Ian Thomas

"You know, you can't avoid me. I live in your backyard."

- Ian to Spencer

Ian Thomas is Melissa Hastings' deceased husband who briefly dated Spencer Hastings. He was the coach of the Rosewood High field hockey team before his death. Ian was a part of the N.A.T. Club. He was protrayed by Carlo Marks in the Pilot and by Ryan Merriman in all the other appearances.

History
Ian Thomas was friends with Jason DiLaurentis and Garrett Reynolds in school. The three formed a club called the N.A.T. Club, which is later explained to stand for "We See All" in Latin. He dated Alison, Melissa, and Spencer. It is not clear who pushed him off the bell tower yet.

Series

 * -|Season 1=

Pilot

Ian is first seen in a flashback with Melissa in the Hastings home. Alison tells Melissa that Spencer has something to say which Spencer quickly denies. He and Melissa leave after that.

Please, Do Talk About Me When I'm Gone

He had kissed Spencer, then briefly dated, Melissa's younger sister, back when Alison was still alive. He returns to Rosewood for Ali's bench dedication and is hired as the new field hockey coach at Rosewood High. Later, it is revealed that he was secretly, romantically linked to Alison DiLaurentis. There is a tree in the woods with "Ali + Ian" carved into it and he is seen on a video tape with Alison made the night she died. He and Melissa start dating once again. In the winter premiere episode, they elope. "A" ensures the Liars see the video and convince them it portrays Ian apparently choking Alison to death. (It is later revealed he did not choke her or kill her during the video.)

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Ian is nowhere to be found after Melissa and Spencer get into a car accident, leaving Melissa's fetus to be carefully monitored in the hospital. When Spencer is looking for Melissa's cell phone in the church, Ian attempts to kill her, learning that Spencer was the one leaving anonymous ultimatums on his phone. While there, he seem's to admit to killing Alison and tells Spencer he's going to have to do the same to her.

In an attempt to escape, Spencer throws away the only piece of evidence linked to Ian: the flashdrive, with Ian's "footage." She runs throughout the church until finally Ian catches up with her, attempting to throw her over the bell tower landing. Spencer begs for Ian to let her go, with the rest of the Liars on the phone overhearing the exchange. Suddenly, a dark hooded stranger throws Ian over the landing where a rope ties around his throat hanging him off the landing. When, Hanna, Aria and Emily get to the church, they find a traumatized Spencer alone, with Ian hanging off the landing, seemingly dead. When the police arrive at the church, Ian is mysteriously missing.

In the beginning of Season 2, nobody believes the girls' claims that Ian killed Alison and tried to kill Spencer; they all believe he had simply run away, especially given the money found near the edge of Rosewood recently taken from his bank account, and the suitcase. Although Melissa does not believe Spencer at first that her husband is dead, she starts to wonder if Spencer might know something that she doesn't, reasoning that Ian would never leave his pregnant wife.
 * -|Season 2=

Later that night, Spencer finds Melissa's cellphone with a text from a restricted number, "Its not safe for me to tell you where I am." Together with the girls, Spencer (pretending to be Melissa) replied, "How do I know it's really you?" and receives the reply, "Ask me anything." Knowing that only Ian would know the answer, she asked, "What are we naming our baby?" In response, she received, "Taylor." However, it should be noted that she tells the answer aloud to the girls before receiving the response, and in the next episode, it is clear that they were being watched by a figure overhead.

It is eventually revealed that Melissa and Wren were trying to help Ian by supplying drugs to him. However, when they arrive to the place where he is hiding, Melissa, Wren, and the Pretty Little Liars are all shocked to find Ian dead once and for all. He has a bloody shot to his head, a gun in his hand, and a letter lying on the ground that when the camera quickly pans over it, reads, "I killed Alison, I lost my temper because she knew too much. But there is only so much you can bury. It won't be that easy, but I know how to get rid of the pain. I can't run from the law. Come and find me. -Ian." The scene then cuts to the top of the room, where the imprint of a missing horseshoe is visible.

The Devil You Know

Emily finds, through discrete research, that the suicide and confession note was actually written by "A," revealing that Ian never really confessed to murdering Alison. In addition, as Officer Reynolds reveals based on forensic evidence that from the time that Ian's body was found, he must have been dead for approximately a week, it is clear that he could not have been the one sending text messages to Melissa. It seems that "A" was the real author of those texts, as the black gloved figure had possession of Ian's phone in "Blind Dates," before slipping it into Spencer's purse.

