''Gossip Girl'' is an American

teen drama In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or docudrama, semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humour, humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional te ...

television series developed by

Joshua Safran Joshua Safran is an American television screenwriter and executive producer. Education Safran attended the Horace Mann School prior to graduating from NYU Tisch with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in playwriting. He has stated he is Jewish. Car ...

for

HBO Max Max (known in other countries as, and soon to be reverted globally to HBO Max) is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. It is a proprietary unit of Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming on behalf of Home Box Of ...

. Based on the original CW television series of the same name, itself based on the novel written by

Cecily von Ziegesar Cecily Brooke von Ziegesar ( ; born June 27, 1970) is an American author best known for the young adult novel series ''Gossip Girl''. Early life and education Cecily von Ziegesar was born in New York City into a German noble family. She is th ...

, it serves as a standalone series in a

shared universe A shared universe or shared world is a fictional universe from a set of creative works where one or more writers (or other artists) independently contribute works that can stand alone but fits into the joint development of the storyline, charact ...

. The series is executive produced by original series co-creators

Josh Schwartz Joshua Ian Schwartz (born August 6, 1976) is an American screenwriter and television producer. He is best known for creating and executive producing the Fox teen drama series '' The O.C.'' which ran for 4 seasons. Schwartz is also known for dev ...

and Stephanie Savage, along with Safran, who was an executive producer on the first series and who also serves as

showrunner A showrunner is the top-level executive producer of a television series. The position outranks other creative and management personnel, including episode directors, in contrast to feature films, in which the director has creative control over th ...

. The series is narrated by

Kristen Bell Kristen Anne Bell (born July 18, 1980) is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. List of Kristen Bell performances, Her work includes both film and television, and List of awards and nominations received by Kristen Bell, h ...

, who reprised her role as the voice of Gossip Girl, an anonymous and omniscient blogger. It features an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that comprises many principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to the po ...

led by Jordan Alexander, Whitney Peak, Tavi Gevinson, Eli Brown, Thomas Doherty,

Emily Alyn Lind Emily Alyn Lind (born ) is an American actress. She began her career as a child actress, when she was known for her recurring role as young Amanda Clarke on the ABC series ''Revenge'', and for her role as Ariel on the CBS medical drama '' Cod ...

, Evan Mock, Zión Moreno, Savannah Lee Smith, and Grace Duah. It was given a straight-to-series order in July 2019 by HBO Max. Filming takes place in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and was originally scheduled to begin in March 2020 before being delayed until November 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. ''Gossip Girl'' premiered on HBO Max on July 8, 2021, to mixed reviews but broke the record for the most-watched HBO Max original series over its launch weekend. The first season consisted of 12 episodes, split into two six-episode parts, with the second half debuting on November 25, 2021. In September 2021, the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on December 1, 2022. In January 2023, the series was canceled after two seasons.

Premise

Nearly 10 years after the original website shut down, a new generation of teenagers are under the vicious and watchful eye of Gossip Girl, but this time instead of the juicy scandals going around New York, GG goes global and this time, no one is spared from her wrath. Nearly a decade after the conclusion of the original series, a new cast of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

private schoolers takes the lead under the watchful eye of Gossip Girl, while demonstrating how much social media – and the landscape of New York City itself – has changed in the intervening years. ''Gossip Girl'' now features more adult content than the original series on

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

, owing to the relaxed standards of the

streaming service. In regard to continuity, executive producer and showrunner

stated that it is officially in the same continuity of the original ''Gossip Girl'' run. However, rather than a direct continuation of the story, it is instead set in the same world where previous characters existed and can be freely referenced and potentially reappear, but stars a different set of characters from a different point of view.

Cast and characters

Main

* Jordan Alexander as Julien Calloway, an

influencer A social media influencer, or simply influencer (also known as an online influencer), is a person who builds a grassroots online presence through engaging content such as photos, videos, and updates. This is done by using direct audience intera ...

and

it girl An "it girl" is an attractive, well-known young woman who is perceived to have both sex appeal and a personality that is especially engaging. The expression ''it girl'' originated in British upper-class society around the turn of the 20th&nbs ...

who goes to Constance Billard as the

queen bee A queen bee is typically an adult, mated female ( gyne) that lives in a colony or hive of honey bees. With fully developed reproductive organs, the queen is usually the mother of most, if not all, of the bees in the beehive. Queens are develope ...

