Who is Charles DiLaurentis? It's a question Pretty Little Liars fans have been obsessing over all season long and now it seems as though Charles' identity has finally been revealed… or has it? As I'm sure many of you have already seen by now, multiple photos of the PLL prom episode, scheduled to air on August 4, have been released and show Alison coming face-to-face with a very suspicious looking masked man. At a glance, one could easily assume that this is just Jason dressed in a costume, right? Wrong! For it is not Drew Van Acker that's credited in the photo caption, but rather a brand new actor to the series, Justin Fix, who is set to guest star on PLL (at least according to his resume). But could Fix really be the Charles we've been looking for? I'm not so sure…
First of all, we shouldn't be too quick to forget the fact that the show producers promised us Charles is someone we've met before, thereby making Fix nothing more than a red herring. However, if that truly is the case, then who the heck is this guy and how does he fit into Charles' storyline? Unfortunately, right now I'm just as in the dark as you, but I do think this character will have a very significant role to play in unmasking the real Charles once and for all.
If you look a little closer at the image, you'll notice that Fix's character has some very distinct scars on the side of his face — almost like they're severe burn marks. Could it be that he was somehow involved in "The Jenna Thing"? It would be interesting to see that storyline eventually come back into play and this would certainly be one way of going about doing it.
It's also important to remember that Charles has a secret ally out there. (You know, the one that sent him that birthday message.) So Fix could potentially be playing whoever that is. Maybe he's even Freddy, who — as I've pointed out — might not just be another pseudo-name for Charles. They could be two completely different people. And while the mask still adds an element of mystery to everything, I can't help but notice how the body build of this character seems different from the one we saw lurking around inside the Liars' creepy dollhouse lair.
If you ask me, one of these A's is not like the other. But then again, maybe Charles simply hasn't been lifting as many weights these days and has slimmed down a bit. (Hey, I don't know his life.) But in my opinion, these are definitely two separate people.
Then, of course, there's always the chance that Fix's character is the real Charles and the one we've been introduced to before now is an impostor who's been seeking out revenge in his name. Anything is possible at this point, you guys. All I know for sure is that there's no way the writers would unveil Charles' identity in such a casual way as slipping the actor's name into a photo credit. They're going to milk this reveal for all it's worth, which means dropping a huge bombshell on us by the end of the season. We just have to trust in the series and believe that answers are coming… for real this time.
For more Charles theories, check out Bustle's latest PLL podcast below:
Images: Eric McCandless/ABC Family (3); prettylittleliars/Tumblr
