Spencer Jill Hastings is a fictional character, one of the five main characters who appear in the Pretty Little Liars novel series and its Freeform television adaptation. Created by American author Sara Shepard, she is a member of the group known as the Liars, and is best friend to the four other members, who are protagonists of the story. Portrayed by Troian Bellisario, the character was developed for television by the series' showrunner I. Marlene King and appeared in each of the show's 160 episodes during its seven-years-long run, from its premiere on June 8, 2010, to its finale on June 27, 2017.
Spencer is known in the fictional town of Rosewood for her charm, intelligence, hardheadedness, and dedication to achieve her life goals. She is part of the wealthy Hastings family; Spencer's parents, Veronica and Peter, are both linked to politics and her sister, Melissa is an almost-equally accomplished grad student.
For her role as Spencer, Bellisario was nominated thrice for Choice Summer TV Star: Female (winning once) and twice for Choice TV Actress: Drama (winning once) in the Teen Choice Awards.
Character in print Spencer is one of four primary protagonists in all sixteen of the Pretty Little Liars novels, starting with 2006's Pretty Little Liars. She is portrayed as a competitive girl who strives for perfection in everything she does. Spencer is willing to do whatever it takes to win, often to the detriment of herself and others. She is known to have a dark side and suffers from rage-induced black outs, which leads her to question whether she had anything to do with the death of her friend Alison. She also exhibits symptoms of OCD but it is never confirmed whether she has the disorder.
In later books, Spencer is briefly addicted to drugs, which she takes to help her improve her grades at a University of Pennsylvania summer school. It is also revealed that her father had an affair with Jessica DiLaurentis around the time of Spencer's conception, making her the half-sister of Alison and Courtney DiLaurentis.
Spencer has an ongoing rivalry with her older sister, Melissa, who is equally competitive. The two slowly come to an understanding and eventually have an improved relationship.
Relationships Ian Thomas: Spencer and Ian kissed while he was dating Melissa and their flirtation was condemned by Alison, who threatened to expose it to Melissa. Wren Kim: Wren is Melissa's fiancé who moves into the Hastings' barn with Melissa. He and Spencer flirt, culminating in them kissing and being caught by Melissa, who breaks up with Wren and kicks him out. Spencer and Wren continue to secretly date, but eventually break up. In the final book, Spencer reconnects with Wren and they begin a relationship, with Melissa's blessing. Colin DeSoto: A handsome young man that Spencer and Melissa meet with they are visiting their grandparents in the companion novel Pretty Little Secrets. Spencer and Melissa compete for his affections but when they find out that Colin is actually a 33-year-old married man with a child, they team up to get back at him by spiking his soda water with Viagra before a tennis match. Chase and Curtis: After enlisting a blogger's help in finding "A", Spencer meets with blogger Chase and they share a mutual romantic attraction. However, she later discovers that the guy she thought was Chase was actually his brother, Curtis. She meets the real Chase at the end of the novel; though they do not begin an official relationship, it is implied that they will stay in touch. Throughout the final book, the two become closer during their mission to take down "A" and her accomplice.
Character on screen
Casting Troian Bellisario was cast as Spencer Hastings for the Pretty Little Liars television series adaptation in November 2009.
Characterization Spencer is similar to her book counterpart: she is portrayed as a highly ambitious, intelligent young woman from a wealthy family who frequently competes with her older sister Melissa for accolades and the approval of their parents. However, in the show, Spencer is portrayed as more emotional and sentimental, and more humorous than her book counterpart. She's the most academically gifted of her friends, and in the running for valedictorian. Spencer is on the Rosewood Day field hockey team, and plays tennis at her family's country club. She was the only one who could ever stand up to Alison, although she still deferred to Alison.
Relationships Before the series' chronology, Spencer had a brief affair with Ian Thomas, her sister's boyfriend at the time. Ian and Spencer kissed and Alison saw them together, and later she threatened to tell Melissa. It was later revealed that Alison asked Ian to kiss Spencer. In season one, Spencer flirts with Melissa's fiancé, Wren Kingston when he moves into the Hastings home and the two are caught kissing by Melissa. She ends her engagement with Wren and refuses to speak to him or Spencer. An apologetic Spencer attempts to reunite Wren and Melissa but he tells her that he wishes he could have met her before Melissa. Spencer then dates Alex Santiago after they met at her family's country club but A sabotages their relationship and the two break up.
Spencer is initially suspicious of Toby Cavanaugh's role in Alison's death and they begin a friendly relationship in the second half of the first season, which eventually becomes romantic Their relationship is stable until A threatens Toby's life to Spencer and she decided to end things to keep him safe. After breaking up with Toby, Spencer seeks out Wren but their reconciliation is short-lived. Spencer reunites with Toby when she discovers he has been working separately to take A down. However, it is later revealed that Toby was actually working with A, causing Spencer break up with him. After Toby dies, Spencer is distraught and begins to question whether he was working with A. She eventually learns that Toby is still alive and he explains that he was working with A as a double-agent and faked his death but his allegiance was always with Spencer and The Liars. They then happily reconcile.