. At the beginning of the series, she's dating Obie and is recently united with her half-sister, Zoya. * Whitney Peak as Zoya Lott, a morally-upstanding scholarship freshman at Constance Billard who moved to Manhattan on her half-sister's request. She later forms a relationship with Obie. * Tavi Gevinson as Kate Keller, an English teacher at Constance Billard who, tired of being bullied by her students, leads a ring of teachers as "Gossip Girl" * Eli Brown as Otto "Obie" Bergmann IV, an extremely wealthy do-gooder who is considered a guilty rich. He forms a relationship with Zoya after his break up with Julien. * Thomas Doherty as Max Wolfe, a pansexual and headstrong flirt who has feelings for both Aki and Audrey *

as Audrey Hope, a dismissive teenager and avid literature reader who is Julien's best friend and Aki's girlfriend with an interest in Max * Evan Mock as Akeno "Aki" Menzies, a bisexual skateboarder and movie enthusiast who is Obie's best friend and Audrey's boyfriend with an interest in Max * Johnathan Fernandez as Nick Lott, Zoya's caring father who is a lawyer * Adam Chanler-Berat as Jordan Glassberg, a Computer Science teacher at Constance Billard who helps run the Gossip Girl account. He is interested in Kate. * Zión Moreno as Luna La, a transgender trendsetter from

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

who serves as Julien's stylist and friend * Savannah Lee Smith as Monet de Haan, the intimidating and powerful friend to Julien and Luna who serves as the former's PR representative * Jason Gotay as Rafa Caparros (season 1), a Classics teacher at Constance Billard who sexually preys on his students * Todd Almond as Gideon Wolfe, Max's father and a theater impresario * Laura Benanti as Kiki Hope, an athleisure wear designer and Audrey's alcoholic mother. She has a complicated relationship with her daughter following her divorce after her husband's cheating. * Grace Duah as Shan Barnes (season 2; guest season 1), Zoya's new best friend * Megan Ferguson as Wendy (season 2; recurring season 1), an administration staff at Constance Billard with a strong knowledge of the original Gossip Girl blog who goes on to help Kate and Jordan run the new Gossip Girl account The series is narrated by

as the voice of "Gossip Girl", an online anonymous figure, reprising her role from the 2007 series.

Recurring

John Benjamin Hickey John Benjamin Hickey (born June 25, 1963) is an American actor and director with a career in stage, film and television. He won the 2011 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play for his performance as Felix Turner in '' The ...

as Roy Sachs, Max's father who works as a landscaper * Carla Hall as Rocky *

Donna Murphy Donna Murphy (born March 7, 1959) is an American actress, best known for her work in musical theater. A five-time Tony Award nominee, she has twice won the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical: for her role as Fosca in '' Passion'' (1994–1995) ...

as Vivian Burton, the Headmistress of Constance Billard * Luke Kirby as Davis Calloway, Julien's music mogul father and Lola's ex-fiancé *

Elizabeth Lail Elizabeth Dean Lail (born March 25, 1992) is an American actress. She played Anna (Frozen), Anna in the fantasy series ''Once Upon a Time (TV series), Once Upon a Time'' (2014) and Guinevere Beck in the Netflix thriller series ''You (TV series), ...

as Lola Morgan (season 1), a singer-songwriter and Davis Calloway's ex-fiancée *

Ella Rubin Ella Rubin (born September 2, 2001) is an American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the film ''The Rewrite'' (2014). She made her Broadway (theatre), Broadway debut in the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of the Tennessee ...

as Bianca Breer, Julien's rival from another school * Katherine Reis as Pippa Sykes, Bianca's best friend *

Lyne Renée Lyne Renée (born Line Van Wambeke; 17 May 1979) is a Belgian actress, artist, model, and singer. She was born in Velzeke, Zottegem, Belgium, and graduated from the Studio Herman Teirlinck in Antwerp. From 2003 to 2005 she appeared as a stage a ...

as Helena Bergmann, Obie's mother who is an extremely wealthy real estate mogul *

Malcolm McDowell Malcolm McDowell (born Malcolm John Taylor; 13 June 1943) is an English actor. He first became known for portraying Mick Travis in Lindsay Anderson's ''if....'' (1968), a role he later reprised in ''O Lucky Man!'' (1973) and ''Britannia Hospital ...

as Roger Menzies, father of Aki, Jake, Hamish, and Eliza as well as Jodi's ex-husband who is a widely-known media tycoon * Edmund Donovan as Scott, a teacher from another school who's involved in "Gossip Girl" * Angelic Zambrana as Tati * Cole Doman as Rex Huntington * Kathryn Gallagher as Heidi Bergmann, Obie's sister who took Max's virginity *