Based on this, it is possible that Ian actually did die in the bell tower in "For Whom the Bell Tolls" or that "A" waited to kill him in the barn.

It is also revealed that Alison had waken up after falling down in the forest in the video footage of her last day alive. She is seen laughing with Ian before walking away from The Kissing Rock. It's not so clear to the girls after seeing this additional video footage that Ian killed Alison.

Ian's aunt, his only surviving relative besides the Hastings, wants nothing to do with Ian's death after his body is found. It is left to the Hastings to take care of the funeral. Surprisingly, Spencer is the one to encourage her parents to pay for his funeral, as she feels that Melissa needs it in order to find closure. Peter and Veronica follow her advice, and Ian is given a respectable funeral, complete with religious service and bells ringing in the church, no less. He is buried in the Rosewood Cemetery, where Alison is also buried.

Some time after Ian's death, Spencer is assigned to sift through Ian's old belongings and dispose of the last traces of him from the Hastings home. She finds his old yearbook, which shows that he had been a member of the N.A.T. Club along with Garrett Reynolds and Jason DiLaurentis. Jason had even signed his yearbook acknowledging their co-membership. The club seems to have been unauthorized by Rosewood High School, however, as the club is not mentioned in the index of clubs, nor in any other class' yearbook as far as Spencer can tell. Spencer then discovers that the acronym is Latin, and means "We see all."

In "The First Secret," Alison and Ian are seen in Spencer’s living room, with Alison flirting with Melissa’s then-boyfriend, who is holding a video camera in his hand. He films Alison talking about her grandmother in Georgia who was a sweater model. After a few more lines about her own photogenicity, she turns the camera on Ian and films him talking himself up. Alison immediately sets the camera down when Melissa and Spencer descend the stairs. Later Melissa and Ian, clad in Bonnie and Clyde costumes, attend Noel's Halloween's brother to be with Noel's older brother (Eric) and his friends. When Alison tries to get chummy with Ian, Melissa spins him around into a kiss, forcing Alison to walk away disappointed.

In the second half of season 2, another video of Ian on the day of Alison's death is revealed to the Liars. Ian is seen in Alison's room planting a video camera. Jenna and Garrett walk in, saying that they want out of N.A.T, and Ian springs the camera on them, compromising their position. An argument ensues before Melissa walks into the room with a livid expression on her face, barking, "Where is she?!"


 * -|Season 3=

The flash drive containing videos of the girls and Jenna and Toby that Spencer threw at Ian at the church surfaced during Season 3. It was later destroyed by Ashley Marin.

We will possibly find out which member of the A Team was responsible for Ian's death.
 * -|Season 4=

Mona stated that she didn't do it and doesn't know either. ("'A' is for A-l-i-v-e")

Appearances (16/95)
Season 1 (12/22) Season 2 (4/25)
 * Pilot
 * Please, Do Talk About Me When I'm Gone
 * Keep Your Friends Close
 * Moments Later
 * Know Your Frenemies
 * Careful What U Wish 4
 * Je Suis une Amie
 * The Badass Seed
 * A Person of Interest
 * Someone to Watch Over Me
 * Monsters in the End
 * For Whom the Bell Tolls (last seen alive)
 * Blind Dates (corpse)
 * The Devil You Know (video)
 * The First Secret
 * The Blond Leading the Blind (video)

Book Comparisons

 * He had sandy blonde hair in the books.
 * In Ali's Pretty Little Lies, it was revealed that he never actually dated Alison in the books.
 * He witnessed Ali's murder in the books but he was drunk.
 * He never married Melissa in the books, only dated her.
 * In the books, Ian and Jason didn't like each other. But in the show, they were friends.
 * In the book Ian body was found in the DiLaurentis family home. In the show he was found in an old barn shed.
 * Along with Malcolm Cutler, Toby Cavanaugh, Jason DiLaurentis, Jessica DiLaurentis and Kate Randall, his character has been played by a different actor/actress.
 * He never went to jail for being the number 1 subject in Ali's "murder" like what happened in the books.