In season 5, Toby joins the Rosewood police force, which strains his relationship with Spencer. Spencer wants to use his police resources to find "A" while Toby prefer to maintain a separate work/life balance, causing the two to break up again. Spencer then begins a flirtation with Jonny Raymond, an artist renting out the Hastings' guest house. He eventually leaves town after being arrested for theft. Spencer then has a fling with Colin when she is visiting London with Melissa. In season 6, when Spencer returns to Rosewood, she and Toby resume their relationship. In the mid-season finale, Spencer attends Georgetown University. She has a pregnancy scare and she and Toby realize they want different things in their lives, leading to their break up.
Following the series' five years jump in season 6, Spencer dates Caleb Rivers but they later break up due to Caleb's feelings for Hanna. In the series finale, Spencer and Toby rekindle their relationship and in Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, it is mentioned that she and Toby eloped.
Season 1 Spencer Hastings is a preppy, ambitious, and competitive student who strives for perfection due to her parents' high expectations. She is resentful of her older sister Melissa, to whom she is always compared. Spencer is attracted to her sister's fiancé, Wren, whom A warns Spencer to stay away from. Wren kisses Spencer and they are caught by Melissa, who insists that Wren move out. Melissa is angry and resentful towards Spencer afterwards. Spencer feels especially guilty because years earlier, she flirted with Melissa's boyfriend Ian and he kissed her, culminating in his break up with Melissa. She attempts to help Wren reconcile with Melissa but both parties are uninterested.
Spencer starts dating Alex Santiago who works at her family's country club. Her mother initially dislikes him, but later reveals it is because she is embarrassed that she drunkenly revealed her breast cancer scare to him. Alex confides in Spencer that he had received an invitation to a prestigious tennis clinic but was uninterested in pursuing it. A sends Alex's application to the clinic and fakes messages that Spencer sent the application, which causes Alex to break up with her, believing that Spencer betrayed his trust.
Spencer is the most suspicious and paranoid of the group, and she opposes Emily's friendship with Toby. But after the two spend time together in a motel room in the episode "Person of Interest", the two begin a romantic relationship. Spencer's family disapproves of their relationship and "A" also conspires to keep them apart. Nevertheless, Spencer insists on staying with Toby.
Ian returns to Rosewood as Spencer's field hockey coach and he reconciles with Melissa, which makes Spencer nervous given their past relationship. Spencer becomes concerned when Melissa and Ian suddenly elope and Melissa becomes pregnant, especially after it is revealed that Alison had a secret relationship with Ian, making him a suspect in her murder.
Spencer and the rest of the Liars strongly begin to believe that Ian was Alison's murderer and he realizes that Spencer knows about his relationship with Alison. The two have a tense relationship and Ian successfully convinces the Hastings family that Spencer's erratic behavior is due to jealousy of him and Melissa. Spencer sends anonymous text messages to Ian, threatening to expose him. When Spencer and Melissa get into a car accident, Spencer goes back to the church to get Melissa's phone, where Ian is waiting. He reveals that he knows Spencer is behind the messages and attempts to kill her but he is then attacked by a mysterious figure, who then kills Ian. The rest of the Liars join Spencer and call the police but when the police arrive, Ian's body is gone.
A flashback reveals that Spencer and Alison got into a major argument on the night of her disappearance, suggesting Spencer is also a suspect in Alison's murder.
Season 2 The police do not believe the Liars' version of events and believe Ian has gone missing. Spencer learns that someone has been texting Melissa from Ian's phone, pretending that he is still alive. Spencer is concerned for Melissa, especially after her miscarriage, but Melissa is distrustful of Spencer. The two eventually reconcile after they discover Ian's body and Melissa finally accepts that he is dead.
Spencer and Toby are still dating in season 2. While doing yard work for the Hastings, Toby digs up Spencer's old field hockey stick which she gave to Alison before she died. Spencer's father, Peter, sees this and quickly takes the stick, and later burns it. Spencer becomes suspicious and after doing some further investigating, she reads Alison's autopsy results and finds that she was struck in the head with an object similar to a field hockey stick. She discovers that Peter did something illegal for the DiLaurentis family and worries that her father covered up her involvement in Alison's murder.
After "A" sends a threatening message about Toby, Spencer decides that the best way to keep Toby safe is to break up with him despite his declaration of love for her. Spencer tries to remain friends with him but he rebuffs her attempts.
Spencer becomes suspicious of Jason DiLaurentis, especially when she and Emily break into his shed and find pictures of Aria. In episode 19, she discovers Peter had an affair with Jessica DiLaurentis and Jason is her half-brother. The reveal divides their family and a distraught Spencer rekindles her romance with Wren as a distraction.