EXCLUSIVE! Pretty Little Liars Executive Producer Talks Charles, Hidden Clues, and Season 6! 

Season 5 finale not only creeped you out big-time, but also caused you great confusion and emotional distress! Is your mind still reeling from the #BigAReveal? Are you baffled more than ever by the show’s main mystery? Are you frantically re-watching previous episodes, searching for important pieces of information needed to solve the overall puzzle? We totally get it because we’re experiencing all of the above, too — especially in terms of trying to deduce exactly

Charles is A and why the hell this individual turned Hanna, Spencer, Emily, Aria, and Mona into his/her personal playthings!

That said, when offered the chance to chat with writer and executive producer Joseph Dougherty about all the mayhem that ensued in “Welcome to the Dollhouse,” we jumped right on it! And surely enough, he had a lot of interesting things to tease about Charles’ agenda, the horrors this madman has in store for our beloved girls, and Season 6 romances. Scroll on down for the full EXCLUSIVE interview!

Alloy Entertainment: That was on hell of a finale and the latest information about the Liars’ tormentor definitely had the Internet abuzz! Now we know: Charles is A. Have we met Charles before in any capacity?

Joseph Dougherty: Here’s the tricky thing – that’s one of the things you’re going to have to figure out. We’re going to be very fair over the next 10 episodes [of PLL Season 6]. But we want to see if you guys can figure that out before we tell you.

Editor’s Note: Shortly after this interview was conducted, Marlene King tweeted, “Yes you may have seen and heard Charle’s face before. W out the mask.”

Alloy Entertainment: Did the writers leave any hints about Charles in episodes prior to the Big A Reveal? Is there any particular scene from PLL 5×25 that we should scour for clues?

Joseph Dougherty: Hmm! I would channel your inner Spencer and try to remember as much of the prom ballroom scene as you can.

Alloy Entertainment: How long have you known Big A and how has it influenced your writing prior to the reveal?

Joseph Dougherty: Well, it wasn’t exactly Day 1, but it was definitely early along in the process, once we found out that the show was going to survive. Once we found out we were going to be around a while, we thought, ‘Well, let’s go to that plan over there.’ Well, my stock line in the writer’s room is, ‘Just tell me what really happened because then I’ll know how to lie about it.’

Of course, what it does is since we know where we’re going, it’s much easier to leave clues.

Alloy Entertainment: The Season 5finale ended on a cliffhanger and the girls are still trapped in the dollhouse. What demented twists does Charles have in store them?

.] Oh, I was going to say you don’t want to know. We have not reached the final level of intensity in terms of the girls’ experience in that space.

. Should we expect more gore this time around?

Joseph Dougherty: You’d have to talk to the network about that. [

.] But you know what? I’ll be honest here: We like being scary, not gory. I think we would much rather explore horror elements by being surprising and suspenseful, and making viewers fall off their beds while watching as opposed to grossing them out.

Alloy Entertainment: Mona is alive and we’re beyond grateful! Thank you. That said, aside from Janel Parrish being amazing, what made the writers decide to keep her around and not kill her off? How important is she to Season 6?

Joseph Dougherty: Everyone who’s in that bunker right now is important to Season 6. As for keeping Mona alive? The actual machinations of her faking her own death, that actually comes from the deep dark recesses of Marlene’s mind. That’s something very specific she wanted to do — and it worked. We actually didn’t even tell Janel that her character wasn’t dead. She just thought she was going to be the new Ali and show up in flashbacks.

Alloy Entertainment: That’s how you know you’ve achieved your goal of making jaw drops — when the actual cast member playing that character is as shocked as fans are.

Joseph Dougherty: ‘Ah! What did you guys do to me? What is happening?’ Nothing’s wrong, it’s fine. [

Alloy Entertainment: Now that the parents know about A what sort of action will they be taking? Will we see more of them involved in tracking down their daughters?

Joseph Dougherty: We are definitely going to try to do more of that. I know I personally like it when the parents pop up. [

.] Let’s see….I’m experiencing a bit of tunnel vision right now because the first episode [“Game On, Charles”] is in production right now and I wrote the second and third ones. Yea! In my episodes at least I have a lot of worried moms, and I’m glad to see them back. But you know what? Sometimes even your parents can’t protect you.

Alloy Entertainment: Oh no! That’s so sad, not to mention terrifying.

Joseph Dougherty: It is, in fact, both of those things, but that’s what we do here!

Alloy Entertainment: What can you tell us about Andrew’s involvement in this whole mystery? Should we keep Melissa Hastings’ phone call scene on our radar?

on your radar. I don’t think there was anything content wise in terms of what Veronica shared with Melissa. She was updating what’s been going on with the arrest and all that stuff. At this point, though, I don’t think you can clear anything off the clue board. Listen, everything that’s out there is out there, and it’s going to be up to the fans to [spot] it. You have to look at all the evidence. You have to look at all the clues with the knowledge that most of it is done on purpose by us. But, you kinda have to determine what’s more important than something else.

Alloy Entertainment: Is “Bethany Young” still a major part of the show’s storyline?

Joseph Dougherty: Here’s the thing about that — again, turning to my own line, which I can do it because I wrote it — in the words of Lieutenant Tanner, “Isn’t it funny how it all goes back to Radley?” We’re not done with Radley, and even when we’re finished with Radley, we’re not actually going to be done with it. We have

some interesting plans for it. In our own awful way, we all love that creepy place.

