''Gossip Girl'' is an American

teen drama In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

streaming television Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air a ...

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. C ...

for

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Ne ...

. It is an extension and a

standalone sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in t ...

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

television series of the same name, which is based on the

novel series A book series is a sequence of books having certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group. Book series can be organized in different ways, such as written by the same author, or marketed as a group by their pub ...

written by

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

. 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. Schwartz 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 ...

and

Stephanie Savage Stephanie Savage (born 1969) is a Canadian screenwriter and television producer. Savage is best known for developing The CW's teen drama series '' Gossip Girl'' (2007) from the novel series, and being an executive producer of the Fox series ' ...

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

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also the ...

. The series is narrated by

Kristen Bell Kristen Anne Bell (born July 18, 1980) is an American actress. Beginning her acting career by starring in stage productions while attending the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, she made her Broadway stage debut as Becky That ...

, who reprised her role as the voice of ''Gossip Girl'', an anonymous and omniscient blogger. The series features an ensemble cast led by Jordan Alexander, Whitney Peak,

Tavi Gevinson Tavi Gevinson (born April 21, 1996) is an American actress, writer, and magazine editor. She came to public attention at the age of 12 due to her fashion blog Style Rookie. By the age of 15, she had shifted her focus to pop culture and feminist d ...

Eli Brown Elijah Brown (born August 14, 1999) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Dylan Walker on the Freeform series '' Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists'' (2019). He currently stars as Otto "Obie" Bergmann IV on the HBO Max serie ...

, Thomas Doherty,

Emily Alyn Lind Emily Alyn Lind (born 2001/2002) 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 ...

, 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 or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

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, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. ''Gossip Girl'' premiered on HBO Max on July 8 to mixed reviews, and 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.

Premise

Nearly a decade after the conclusion of the original series, a new cast of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

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'' is slated to feature more adult content than the original on

, owing to the relaxed standards of the

streaming service. The series is also slated to be more diverse, with non-white leads and

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

characters. In regard to continuity, executive producer and showrunner

stated that it is officially in the same continuity of the original ''Gossip Girl'' series. 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 An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social m ...

and

it girl An "it girl" is an attractive 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 century. ...

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 developed ...

. 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. *

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" *

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 Adam Brian Chanler-Berat (born December 31, 1986) is an American stage and film actor and singer. He is best known for his work on Broadway, originating the roles of Henry in '' Next to Normal'' (2008–2011), Boy in '' Peter and the Starcatcher ...

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 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 gay 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 Megan Ferguson is an American actress. In 2011, Ferguson married fellow actor Nico Evers-Swindell Nico Thomas Evers-Swindell is a New Zealand actor who portrayed Prince William in the 2011 Lifetime original film '' William & Kate''. Previous r ...

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 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 Normal Heart'' ...

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

Luke Kirby Luke Farrell Kirby (born June 29, 1978) is a Canadian actor. In 2019, he won a Primetime Emmy Award for his guest role as Lenny Bruce on the television series ''The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel''. Early life Kirby was born in Hamilton, Ontario, to Am ...

as Davis Calloway, Julien's music mogul father and Lola's ex-fiancé * Elizabeth Lail 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 known for her roles in ''The Chair'', ''The Girl from Plainville'', ''The Rewrite'', and others. Early life and education Rubin was born in New York City and raised on the Upper Wes ...

as Bianca Breer * Katherine Reis as Pippa Sykes * Cole Doman as Rex Huntington * Anna van Patten as Grace Byron, the daughter of Virginia

state senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of ...

, Charlotte Byron and Obie's new girlfriend *

Pico Alexander Alexander Lukasz Jogalla (born June 3, 1991), known professionally as Pico Alexander, is an American actor. Personal life Alexander Lukasz Jogalla was born in New York City, New York, and raised in Park Slope, Brooklyn. His parents, Magdalena D ...

as Mike Shubin (season 2)

Guest

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 *

Jeremy O. Harris Jeremy O. Harris (born ) is an American playwright, actor, and philanthropist, known for his plays ''"Daddy"'' and '' Slave Play''. The latter received 12 nominations at the 74th Tony Awards, breaking the record previously set by the 2018 revival ...

as himself (season 1) * Princess Nokia as herself (season 1) * Billy Porter as himself (season 1) * Marc Shaiman as himself (season 1) * Lyne Renée 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 a British actor, producer, and television presenter. He is best known for portraying Alex DeLarge in ''A Clockwork Orange.'' He was born in the Horsforth suburb of Leeds and raised i ...

as Roger Menzies, father of Aki, Jake, Hamish, and Eliza as well as Jodi's ex-husband who is a widely-known media tycoon *

Hettienne Park Hettienne Park (born March 7, 1983) is an American actress and writer, having played roles in ''Year of the Fish'' (2007), ''Bride Wars'' (2009), '' Blindspot'' (2018), '' The Outsider'' (2020), her most notable role being Beverly Katz on the Psy ...

as Jodie Menzies (season 1), former wife of Roger and Aki's biological mother * Lucy Punch as Saskia Bates (season 1), Max's

surrogate A surrogate is a substitute or deputy for another person in a specific role and may refer to: Relationships * Surrogacy, an arrangement where a woman agrees to carry and give birth to a child for another person who will become its parent at bir ...

mother and an actress * Edmund Donovan as Scott (season 1), a teacher from another school who's involved in "Gossip Girl" * 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 AppleTV+ comedy series '' Dickinson''. Early life Amanda Warren was born on J ...

as Camille de Haan, Monet's mother and a powerful biotechnologist billionaire *

Rick Worthy Richard "Rick" Worthy (born March 12, 1967) is an American actor. He is best known for appearing in a variety of science fiction and fantasy television shows. He is perhaps best known for his recurring role as Simon O'Neill cylon model number f ...

as Greyson de Haan (season 2), Monet's father * 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 an English singer and songwriter. Born in Cambridge and raised in Start Hill, Essex, she began posting songs on Myspace in 2008, which led to her discovery ...

as herself (season 2)

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

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

Margaret Colin Margaret Colin (born May 26, 1958) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Margo Hughes on '' As the World Turns'' and as Eleanor Waldorf-Rose on '' Gossip Girl''. Early life Margaret Colin was born in Brooklyn, New York City, and ...

as Eleanor Waldorf-Rose, a former fashion designer and Blair Waldorf's mother * Aaron Schwartz as Vanya, Dorota's husband and former doorman of the van der Woodsens' apartment

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2021)

Season 2 (2022)

Production

Development

WarnerMedia Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

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 Feelings" ...

would direct the first two episodes of the series. On September 9, 2021, HBO Max renewed the series for a second season.

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 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 The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United States, it has resulted in confir ...

, 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 released November 25, 2021. The first season finale 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 is a partly-inactive authenticated video on demand of the pay television service HBO. The service allowed subscribers to HBO via television providers to access its programming on-demand via the HBO website, mobile apps, and digital medi ...

. The series is acquired by

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

and

BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers and smart televisions. iPlayer services del ...

for the UK. For

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

, it's acquired by Crave. In

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

, the series released on Streamz on July 9, 2021. The series is released on Amazon Prime Video India on July 21, 2022.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American 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, and Stephen Wan ...

, the first season holds an approval rating of 37% based on 54 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 a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the first season has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season has an approval rating of 100% based on 7 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, 550,000 US households watched the new series in its first four day streaming on HBO Max.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{HBO Max Gossip Girl 2020s American high school television series 2020s American LGBT-related drama television series 2020s American teen drama television series 2021 American television series debuts American sequel television series Bisexuality-related television series 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 about teenagers 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