ Shay Mitchell Reveals What’s Next For Emily, Sort Of

ABC Family’s mystery series Pretty Little Liars is on it’s way to reaching a fever pitch. Two weeks ago, the girls — Hanna, Aria, Emily and Spencer — went to Homecoming, where Hanna left to steal a folder from the hospital and Emily got into trouble with Toby and ended up bedridden after being dumped outside the emergency room. Now Emily, who is played by up-and-coming Canadian actress Shay Mitchell, has a lot more on her plate in addition to the secret that has plagued her since the beginning, namely, is she gay?

Since the show’s very first episode, we’ve seen Emily struggling with her sexuality and questioning who she is. And her friends are on to her: at Homecoming, they were surprised when she showed up with a male escort instead of a female one. In tomorrow night’s episode, “Please, Do Talk About Me When I’m Gone,” airing at 8 p.m. ET, something big is going to happen with Emily. But what? Not surprisingly, the secretive actress, who would only reveal that she’s in her “early 20′s,” didn’t give up too much intel when she spoke to Crushable earlier today.

“There’s some new stuff that’s going to be airing,” Shay hinted. “It’s all very exciting and there are some big things that will be revealed. We could possibly reach a peak in these first 10 episodes. Emily’s going to be going through a lot of stuff and everybody will be very satisfied with what they see.”

Hmm. Shay was reluctant to give us any more insight into the mysterious show’s plot lines, but she did talk a little bit about her character, Emily, specifically. “She’s figuring out who she is in all aspects including her sexuality,” Shay said. “She’s experimenting, she’s trying to figure that out, and people have questions that she’s trying to answer, especially with her being so close with her small group of friends right now. And her parents being the ultra-conservative parents, she’s trying to just figure out herself first before she says anything to anyone else.”

Shay said it’s not difficult for her to play a girl wondering about herself since she’s been there. Although she has never really questioned her sexuality, “I’ve always been in relationships,” Shay did admit to asking herself ‘Who am I, what do I like, what do I want to do?’ “Especially in high school…you’re so confused, there are so many different issues that are being brought up and so many different things that you have to go through,” she told us. “I went through a learning period and trying to figure out myself, I don’t think we ever stop.”

“I love my character, I love her storyline and I think it’s great,” Shay said about working on Pretty Little Liars, her first big job as an actor. “I’m so proud to be playing a character like her. The fans respond. Their comments and messages to me have been amazing…I’m so blessed to be on this show that has such a big impact. It’s very cool, I’m still pinching myself.”

Before joining Pretty Little Liars, Shay was a model and had a few small parts, including one episode of teen soap opera Degrassi, which films in her hometown of Toronto. She’s still sort of in touch with some actors from Degrassi, including Drake, who “runs in the same circle of friends,” as Shay. For now, Shay’s single and living in L.A., having picked up and moved in April. Still, she’s never far from her Toronto friends. “I have been fortunate to have my friends from Canada fly in and come to visit me. That’s been the best thing,” she said.

Getting back to Pretty Little Liars, we couldn’t resist asking Shay that question on everyone’s mind: Who is A?? Not surprisingly, Shay expertly dodged the question. “A is…Oh my gosh. I almost told you, that’s really good,” she joked. “No, I don’t know who A is and the writers would never tell us or one of us would just blurt it out. So in a way, I wish I even knew myself, but I don’t. Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t think we’ll know for a little while. We want to keep everyone on their toes.”

Guess we’ll have to keep watching, just to find out.