Amanda Warren Amanda Warren (born July 17, 1982) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Lucy Warburton on the HBO drama series '' The Leftovers'' and as Betty on the Apple TV+ comedy series '' Dickinson''. Early life Amanda Warren was born on J ...

as Camille de Haan, Monet's mother and a powerful biotechnologist billionaire * Anna van Patten as Grace Byron, the daughter of Virginia

state senator A state senator is a member of a State legislature (United States), state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. History There are typically fewer state senators than there ...

, Charlotte Byron and Obie's new girlfriend * Pico Alexander as Mike Shubin (season 2), a teacher at Constance Billard who just returned from a long sabbatical * Rick Worthy as Greyson de Haan (season 2), Monet's father * Jarvis Tomdio as Graham (season 2), Julien's love interest

Guest

Jeremy O. Harris Jeremy O. Harris (born June 2, 1989) is an American playwright, actor and screenwriter. Harris gained prominence for his 2018 ''Slave Play'', which received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Play. Harris is also known for his work in film ...

as himself (season 1) * Princess Nokia as herself (season 1) * Billy Porter as himself (season 1) *

Marc Shaiman Marc Shaiman ( ; born October 22, 1959) is an American composer and lyricist for films, television, and theatre, best known for his collaborations with lyricist and director Scott Wittman, actor Billy Crystal, and director Rob Reiner. Shaiman ha ...

as himself (season 1) * Hettienne Park as Jodie Menzies (season 1), former wife of Roger and Aki's biological mother *

Lucy Punch Lucy Alice T. Punch (born 30 December 1977) is an English actor. She has appeared in the films '' Ella Enchanted'' (2004), ''Hot Fuzz'' (2007), '' You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger'', '' Dinner for Schmucks,'' (both 2010) and ''Into the Woods'' ...

as Saskia Bates (season 1), Max's surrogate mother and an actress * Elizabeth Stanley as Charlotte Byron (season 2), Grace's mother and a controversial senator *

Charli XCX Charlotte Emma Aitchison (born 2 August 1992), known professionally as Charli XCX, is a British singer and songwriter. She began posting songs on Myspace in 2008 before entering the London rave scene. Signing a recording contract with Asylum Re ...

as herself (season 2) *

Andy Cohen Andrew Joseph Cohen (born June 2, 1968) is an American radio and television talk show host, producer, and writer. He is the host and executive producer of ''The Real Housewives'' Multimedia franchise, franchise and Bravo (American TV network), B ...

as himself (season 2) * LaChanze as Mimi (season 2), Julien and Zoya's aunt * Lukas Gage as himself (season 2) * Aaron Dominguez as Phillip Price/Pip/Pablo (season 2) * Gonzalo Aburto de la Fuente as Alejandro (season 2)

Guest characters from ''Gossip Girl'' (2007)

* Yin Chang as Nelly Yuki, a high-ranking employee at a magazine company and a former member of Blair Waldorf's clique * Azhy Robertson as Milo Sparks (season 1), Georgina Sparks's son who helps Zoya get revenge on Julien. This character was introduced in the 2007 series played by uncredited child actors. * Zuzanna Szadkowski as Dorota Kishlovsky (season 1), the Waldorfs' Polish housekeeper *

Wallace Shawn Wallace Michael Shawn (born November 12, 1943) is an American actor, essayist, playwright, and screenwriter. He is known for playing Vizzini in '' The Princess Bride'' (1987), Mr. Hall in '' Clueless'' (1995), Dr. John Sturgis in '' Young Sheldo ...

as Cyrus Rose (season 1), Gideon's lawyer and Blair Waldorf's stepfather * Margaret Colin as Eleanor Waldorf-Rose, a former fashion designer and Blair Waldorf's mother * Aaron Schwartz as Vanya (season 1), Dorota's husband and former doorman of the van der Woodsens' apartment * Michelle Trachtenberg as Georgina Sparks (season 2), a manipulative socialite who blackmails Kate. This was Trachtenberg's final television role before her death in February 2025. * Matt Doyle as Jonathan Whitney (season 2), Eric van der Woodsen's husband

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2021)

Season 2 (2022–23)

Production

Development

WarnerMedia Warner Media, LLC (Trade name, doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational corporation, multinational mass media and show business, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 ...

ordered a revival of the series for HBO Max in July 2019. Although called a "

reboot In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...

