Ivy Dickens (former alias: Charlotte "Charlie" Rhodes) is a fictional character who exclusively appears in the Gossip Girl television adaptation, portrayed by Kaylee DeFer.
[1] DeFer was promoted to series regular for the fifth season in light of cast members Taylor Momsen and Jessica Szohr's departure.
[2] She is the newest addition to the female cast of Gossip Girl villains, joining the likes of Georgina Sparks and Juliet Sharp.
Introduced in the fourth season, DeFer was set to join the cast as Carol's daughter and Serena and Eric's cousin, Charlie Rhodes.
[1] DeFer had also previously worked with Gossip Girl executive producers, Stephanie Savage and Joe Lazarov as well as Penn Badgley in The Mountain.
TV Fanatic warmly welcomed her character, stating that she "good-naturedly mocked the show and its often convoluted plot lines.
"She is such a real person, not being from that life and what not..."[4] The character is first introduced in the second half of season four as Charlotte "Charlie" Rhodes, the estranged cousin of Serena and Eric van der Woodsen.
In the season's final moments, "Charlie Rhodes" is revealed to be Ivy Dickens, an aspiring actress that Carol hired to gain access to her daughter's trust fund.
"[4] In between the fourth and fifth seasons, after returning to Miami, Ivy moved to Los Angeles with her boyfriend, Max, in order to become an actress.
Ivy later panics when she learns that she has left her cell phone at the fashion show, as she believes her true identity will be discovered.
She later finds the files that Bart Bass kept on Serena, Lily, Eric and himself, while Nate convinces her to leave them, she does not and in turn hands them over to Diana.
Ivy later competes to become a bridesmaid for Blair in order to get the scoop on her wedding for Diana, where her final task is to secure a kiss from Nate.
When this fails, Max takes his story to Nate's cousin Trip who is a congressman, on the eve of Charlie's debut into the Upper East Side society.
While at Nate's party, Ivy runs into the real Charlie Rhodes, who goes by the alias 'Lola' and it is revealed that they took the same acting class where they grew up in Florida.
She believes she has found an ally in William van der Woodsen after he agrees to persuade people to attend the party in exchange for money, however, it is later revealed he is working with Lily to gather evidence against Ivy to take her to court and contest CeCe's will.
After William van der Woodsen takes pity on Charlie 'Lola' Rhodes, he gives her Carol's share of CeCe's wealth so she can live on.
In the final episode of the season, Lola signs over her entire half of Cece's estate to Ivy and asks her to do one favor in return: Take Lily down in revenge for Carol's imprisonment and her manipulation of events.
Ivy helps Blair in her plans to try and take down Chuck's father and when the man dies, she believes it's finally time she and William come out in public as a couple.
In the final scene (set five years later) Ivy has written a book about her experiences that's being made into a movie, starring Olivia Burke and Lola Rhodes.
[6] In the episode The Princesses and the Frog, Steve Marsi praised her choice of confronting Vanessa alone, calling her "a natural" at schemes and that "even an outsider can thoroughly outshine an outcast.
"[7] TV Guide praised the ousting of Vanessa by Charlie, stating that "it didn't take her long to cross over to "the other side"".
[9][10] The Wall Street Journal suggested that the storyline was repetitive, baring too much of a resemblance to the Juliet and Vanessa plot in the previous season.