Following Tuesday night's reveal that — spoiler alert — Pretty Little Liars villain Charles DiLaurentis was actually transgender woman CeCe Drake, fans and commentators alike have been debating whether or not the show made a wrong turn for its major twist. The word "transgender" was never even used in the episode, nor were any specifics of her transition mentioned or explained. That wouldn't necessarily be a given, but since a quick Twitter search turns up a ton of PLL fans who were left confused by the twist (and many more who were pissed off that "a transgender" had infiltrated their beloved teen soap), a little more explanation might have been warranted.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, show creator I. Marlene King addressed the notion that the CeCe twist was just an attempt by the PLL writers to cover the "trend" of transgender issues, which have recently been in the news so much thanks to people like Laverne Cox and Caitlyn Jenner. "We certainly did not jump on the bandwagon," she said. "We definitely came up with this idea three and a half years ago. I mean, it's been a long time in the works and if you go back and you watch the CeCe episodes — because I went back and rewatched every single one, and reread all the scripts to make sure I didn't make any mistakes in this finale — we've told you she is 'A' so many times."
She added that she and the writers had no intention of making it seem like CeCe's gender identity was the cause of her psychopathy, which is what some critics found most offensive about the episode. "We tried to be very clear that Charles comes from a very crazy family," she explained. "Crazy runs in the family, I say, and it just so happens that this person, I think, suffered some tragic consequences of a crazy family, but having nothing to do with [being] transgender." That may be the case, but many viewers did not leave with a clear idea of what really did motivate CeCe, especially given that she claimed her stays in Radley were based on false diagnoses. It also doesn't help that there are few depictions of transgender characters in film and television, and this one only played into the stereotype of portraying transgender individuals as sociopaths.
As for why PLL hired a cisgender actor to play a transgender character, Marlene told BuzzFeed that she didn't know using a trans actor was a possibility when the role of CeCe was first cast. "I knew people were going to ask why we didn't cast a trans actor," she said, "but four years ago, that really wasn't an option we knew about."
Vanessa Ray, who plays CeCe, agrees with Marlene on the point that CeCe's behavior was not meant to be read as a result of her transgender status. "Being transgender had nothing to do with her being a villain," Vanessa told BuzzFeed. "I think the lesson we can learn is that if you neglect or torment somebody, which I believe Charles/Charlotte was, at a young age — whether that be by parents or [society] — if you treat somebody like they're nothing, chances are they will treat others like they're nothing as well."
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