How Rhys Could Be A DiLaurentis On 'PLL'

Was anyone really that surprised when Pretty Little Liars introduced a new Charles suspect? While the series bringing in yet another 20-something guy who could be Charles wasn't all that shocking (you need plenty of red herrings to fill six seasons of mystery), the fact that Rhys Matthews looks like a DiLaurentis, especially Jason, is pretty jaw-dropping. Could Rhys actually be Jason and Ali's older brother Charles, and therefore Big A? As Mona would say, "It's not going to be that easy, b*tch." Rhys might not be Charles, but he has to be a relative of the DiLaurentis family — and there's one explanation that would make perfect sense.

During the Liars' investigation into Charles' past, we learned that he was a longtime patient at Radley who rarely received any visitors — except for two. Charles' mother Jessica DiLaurentis and Aunt Carol visited him regularly. Carol died when the girls were sophomores in high school, but it seems that Jessica still used her property to hide Charles away. In a flashback when Jason asks his mother if he can stay there, she insists that he can't because of issues with the house, and this is the same place where they discovered the Charles "beloved son" gravestone. Carol and Charles seem deeply connected even after her death, and perhaps that's because someone carried out her legacy of taking care of Jessica's oldest child.

We haven't heard much about Carol, but I doubt we would have heard anything at all if she wasn't relevant to the big picture in some way. She clearly had a soft spot for her nephew, so it would make sense for her to assign someone to care for Charles after she was gone. That person could easily be Rhys, another relative of both the DiLaurentis family and Carol herself.

Perhaps Carol and Jessica both assigned Carol's son or grandson Rhys to run the Carissimi Group as a way to funnel money into Charles' account, knowing that they could trust a family member. Rhys might not even know where the money from the Carissimi Group is really going — after all, it didn't seem like he had any direct contact with the person in charge of Hanna's scholarship money. Could he be funding A, his cousin, without even knowing it? For more theories on this mysterious executive, check out Bustle's PLL podcast.

It's certainly possible. While I do think Rhys is a piece of the puzzle, I'm not sure that he has all the answers. Jessica kept everyone in the dark about Charles, and I doubt she would trust someone as young as Rhys with her biggest secret. So even if Rhys is working for Charles, and has familial ties to him, he may not know the consequences of his own actions.

Images: ABC Family; Giphy