After moving back to Rosewood two years later, Charlotte took over Mona Vanderwaal's reign as "A", an anonymous figure that blackmails, stalks and tortures the main characters of the franchise.

Under another anonymous identity known as Red Coat, Charlotte created and led "the A-Team", a group of people who helped "A" in their schemes.

After being unmasked as "A", Charlotte revealed she was assigned male at birth as "Charles DiLaurentis" and underwent gender reassignment surgery in her youth.

[1][2] When Ray was announced to start filming again for Pretty Little Liars fourth season, she spoke about returning, stating: "It's so fun to do, and what a crazy character I get to play.

"[4] Pretty Little Liars executive producer Oliver Goldstick stated that Drake acted as a mentor to Alison DiLaurentis, teaching her "the wicked ways of the world.

She received frequent visits from Jessica but was neglected by her adoptive father, Kenneth DiLaurentis, who was angry over Charlotte being transgender.

Bethany blamed Charlotte for the murder and Jessica paid off a young Officer Wilden to make sure the death was ruled a suicide.

Charlotte eventually underwent gender reassignment surgery and would frequently sneak out of Radley to befriend Alison while using the fake name "CeCe Drake."

She also "dated" her adoptive brother, Jason, in an effort to get closer to him and Alison, however she refused any physical interaction due to her knowledge of their true blood relation.

On Labor Day Weekend, the night of Alison's disappearance, Bethany Young stole Charlotte's clothes and snuck out of Radley to attack Jessica.

In the episode, Charlotte introduces herself as CeCe Drake, an old friend of Alison's and ex-girlfriend of Jason, to the main characters of the series - Aria Montgomery, Spencer Hastings, Hanna Marin and Emily Fields (who are collectively known as "the Liars.

Drake appears in "Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Inferno" where she answers the Liars' questions about her friendship with Alison and in "What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted" where she hires Aria as a photographer for her boutique.

During "Hot Water", Detective Darren Wilden temporarily arrests CeCe to question her after finding out she's been talking about Alison's pregnancy scare.

Alison offers her a plane ticket to France and CeCe leaves the country (although we later learn she secretly stayed behind to continue manipulating the Liars as "A.")

In the following episode, "Of Late I Think of Rosewood", it is revealed that Charlotte spent the subsequent five years under medical care at the Welby State Psychiatric Hospital.

Riley Sky of Dropkick Divas Media gave a positive review, saying, "as charming and manipulative as Alison DiLaurentis was, we get to see where Ali got those sociopathic qualities in CeCe Drake.

"[14] Several other reviewers were also concerned because "the twist played into a long history of pop culture linking sociopathic behavior with transgender individuals.