Amazon Prime Video’s We Were Liars is a 2025 psychological thriller television series based on E. Lockhart’s best-selling 2014 novel. The series centers around Cadence Sinclair Eastman, played by Emily Alyn Lind, the heiress of a powerful New England family. Every summer, Cadence and her relatives spend their holidays on her grandfather’s private island, a seemingly idyllic location where secrets, betrayals, and a life-altering tragedy unfold. The group of close cousins and a friend—nicknamed “the Liars“—includes Shubham Maheshwari as Gat Patil, Esther McGregor as Mirren Sinclair Sheffield, and Joseph Zada as Johnny Sinclair Dennis.
Other cast members include Caitlin FitzGerald as Penny Sinclair (Cadence’s mother), Mamie Gummer as Carrie Sinclair (Johnny’s mother), Candice King as Bess Sinclair (Mirren’s mother), Rahul Kohli as Ed Patil, David Morse as Harris Sinclair (the patriarch), and Wendy Crewson as Tipper Sinclair (the family matriarch).
WE WERE LIARS STORY
In We Were Liars, Cadence Sinclair Eastman is the heir to the wealthy Sinclair family and spends every summer on their private island, Beechwood. Her story is haunting and emotional. The story starts with Cadence going back to the island for Summer 17, even though she is still having headaches and forgetting things from an accident that happened the summer before, in Summer 16.
Cadence notices that something is wrong as she gets back in touch with her cousins Johnny, Mirren, and Gat, the man she likes. Clairmont, the family home, has been rebuilt in a clean, modern style. When she asks about what happened the year before, her friends don’t want to answer. Slowly, memories start to come back to her: her relationship with Gat, the problems in her dysfunctional family, and how the “Liars” wanted to rebel against their evil grandfather Harris’s control over the family through money and inheritance.
Eventually, Cadence remembers the terrible truth: she and the Liars planned to burn down Clairmont to get the Sinclair family to change. But the plan went tragically wrong. Cadence was the only one who survived. Johnny, Mirren, and Gat perished in the fire. The trauma of causing their deaths had been too much for her, so her mind blocked out the entire incident.
Throughout Summer 17, Cadence had been interacting with the Liars, but it’s revealed that they were figments of her imagination—or possibly ghosts—helping her slowly come to terms with the tragedy. In emotional final scenes, she says goodbye to them as they disappear into the ocean, a symbolic release of her guilt.
Despite her grandfather Harris trying to force her into becoming the new face of the Sinclair legacy, Cadence finds the courage to defy him and leave the island. She breaks the cycle of manipulation that defined her family for generations. In a chilling final twist, Johnny appears to his mother Carrie, raising questions about whether he survived or if, like Cadence, she’s hallucinating due to grief and addiction.
WHERE WAS WE WERE LIARS (2025) FILMED?
Though the Sinclair family’s fictional Beechwood Island is set off the coast of Massachusetts, the production did not actually film in New England. Instead, the filmmakers recreated the picturesque setting in Nova Scotia, Canada, along with some additional work in Los Angeles, California. This choice provided the visual atmosphere of the original setting while offering logistical benefits like favorable weather, cost efficiency, and scenic variety.
NOVA SCOTIA: THE STAND-IN FOR BEECHWOOD ISLAND
The bulk of the outdoor filming took place across three key locations in Nova Scotia: Meisners Island, Chester, and Dartmouth.
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Meisners Island was transformed into the private Sinclair estate. A stately home perched along the shoreline served as the Sinclair family’s summer mansion. With sweeping beach views, tree-lined lawns, and isolated terrain, it perfectly represented the secluded feel of Beechwood Island. Most of the key dramatic moments—Cadence’s fragmented memories, group gatherings, and intense emotional scenes—were filmed here.
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Chester, a charming coastal town, stood in for the nearby mainland community where characters would travel for supplies or attend local events. Its harbor, quaint shops, and quiet roads matched the small-town aesthetic that the book described. Scenes set outside the family property, including interactions with townspeople and symbolic moments of separation from the island, were shot in this area.
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Dartmouth, another scenic Nova Scotia town, contributed a variety of coastal locations. The production team used its parks, waterfront docks, and marinas to depict characters arriving or leaving the island. These transitional moments were key in showing the emotional and physical distance the characters often felt from the island—and each other.
FILMING SCHEDULE IN NOVA SCOTIA
Principal photography began in June 2024 and wrapped by late September 2024. Filming in this window allowed the crew to utilize Nova Scotia’s long summer days, lush greenery, and warm weather without facing the harsher autumn and winter conditions typical of the region. In particular, Halifax served as a production base, with filming officially running there from May 30 to September 27, 2024.
Choosing Nova Scotia also allowed the production to avoid stricter regulations and logistical challenges that sometimes come with filming in the real New England. It offered natural versatility and economic benefits while preserving the visual tone of the original setting.
LOS ANGELES: STUDIO WORK FOR INTERIORS
While the series relied heavily on Nova Scotia for exterior shots, Los Angeles studios were used for filming most interior scenes. Detailed replicas of rooms from the Sinclair estate—including bedrooms, hallways, and family dining areas—were built on sound stages. This approach ensured lighting, acoustics, and set continuity across episodes, and also allowed the production team to work around unpredictable weather or reshoot certain scenes efficiently.
THE REALITY BEHIND THE FICTIONAL ISLAND
We Were Liars revolves around Beechwood Island, but it’s important to note that this setting is entirely fictional. Created by E. Lockhart for her novel, the island symbolizes isolation, wealth, family legacy, and eventually tragedy. The production team’s goal was to bring this fictional world to life as authentically as possible, and the combination of Nova Scotia’s rugged coastline and careful studio work achieved just that.
WE WERE LIARS TRAILER
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