The immensely popular summer slate for ABC Family is getting a little hotter with the new Twisted, a dark and heady mystery drama set to premiere immediately after the season 4 premiere of Pretty Little Liars on June 11. Based in a lush Connecticut suburb, the show opens with the return of Danny Desai (Avan Jogia) to his hometown, after having been in juvenile prison for a number of years for a family murder. Back home, he tries to reconnect with his mother, fallen socialite Karen (Denise Richards), while at school he finds that his two former best friends Jo (Maddie Hasson) and Lacey (Kylie Bunbury) have now fallen to opposite ends of the high school popularity spectrum. After the murder of resident mean girl Regina (played with aplomb by Karynn Moore, interviewed here), all eyes fall on Danny as the go-to suspect.
Jogia, previously seen on the CW’s Aliens in America, tries to get a handle on his character. “[Danny] is a very charismatic character, but I think what I’m trying to do is make sure everyone knows that that is a mask that he wears.” This is just one element giving us the feeling that things are not always as they seem on Twisted. Part whodunit, part high school romance, the show has a lot going for it, including an exciting and talented young cast that discovers the twisted layers of secrets and lies right along with the viewers. “I don’t really know if I want to be the present day murderer,” Jogia admits. “You know, the writers kind of navigate where the show will go mystery wise!”
Denise Richards shares Jogia’s anticipation in regards to where the show is going next. “The writers don’t tell us what’s coming up…I’m trying to figure it out too because…each script that comes is always a surprise for us!” But of her character’s son, she observes that “something had to go wrong for him to do what he did.”
And that’s the most fascinating aspect of Twisted; a central character who may or may not be a sociopath (in fact, the original title for the show was Socio). “It’s all very confusing because we don’t know if he’s just a down and out sociopath or just a very confused young teenager,” Jogia states. “You as an actor get to decide what that is, you know, for you as a character. And I also don’t like really knowing what’s going to happen next…I let the writers kind of navigate what they want to do with that.”
We as the audience look forward to going along for the ride! Twisted premieres on June 11th on ABC Family.
—DH