Alloy Entertainment: We know romances are the last thing on these girls mind but fans want to know if there’s any semblance of hope for any of the couples in Season 6?

Joseph Dougherty: Yes, there’s always hope. [

.] I think romance gets tested and can sometimes be made stronger after a traumatic experience, as what’s going to happen to the girls. But, at the same token, karma can have a positive and negative impact on a relationship, and we’re going to play both sides of that coin.

Alloy Entertainment: Sorry to put you on the spot, but are you rooting for any couple in particular?

Joseph Doughtery: I don’t think I want to go there…[

.] However, I can tell you this: What we’ve been planning?

wants to write it. The bad news for the fans is that we plan to make it interesting.

So, dolls, who do you think “Charles” really is? Apparently we’ve met him before! Which couple(s) do you think Joseph was referencing in the last question. And how do you reckon this terrifying experience will affect the Liars in the long run? Post your theories in the comments!

*WTF. CHECK OUT A’s MOST TERRIFYING MOMENTS!*

“I’m still here bitches and I know everything.”-A Dealing with the death of one of your best friends and having to attend her funeral would be hard on anyone, but add on the stress of realizing you also now have a crazy stalker? This was just the first of A’s many tricks.

Photo Credit: Pretty Little Liars/ABC Family

When you go shopping, things you tend to worry about affording all the nice accessories you want to be and whether those jeans flatter your bum or make you look stout. However, Spencer’s issue that day was finding a snake in the dressing room. WTF.

\'A\' was right when he/she revealed that someone wasn’t going to make it to the end of line -- and that person happened to be Garrett. Even though we were relieved to find out it wasn’t one of our girls, we were horrified for Aria when A trapped her in a box...right next to Garrett’s corpse!

When you get mad at someone you either don’t answer their texts or make a few snide comments in their presence. A, however, deals with problems differently -- as proven when the bitch ran over Hanna with a car!

Poor Dr. Sullivan was just doing her job when she was counseling the Liars. Unfortunately, A wasn’t pleased and decided to send her a message by trashing her office.

Did we get transported to The Twilight Zone with Talking Tina? What is up with those creepy dolls? These mini doppelgangers of the Pretty Little Liars were used to torment them multiple times.

A is everywhere, even in your morning cereal. When Emily went to go the most important meal of the day, she was reminded to always be on the lookout for A.

Where the hell did A get human teeth? Instead of just sending the girls the teeth in a box, A just got creative and make a necklace. How cute! Not.

Remember that time Mona and Hanna tried to contact the spirit world to ask about Alison? So does A, and decided to leave Hanna a little flashback present.

A took it a whole step further when she made Spencer think Toby was dead and send her a funeral program. Don’t mess with our Spoby.

We waited so long, only to find out it was a pig. Even though we were waiting for something like, I don’t know, a human body, it was still creepy to see a dead pig in the back of Wilden’s car.

Sometimes staying after school sucks. But, that took on a whole new meaning when A started chasing Emily through Rosewood High, all while blasting loud music over the PA system and trying to break into the room she was hiding out in.

A seems to REALLY have it out for poor Spencer, and that was made apparent when the ruthless text revealed that he/she was digging a grave for Spencer’s body. Um, how sweet?

For more behind-the-scenes photos, clues, and weekly updates on

, follow Joseph Dougherty on twitter at @kockenlocker. And be sure to catch new episodes of PLL every Tuesday night at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC Family!

Theo is a television enthusiast/digital editor at Alloy Entertainment. A conspiracy theorist at heart, this Greek gal is constantly on the look-out for horcruxes and is still trying to make sense of Lost Season 6. All in all, she enjoys freshly brewed iced tea, ancient poetry, and Whedonverse. Follow her musings on entertainment at @theodorag13.

I think Andrew is Charles. I think Paige helped to stage Mona’s death. And I think Wren is helping Charles.

A is Jenna’s best friend’s mother’s cousin’s nephew’s history teacher’s son. It took FOREVER to figure out!

I think that Charles is the motel manager, Harold. I think that he was creepy enough to be. He liked candy. He talked to stuffed things. He had opportunity to see all the things that Mona had in her lair. He also has dark hair, like Charles. Maybe, he was adopted by, or killed the lady in the painting and was “running” that motel. Who knows. But that is my theory.

I think Andrew is charles. cause in the end u see spencer watching the movies of the children, they Kind of look like twins and andrew has got something from Alison and Jason, so i think Jason and charles/andrew could be twins. Thats why he cant kill Alison, he loves her as his sister too much.

The thing is, if we really have seen Charles without a mask he must be somebody that we already know. That would be fun if he’s Wren but I don’t want to see Andrew as Charles. Even if he is not somebody we know, he still must be connected with other people. I’ll keep waiting.

Charles is Ally’s sister. Toby and Spencer will have rocky times again. Hanna and kalab with be stronger than ever

I think Charles is Jason’s twin brother. That could explain why we’ve seen his face before.

I think there’s a typo in the first question. So, that sets the tone.

If A is Jason’s twin that would make “A” Spencer and Melissa’s brother… With that Said I hope A is not Wren because that would be a really gross twist to the story… seeing as Melissa was involved to the guy and Spencer kissed him… awkward!!

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