She is a character in both Pretty Little Liars' books and television series, and initially appears as a "jock girl" and one of the main protagonists of the story.

[7] In Burned, while on a school-hosted cruise for spring break, Emily begins a new relationship with Jordan, a criminal who is on the run and being pursued by the FBI.

Severely depressed and increasingly desperate, Emily contemplates committing suicide and very nearly attempts it; she is only talked out of it when the Liars remind her that it's what Alison wants: for them to die.

After Alison's trial, she moves out to California and begins a new relationship with a girl named Laura, finally feeling at peace.

A year before the start of the series, Emily had been best friends with Alison DiLaurentis (Sasha Pieterse), a cruel popular girl who went missing one day.

At the beginning of the school year, Emily befriends a girl named Maya St. Germain (Bianca Lawson), her new next-door neighbor whose family has moved into the old DiLaurentis house.

Grateful and not wanting to deal with her homosexuality, Emily grows closer to Toby, despite the warnings of her friends, who believe him to be "A"/Alison's killer.

Convinced by her friends that Toby is dangerous, the two get into a physical confrontation; as Emily tries to run away, she trips and hits her head, falling unconscious.

That day, she is outed by Detective Darren Wilden (Bryce Johnson), who accuses her of destroying Alison's memorial in the park (when, in reality, Emily had been trying to salvage what she could from the wreckage).

Their plans go astray when A kills Ian and takes his body from the crime scene, leaving the police suspicious of Emily and her friends.

Emily then stumbles upon Logan Reed (Tilky Jones), the messenger who had been sent to pick up money for Ian, after the girls blackmailed him in an attempt to reveal him as Alison's killer.

That, combined with the added stress and guilt from the fake college letter, lands Emily in the hospital with a stomach ulcer.

[24] Emily then reunites with Maya, who is now living a few towns over; they both decide to take things slow and see if they are interested in rekindling their relationship.

"A" sends Emily to a barn in the woods; she ends up getting locked inside and passes out due to carbon monoxide poisoning.

[27] Now a senior, Emily has spent the last five months away from her friends, helping build houses in Haiti as well as partying and drinking heavily to the point of blackouts.

When the Liars reunite after their time apart, Emily goes missing during the night and is later found by the other girls standing over Alison's dug-up grave, unable to remember the events leading up to that point.

Emily's guilt over what happened distances her even more from the Liars, and she finds comfort in Nate St. Germain (Sterling Sulieman), Maya's cousin, who has recently moved to Rosewood to attend Hollis.

In "What Lies Beneath", Emily and Hanna discover that Maya had been hiding in Noel Kahn's (Brant Daugherty) family's cabin, and had never actually left Rosewood.

When the Liars suspect Paige of being "A" in the mid-season finale, "The Lady Killer", Emily steps in to defend her, putting up a wall between herself and the other girls.

Stressed over the Liars' constant insistence of Paige's guilt and Garrett's upcoming trial, Emily joins Nate for the weekend at a secluded cabin in the woods.

She takes some pills from her mother's medicine cabinet gets drowsy and groggy, and causes an injury during a swim meet which puts her out of action.

Lonely and heartbroken over Paige's departure, Emily starts a relationship with her new co-worker Talia (Miranda Rae Mayo).

In the aftermath of the Liars' abduction orchestrated by "A," Emily befriends a former missing girl, Sara Harvey (Dre Davis), who was also Charles/"A's" prisoner.

She starts to work as a bartender in Los Angeles but returns to Rosewood at Alison's request, and also to depose on Charlotte's release from psychological hospital.

Worried, Emily drives to Alison's house and finds the sweater that a blonde girl was using the night Charlotte died.

Later, during "The Talented Mr. Rollins", the Liars come up with a plan to help Alison, and, while in the woods, Hanna accidentally hits Elliott with her car, killing him instantly.

Emily and Aria go to visit Alison the next day at Welby State and discover that the police know about Elliott stealing the Carissimi Group money and is after him.

The two discover that Archer's surname is Dunhill, and connect directly to the acronym "A.D." They also found a fake head, several pictures of Darren Wilden's physical characteristics, passports, and a notebook with different types of payments.

In the flashback, Charlotte enlists Jenna's help to find her birth mother and make Archer Dunhill the alias of Elliott Rollins to purposefully meet Alison and take advantage of her good intentions for her eventual release.

In episode 5, Tabby and Imogen break into Sullivan's office and go through the private practice files, finding some on Emily, Aria Montgomery, Hanna Marin and Spencer Hastings Drusilla Moorhouse of E!