Since Pretty Little Liars premiered in 2010, the girls have been terrorized by a series of shadowy figures going only by the letter A. First there was Mona, who used her time as A to enact revenge on Alison for making her high-school years a living hell, then there was CeCe/Charlotte, who was upset with the entire DiLaurentis family for locking her away in Radley. Now that Charlotte’s dead, the Liars are contending with another villain known as Uber A, but there have been so many detours and red herrings along the way that it’s hard to keep track of who was A at what time and why. Here’s an exhaustive guide to help you remember everything that’s gone down in Rosewood since that fateful day when the Liars got their first A texts.
Season 1
One year after Alison DiLaurentis goes missing, Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hanna begin receiving messages from someone named ‘A.’ They initially believe that it could be Ali herself, who at the time has still not been declared dead, but after Maya’s family discovers Ali’s remains in their yard, the Liars realize it can’t be Ali. A’s messages usually contain references to the girls’ secrets, either from the present or the days before Ali went missing, and also include tasks for the girls to do. For example, in one episode, A tells Hanna to order a box of cupcakes, eat them in public, and then implies that she should throw them up afterward. A also manipulates events involving people the Liars are close to and tries to get them to tell on each other in exchange for making sure their own secrets stay hidden.
The girls spend much of the season believing that A is Ian, Melissa’s husband and the school’s field hockey coach. He is definitely sketchy — he has a thing for underage girls, he was seen with Ali the night she disappeared — but he’s more of a standard-issue creep than a technological wunderkind with seemingly endless financial resources. When the season ends, Ian gets pushed off a bell tower (by a hooded figure who later turns out to be Ali), but it does not kill him and he walks away. The girls, meanwhile, continue to receive texts from A.
The Real A: Mona
Season 2
After being accused of lying about Ian’s death, the Liars continue to look for A on their own. Early in the season, they discover Ian’s body, along with a suicide note that shows him confessing to killing Ali. They later learn that he did kill himself but the note was forged by A. Meanwhile, A begins to escalate her antics, doing things like burglarizing the girls’ therapist’s office, spiking Emily’s pain cream with human growth hormone, and sending them a box full of dolls made to look like them.
While attempting to uncover the identity of A, the Liars also find out about the N.A.T. Club, a group containing Ian, Jason, and Garrett. The N.A.T. Club has A-like tendencies in that they spy on Rosewood residents and secretly videotape the Liars, but they are not A, and in fact may be one of A’s indirect targets. Jenna is invested in making sure the N.A.T. Club stays a secret, because they possess video of her forcing her stepbrother Toby into a romantic relationship.
The Liars set a trap for A and succeed in stealing her cell phone, and eventually discover more clues that lead them to the Lost Woods resort, where they discover A’s lair. They then figure out that A is Mona (with occasional help from Lucas), and Mona checks into Radley for treatment. Garrett is arrested for Ali’s murder.
The Real A: Mona
Season 3
After Mona goes to Radley to deal with her obsession with the Liars, the girls try to figure out whether or not Garrett was really the person who killed Ali. Though Mona has supposedly given up her A ways, the Liars begin to get texts from A again, and they’re even more threatening than they were in the first two seasons — “Mona played with dolls, I play with body parts.” Toby infiltrates the new A-Team in an attempt to figure out what’s really going on. Spencer is devastated by his betrayal and subsequent “death” (staged by Mona), and gets admitted to Radley.
Spencer also briefly joins the A-Team to find answers about Toby. In the season finale, Mona reveals that someone named Red Coat took “the A game” from her while she was in Radley. She does not know who Red Coat is, but according to Mona, Red Coat is in charge.
The Real A: Charlotte
Season 4
The Liars are still trying to identify A/Red Coat but have also come to believe that Alison is actually alive. They figure out that there are at least two Red Coats, one of which is CeCe Drake, who claims to be helping Alison, who is alive, in danger, and also wearing a red coat. After discovering an apartment full of surveillance equipment that is owned by Ezra, the Liars suspect that he is A, though he claims he was working on a book about Alison’s disappearance. Ezra believes that Ali’s mother, Jessica DiLaurentis, is A. Jessica is later murdered, and A is seen burying her body, but the identity of her killer is not revealed.
The girls travel to New York City to hear Ali’s story and she explains everything that happened to her the night she “disappeared.” She had also been getting texts from A (as revealed in the season two Halloween episode) and was trying to figure out who it was. While in NYC, the Liars are attacked by someone in a hoodie that they believe to be A. This person shoots Ezra.
The Real A: Charlotte
Season 5
The Liars discover that the hooded figure in the season four finale was Shana, who dies when Aria pushes her off the stage of the Fitzgerald Theater. The girls believe that Shana was A and that their problems will be over now, but alas, she was not A — she was just a lackey for Jenna. The Liars begin to suspect that Ali, now very much alive, is not telling the whole truth and that she might be A, but they are again wrong.
A kidnaps Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hanna and imprisons them in the Dollhouse, where they find Mona, who’s wearing a blonde wig and posing as Alison. They try and fail to escape the Dollhouse, but do learn A’s real name: Charles DiLaurentis.
The Real A: Charlotte
Season 6
Finally, the Liars discover who A is and why she’s been torturing them. Born Charles DiLaurentis, Charlotte (aka CeCe Drake) is the biological child of Mary Drake, the twin sister of Ali’s mother, Jessica DiLaurentis. Jessica and her husband Kenneth adopted Charlotte because Mary was institutionalized, but sent Charlotte to Radley at age 7 because she almost drowned Ali; Charlotte claims it was because Kenneth did not approve of her requests for girl’s clothing. Jessica helped Charlotte transition in her teen years and faked Charles’s death. Charlotte went back to Radley, where she met Mona, and stole the A game from her.
The second half of the season jumps five years forward. The girls’ lives have been A-free, but after Charlotte's death, they begin receiving messages from yet another A who signs their messages “A.D.” A.D. believes that they know who killed Charlotte and is seeking revenge.
The Real A: Charlotte in 6A; unknown in 6B
Season 7
Suspects for A.D. (aka Uber A) include Sara Harvey, who ends up murdered in a bathtub and thus cannot be A.D., and Noel Kahn, whom the Liars believe might be Mary Drake’s other child. Noel also ends up dead, so the search for A.D. continues apace. My money is on someone in the Montgomery family.
The Real A: Unknown
Everyone Who's Been on the A-Team
1. Mona Vanderwaal: leader of the A pack in seasons one and two.
2. Charlotte DiLaurentis, aka CeCe Drake, formerly Charles DiLaurentis: leader of the A pack in seasons three, four, five, and the first half of six.
3. Toby Cavanaugh: joined the A team in season three to protect Spencer.
4. Spencer Hastings: joined the A team in season three to find information on Toby, who she believed was dead.
5. Noel Kahn: Helped Charlotte torture the Liars while they were in the Dollhouse in season five.
6. Lucas Gottesman: Aided Mona with her A schemes while she was in charge in season two.
7. Sara Harvey: Aided Charlotte as one of the Red Coats and the Black Widow who appeared at Detective Wilden’s funeral.
8. Melissa Hastings: Worked with A as a Queen of Hearts on the Halloween train in season three and the Black Swan in the season two masquerade ball.
9. Darren Wilden: Worked with A as the other Queen of Hearts on the Halloween train.
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