", it was confirmed to be a continuation of the original story by

. On November 2, 2020, it was announced that

Karena Evans Karena Evans (born December 17, 1995) is a Canadian director and actress. She garnered recognition for directing the music videos for Drake's 2018 ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart-topping singles, " God's Plan", " Nice for What", and " In My Feelin ...

would direct the first two episodes of the series. On September 9, 2021, HBO Max renewed the series for a second season. On January 19, 2023, the series was cancelled after two seasons.

Writing

The creator and executive producer of the sequel, Safran, says that his priorities for the series are "to focus on stories that are not limited to one demographic". He also stated "I wanted to be more inclusive; I wanted to showcase a more diverse universe; I wanted to tell more queer stories.".

Casting

In November 2019, it was announced Bell would be returning as the voice of Gossip Girl in the new series. In March 2020, it was reported that Emily Alyn Lind, Peak, Brown, Fernandez and Gotay were cast. Later that month, Gevinson, Doherty, Chanler-Berat and Moreno were reported to have joined as well. In April 2020, it was reported Smith had joined the cast. In August 2020, Jordan Alexander joined the cast in a starring role. In October 2020, Evan Mock was cast as a series regular, while Benanti was cast in an undisclosed capacity. In March 2021, Lail joined the cast in an undisclosed role. In May 2021, Renée joined the cast in a recurring role. In June 2021, Ferguson and Harris joined the cast in an undisclosed capacities. In June 2022, Michelle Trachtenberg is set to reprise her role from the original series as Georgina Sparks in an undisclosed capacity for the second season. In October 2022, it was announced that Grace Duah has been promoted to series regular for the second season.

Filming

Filming for the series was scheduled to begin in March 2020 in New York City but was put on hold due to the impact of the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United States On December 31, 2019, China announced the discovery of a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan. The first American case was reported on January 20, and United States Department of Health and Human Services, Health and Human Services Secreta ...

, and as a result, the release date was pushed back to 2021. Production for the series began on November 2, 2020. Filming for the second season began on February 4, 2022, in New York City. The series was also shot in Rome, Italy, in August 2022.

Release

''Gossip Girl'' premiered on

on July 8, 2021. The first six episodes of the series aired weekly, while the second slate of six episodes was released on November 25, 2021. The first-season finale was released on December 2, 2021. In June 2021, it was announced that The CW would broadcast the first episode of the sequel on July 9, the day after it premieres on the streaming service, with the episode available to stream on The CW's online platforms after its broadcast. The second season premiered on December 1, 2022. The series is available to watch in Asia via

HBO Go HBO Go was an authenticated video-on-demand streaming service of the pay television network HBO. The service originally allowed subscribers to access HBO's on-demand programming via the HBO website, mobile apps, and digital media players, among ...

. The series was acquired by

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

and

BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available Over-the-top media service, over-the-top on a wide range of devices, including Mobile phone, mobile phones and Tablet computer ...

for the United Kingdom. For Canada, it was acquired by Crave. In Belgium, the series was released on Streamz on July 9, 2021. The series was released on Amazon Prime Video India on July 21, 2022.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the first season holds an approval rating of 38% based on 56 critic reviews, with an average rating of 4.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "An ambitious misfire, ''Gossip Girl'' stutters more than it struts, stranding a stacked cast in a sumptuous sea of rudderless drama." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the first season has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season has an approval rating of 90% based on 10 critic reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. On Metacritic, the second season holds a weighted average score of 68 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". According to

Samba TV Samba TV is a television technology company that offers real-time insights and audience analytics. It was founded in 2008 by early employees of BitTorrent, including Samba TV's current chief executive officer, Ashwin Navin. The company develops ...

, 550,000 US households watched the new series in its first four-day streaming on HBO Max.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Max (streaming service) Gossip Girl 2020s American high school television series 2020s American LGBTQ-related drama television series 2020s American teen drama television series 2021 American television series debuts 2023 American television series endings American sequel television series American television series about teenagers Bisexuality-related television series American English-language television shows Fashion-themed television series Gay-related television shows HBO Max original programming Lesbian-related television shows Mass media portrayals of the upper class Serial drama television series Television productions postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Television series about bullying Television series about educators Television series about social media Television series by Alloy Entertainment Television series by CBS Studios Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Television shows based on American novels Television shows filmed in New York City Television shows set in Manhattan