Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists may not have much in common with the books Pretty Little Liars or The Perfectionists, but it’s possible that one important twist could already be set in motion before us.

Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers from The Perfectionists book series by Sara Shepard and Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists season 1.

Quick backstory

In the books, there are five girls that are tangled up in the murder investigation Nolan Hotchkiss, the most popular boy at their high school: Ava, Caitlin, Mackenzie, Julie, and Parker. Driven by their need to be perfect, and the secrets that Nolan holds against each of them, they design a plan to murder him.

However, when it actually happens, the girls race to figure out who did it before they are framed for the murder themselves… or worse, become the murderer’s next targets.

In The Perfectionists book series, it is revealed that one of the girls, Parker, has been dead for quite some time after being murdered by her abusive father.

Parker’s best friend, Julie, creates a split personality that is Parker, due to her guilt over Parker’s death. It is revealed that Julie murdered Nolan, but while her split personality was in charge, which explains why she has no memory of it over the course of the books.

Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists

As we know, the show could not be any different from the books, as we witnessed on Pretty Little Liars. This is an entirely new journey based loosely off of the books, even more so than the original.

While we have yet to officially meet a Julie or Parker on The Perfectionists, there are two other characters that seem to fit into this role.

Caitlin

While it’s a small change from the canon of the books, Caitlin’s name in the books is Caitlin Martell-Lewis, with both of her moms’ last names. In the show, her name has changed to Caitlin Park-Lewis, which is an eerie twist if they’re not planning to connect Caitlin to the story around Parker.

This is the first time that one of the main character’s names has been changed from the books (not including the creation of Dylan Walker who doesn’t exist).

Despite this little name change, it’s quite possible that Caitlin could have a split personality. Even though we’re only two episodes in, Caitlin is a prime suspect in Nolan’s murder investigation.

Caitlin had the most to lose if Nolan revealed the secret he held over her. Her mom’s political career would have been destroyed beyond repair, which, in turn, would have shattered her own dreams of politics before they had even began. Furthermore, Caitlin’s relationship with Jeremy was forced to remain a secret, so Caitlin could play Nolan’s “perfect” girlfriend in the public eye.

With the motive to commit the crime, and assuming the slight change of her last name is a nod to the books (because, honestly, why else would they change her name?), it’s entirely possible that there’s much more to Caitlin than meets the eye.

Taylor Hotchkiss

While Taylor has no direct book counterpart, Caitlin had a brother in the books of the same name who committed suicide after years of Nolan’s relentless bullying. The two could not be more different, especially considering Taylor is a Hotchkiss and is still alive, in hiding, after faking her suicide.

What makes Taylor suspicious, particularly when it comes to the potential for her to embody the Julie/Parker twist, is how we’ve heard her mental state described before her “suicide.”

On The Perfectionists season 1, episode 2, Claire Hotchkiss, Nolan and Taylor’s mother, shares a scene with Alison, in which she details how paranoid Taylor became toward the seeming end of her life. Basically, before she abandoned her life, Taylor Hotchkiss was in the middle of a mental breakdown (which is entirely understandable in Beacon Heights).

Who could it be?

While my main suspect is Caitlin, because changing her last name to something so similar to Parker is shady, it’s entirely possible that the characters of Julie, Mackenzie, or Parker will join the show in the future, assuming it lives on to see another several years.

My hope for The Perfectionists is that, like the book series, there’s no fear of making one of the main characters into the villain (or a temporary villain). For years on Pretty Little Liars, it seemed like the writers were setting up one of the girls, particularly Aria, to be the woman beneath the black hoodie in the end.

While making one of the liars into the villain may not have worked for the predecessor, this show is a fresh start and a chance to think outside of the box and try something new. The books weren’t afraid to turn a protagonist into an antagonist and neither should the series be.

The Perfectionists continues Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Freeform!