​Shay Mitchell on "Pretty Little Liars" revival rumors, fitness and what's next

A day after wrapping up her seven-year stint as Emily Fields on the ABC Family hit series "Pretty Little Liars," Shay Mitchell hopped on a plane to Boston, ready for her next adventure. 

In June, the 30-year-old actress left the fictional town of Rosewood behind as "Pretty Little Liars" came to what Mitchell describes as an "emotional goodbye." 

On the bright side, fans were finally able to get some closure as the series finale revealed the identity of A.D. — the mysterious character who had been threatening to expose their secrets for years.

"It was an incredible experience, those seven years," Mitchell told CBS News. "We were all so lucky to just have such an amazing family. I'm excited to see where everybody goes from here."

Mitchell already has big plans.

The "Pretty Little Liars" star is ready to show fans a different side of the actress as she joins the cast of "Cadaver," a horror film scheduled for release in August 2018.

In the film, directed by Diederik Van Rooijen, Mitchell will play Megan Reed, a recovering addict ex-cop who takes the graveyard shift in a city hospital morgue — where she (of course) is haunted by an evil entity in one of the corpses.

"[Megan's] extremely athletic, extremely driven, competitive and she is older than Emily as a recovering addict and ex-cop," Mitchell said. "It was super fun to be in a completely different environment than what I've been used to."

Mitchell says she has even more projects in the works in the near future, but for now she's focusing on travel and fitness, which includes Propel's first-ever fitness festival in August.

Here's what Mitchell had to say about her life post-"Pretty Little Liars," her fitness routine and her upcoming thriller:

Tell me a little bit about the first-ever Propel Co:Labs Fitness Festival you'll be participating in.

I think it's a really organic fit. I love working out, you know, it's something that I think is great, especially when you can get so many people to come together and work out together. It makes it a lot easier. It's more motivating, more inspiring. We're going to have some really awesome trainers, like Harley Pasternak and Gunnar Peterson, who are also going to be there on August 12 and 13.

Fitness is pretty important to you. What's your personal fitness routine?

I think it's mixing it up. I think it's confusing your body. If you do the same thing all the time it kind of gets used to it and you have a plateau effect. What's important is trying out different classes and workouts and finding ones you like more than the other. There are so many different classes nowadays — anything you can think of, it's out there. 

Are you a fitness class person?

Yes, I am. I really do love spinning. It's about the instructors that I love. I love doing Barry's Bootcamp, which is great, because it forces me to run when I don't want to.

You've been playing Emily Fields on "Pretty Little Liars" for seven seasons. What's life like post-Rosewood?

It's great. Obviously it was super emotional saying goodbye to that chapter, but such is life. There's different chapters all the time for everybody. Sometimes you have to close doors, but then there's other ones that are open. It was an incredible experience, those seven years. We were all so lucky to just have such an amazing family. I'm excited to see where everybody goes from here. That's the great part. Now I get to watch everybody grow and change and work on other projects that they're excited about.

I'm sure you grew attached to your character over the years. How has playing that role affected you? Did you identify with that character?

Playing Emily definitely was eye-opening, because, yes, those girls were younger than I am. You just kind of see how at times they dealt with things. They were a bit more naive in how they handled things. But at the end of the day it was about those characters and their friendship that they had more than anything. It was that bond that they had. It just reminded all of us that you really can get through anything if you have a good support system and that's definitely something that they had. Otherwise, I don't know how they would have made it out after everything that happened to those girls over seven years.

Would you be up for a "Pretty Little Liars" reunion or a revival in the future?

Absolutely. I was just watching "Sex and the City 2" and it just reminded me of how much fun we had on set. I would totally do that again. I think it would be amazing. A five, 10-year reunion with all of us girls with all of our kids coming to set and stuff.

What's it like being a role model to those teens who have watched you over the years?

It's kind of crazy. That's always kind of a daunting title in a way. To be honest with you, I just need to be proud of who I am at the end of the day. I need to be able to look at myself in the mirror and know that I am happy and proud of who I am first and foremost and then hopefully maybe that goes into others.

Now you're pivoting out of this role into a horror film called "Cadaver." How is this film different from things you worked on in the past?

I went right into this film after we had our wrap party. I was in a plane the next day heading to Boston. Megan Reed, the character that I play, has some characteristics that Emily had. She's extremely athletic, extremely driven, competitive and she is older than Emily as a recovering addict and ex-cop. It was super fun to be in a completely different environment than what I've been used to. It was something that I'm super excited for the fans to see as well — get to see me play a different character.

You're very active on social media. Is social media presence really important to you? What do you hope fans take away from your social accounts?

That's why I started my YouTube channel over two years ago. I wanted to share my experiences with the fans. It is fun to go to these different places and get to experience things, but it's so much better when I know that so many other people are going to get something from it. And I think if anybody can take something away from my social media what I want them to do, hopefully, is to just try new things. Whether that be in the kitchen — I always joke about the fact that I'm not Martha Stewart, but I try. I may burn a couple things, but I learn. I think it's just about putting a foot out there and trying a couple things. That goes with travel, working out, cooking, all of these different things.

This interview has been edited and condensed.