Entertainment TV 10 Times the 'Pretty Little Liars' Cast's Friendship Made Our Hearts Melt The former series premiered 11 years ago today, but the castmates' friendships are eternal By Maria Yagoda Published on June 27, 2017 01:20 PM Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos 01 of 10 WHEN ASHLEY BENSON TOLD PEOPLE HER CASTMATES WERE HER 'FAMILY' Taylor Hill/Getty In an interview with PEOPLE, Benson opened up about her PLL castmates and how much she'd miss them after they wrapped the seventh and final season of the show. "They're like my family. I've spent seven years with them. I've seen them more than I've seen my own family in the last seven years. It was really special to have such an amazing bond with these people, and the cool thing is I know that we'll one day work together again," she said. "And I'll always try to make an effort to see them because they're literally my family. I don't know what I would have done without them for these last seven years if they weren't part of it." 02 of 10 WHEN THEY ALL GOT MATCHING PLL TATTOOS Source: Ashley Benson/Twitter Although the final season ended in June 2017, its stars are forever bonded — with matching tattoos. Ashley Benson, Lucy Hale, Janel Parrish, Troian Bellisario, Shay Mitchell and Sasha Pieterse shared snaps of their tattoos, which were their characters' first initials on the inside of their pointer fingers. 03 of 10 WHEN LUCY HALE POSTED THIS BITTERSWEET GOODBYE ON HER INSTAGRAM Kristina Bumphrey/StarTraks On the last day of filming, Hale posted a heartfelt message: "The day has come to say goodbye to my second home, a character that helped shaped me and so many people who mean the world to me. Bittersweet feelings today, but so proud of what we've done." 04 of 10 WHEN SHAY MITCHELL GUSHED ABOUT 'THE FIVE WOMEN WHO HELPED SHAPE [HER] 20S' "I am a better person for knowing them, learning from them, and loving them endlessly…" Mitchell wrote in an emotional Instagram post after the show finished filming. 05 of 10 WHEN HALE WASN'T READY TO SAY GOODBYE (AND NEITHER WERE WE) J. Countess/Getty Images "Knowing and working with each of these ladies has left such a huge mark on my life. And I'm not ready to say goodbye," Hale wrote on Instagram after PLL's emotional final table read. 06 of 10 WHEN THE CAST SUPPORTED TROIAN BELLISARIO IN MAKING HER DIRECTORIAL DEBUT Bellisario fulfilled a lifelong dream by directing the show's 7x15 episode, and her castmates could not have been prouder. Hale posted this sweet snap with the caption: "Discussing script thangs with the director of our next episode." 07 of 10 WHEN THEY HUNG OUT TOGETHER, LIKE, A LOT Michael Simon/Startraks We don't even hang out with our best friends that much ... and we don't spend long days working with them, either. 08 of 10 WHEN MITCHELL COULDN'T BEAR THE THOUGHT OF SAYING GOODBYE TO HER CHARACTER AND SQUAD Courtesy Ashley Benson "Thank you everyone for this incredible ride. I'm trying to breathe and soak it all in and I'm just so full of gratitude that this was my life for so long. Rosewood Forever, xoxo Em. I mean Shay," the actress wrote on Instagram, posing with her castmates. 09 of 10 WHEN BELLISARIO WAS IN AWE OF MITCHELL'S BEAUTY (AS WE ALL ARE) Eric McCandless/ABC In an interview with Seventeen, Bellisario said that Mitchell was the least like her PLL character, Emily – and ended up gushing about how glam she was in the process. "Shay comes to set in the morning, it'll be seven in the morning, she'll come in heels, skinny jeans, the most gorgeous, glamorous top and her hair is like a Pantene Pro-V ad. Then she'll come film her scene wearing these dirty converse and jeans as Emily — which is like what I arrived in. And I'm like 'Who are you?' It's so funny to see her kick off her sneakers at the end of the day and go home in heels." 10 of 10 WHEN THEY COULDN'T STOP BEING ADORABLE ON EVERY RED CARPET THEY EVER GRACED Jason Merritt/Getty Every. Single. One.