Dust Off Your Headbands Because Gossip Girl Is Officially Coming Back
Prepare yourselves, Gossip Girl fans, because it's officially time to return to the Upper East Side and immerse yourselves in the lives of Manhattan's elite — again. Finally, after several online rumors and countless requests for a reboot from diehard fans on social media, the hit drama series that aired on The CW from 2007-2012 is coming back. And no, it won't be a carbon copy of the original.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the series will not air on network television, but instead, 10 hour-long episodes will go directly to WarnerMedia's upcoming streaming service, HBO Max, which is set to launch in 2020. And don't worry — the future of Gossip Girl lies in good hands. THR reports that Joshua Safran, who executive produced the latter seasons of the original show, will write and executive produce the new version, as well. But according to Josh Schwartz, one of the show's creators, what they have planned for the series should not be considered a reboot.
So how did showrunners decide to bring back the iconic series? Well, it's certainly not a new discussion. In fact, it's something Safran has been considering with Schwartz and Stephanie Savage (another one of the show's creators) for a while now. "It's something we've been talking about — Josh, Stephanie and I — for a little bit, just in terms of, 'Is this something we want to explore?' We're all so in love with the original and had such an incredible time working on it, and it's such a big part of our lives," Safran told THR. "Then the stars aligned and we had availability to jump, and Warners, obviously, it's something they're very passionate about. It seemed like the best time and also the best way to do it."
Unfortunately, Safran remained extremely tight-lipped about the plot of the impending series, but he did describe it as an "extension" of the original. "It's just a new look at this particular society in New York, the idea being that society changes constantly," he said. "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. None of us are interested in just redoing a story."
The executive producer didn't delve into further details, but the show's logline does reveal a little bit more about what fans can expect from the updated series. It reads: "Eight years after the original website went dark, a new generation of New York private school teens are introduced to the social surveillance of Gossip Girl. The prestige series will address just how much social media — and the landscape of New York itself — has changed in the intervening years." Hmm...
Based on that information alone, we can safely assume that there will be several new leads taking over the Upper East Side. But that doesn't mean we're not hoping to see some of the OG characters make an appearance. After all, what's Gossip Girl without Blair Waldorf and Serena Van Der Woodsen? And even though we're unsure if the original cast would even be down for a comeback, we do know that Chace Crawford would consider it. In a recent interview with Digital Spy, the actor said, "I don't know what it would look like with us being in our 30s now, but I always say, because it was such a big part of my life, I'm open to anything."
Do you want to see some of your favorite Gossip Girl stars return for the new version? Uh, same. But for now, it looks like we're just going to have to wait until the series hits HBO Max. Until then, XOXO. You know you love us!
- Jordyn Tilchen.
