Get ready, Upper East Siders: Gossip Girl is coming back. Here is everything we know about it.
Nearly a decade after the conclusion of the original series, Gossip Girl is coming back with a reboot. The show will launch on HBO Max with 10 hour-long episodes, showing a new generation of rich and famous prep school teens. the new adaption is supposed to happen in a similar chic universe as its archetype: Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Gossip Girl is an American teen drama television series based on the novel series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar.
The success of Gossip Girl led to many adaptations outside the United States. The show received numerous award nominations and won 18 Teen Choice Awards. The renewal of the show was first declared in July 2019, just seven years after the first arrangement finished its six seasons, the new adaptation is said to happen similarly. The sequel series also titled Gossip Girl and headed by original executive producers Schwartz, Savage, and Safran will release in July 2021 on HBO Max. This series will focus on a new cast of characters from a different perspective in the same setting—likened to that of a shared universe.
In conversation with The Hollywood Reporter screenwriter Joshua Safran told “It’s just a new look at this particular society in New York, the idea being that society changes constantly, so how has this world changed, how has social media and its effect changed? All of those things allow us to look at the world 12 years on as opposed to just redoing the story.”
Gossip Girl reboot is due in July 2021
The show is due in July, and production has already started. Gossip Girl is set to arrive on HBO‘s streaming platform in July 2021, the show announced on Twitter, where you can see the first photos from the set and the first clips from the series. After a COVID-caused delay, production began on November 2 in New York.
Original Gossip Girl creators have signed on. -Joshua Safran, a Gossip Girl showrunner, will write and executive-produce the show’s revival. The series’ original creators, Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage are also attached to the project as executive producers.
Gossip Girl cast has been revealed
The reboot is said to feature a large cast. It includes – Jordan Alexander who will be playing Julien Calloway, a teen influencer, according to Cosmopolitan. Skater and model Evan Mock as Akeno “Aki” Menzies. Savannah Smith as Monet de Haan, a student at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Smith marks her first booking with the Gossip Girl role. She and Zión Moreno will be in “Greek-chorus-type roles but are still fully fleshed-out characters with inner lives of their own,” according to Cosmopolitan.
Actress and musician Emily Alyn Lind as Audrey Hope, she is best friends with Julien and has been in a long-term relationship with Aki, Lind told BAZAAR.com that Audrey is “very into classic, old-fashion type things”. Whitney Peak as Zoya Lott, who is like the Dan Humphrey of the group, acting as a “relatable-ish tour guide” into the flashy world of the Upper East Side.
Peak was previously seen as Judith Blackwood in part three of Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Eli Brown as Otto “Obie” Bergmann IV, a “rich do-gooder and German import.” Brown is best known for playing Dylan Walker on Freeform’s Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists. Thomas Doherty will be seen as Max Wolfe.
You might recognize the singer and actor from Disney’s Descendants 2. Zión Moreno as Luna La. Moreno began her career as a model when she was 19 years old before diving into acting. TaviGevinson as Kate Keller, a mysterious character. Rookie founder and fashion darling Gevinson has appeared on shows like Scream Queens and CBS’s reboot of The Twilight Zone. Jason Gotay is also in the cast, though HBO hasn’t revealed his character portrait yet.
What about the original cast?
In the original 2007 TV series, the casts included Blake Lively as Serena van der Woodsen, Leighton Meester as Blair Waldorf, Penn Badgley as Dan Humphrey, Chace Crawford as Nate Archibald, Taylor Momsen as Jenny Humphrey, Ed Westwick as Chuck Bass, Kelly Rutherford as Lily van der Woodsen (née Rhodes), Matthew Settle as Rufus Humphrey, Dan and Jenny’s father, Jessica Szohr as Vanessa Abrams, Kaylee DeFer as Ivy Dickens and many more.
As fans are well aware, the CW series gave rise to stars including Blake Lively (Serena van der Woodsen), Leighton Meester (Blair Waldorf), Penn Badgley (Dan Humphrey), Chase Crawford (Nate Archibald), and Ed Westwick (Chuck Bass). Now, the original leads aren’t expected to be involved, but the new Gossip Girl exists in the same universe as its predecessor.
Executive producer Josh Schwartz revealed at the Television Critics Association summer press tour, “We’ve reached out to all of them to let them know it was happening and we’d love for them to be involved if they want to be involved, but certainly didn’t want to make it contingent upon (them being involved).” Any of the original cast members can return if they want to!
However, Kristen Bell, the voice of Gossip Girl in the original series, will return to narrate HBO’s new version, according to The Hollywood Reporter the producers said, “Kristen Bell has always been and will always be the voice of Gossip Girl.” Even Chace Crawford told Digital Spy that he would “absolutely cameo” if a reboot featuring new characters. “I’d have to!” he said.
Everything about the new Gossip Girl and the big twist
The new characters will be seeingattending Constance Billard and St. Jude’s, the Upper East Side prep schools as attended by the original leads, Safran told Vulture.In January 2021, the official Gossip Girl Instagram account shared photos of what the new set and uniforms look like.
In the cast’s cover story for Cosmopolitan, journalist Brian Moylan revealed that there is a big twist in store for the upcoming series. We’ll just have to wait to find out.Moylan also revealed to Cosmopolitan that “Gossip Girl has gone from blogger to something more like an all-encompassing social media platform.”
Safran also told Vulture that the new storyline will better reflect the diversity of youth in New York City (even if the series is still set among Manhattan’s elite), with “non-white” lead roles and “a lot of queer content.”Cast member Whitney Peak told Cosmo, “I want all the hers and the hes and the theys and the people of color from all over the world to be able to watch the show and think, That’s a person who looks like me. I don’t have to be the stereotypical idea of who I am.” She added of how the series could be educational to viewers, “Maybe they’re not learning these things at home, but they’re seeing them on Gossip Girl. How amazing is that?”
Surely, the new Gossip Girl will keep us stick to our TV’s, till then you can watch the previous version on Netflix.
