If You Hate the Fact That Dan Humphrey Was Gossip Girl, Blake Lively Agrees With You
Production on the Gossip Girl reboot is officially underway. The series is set to premiere sometime in 2021. With the reboot forthcomings, fans are going back to the original to relive all of the drama-filled moments. A rewatch of the series is filling some fans with dread, though. Eventually, they’ll get to the finale, where the writers reveal that Dan Humphrey was Gossip Girl all along. The big reveal is among the most despised moments in recent television history. If you hated the big reveal, you aren’t alone. Blake Lively seems to feel the same way.
Gossip Girl fans largely despised the finale because of the big reveal
Fans of Gossip Girl were pretty worked up by the time the finale rolled around. For six years, they debated the identity of the anonymous blogger. When they found out it was Dan, they were pretty peeved. Calling the big reveal a let down would be an understatement.
Reddit users point out that it was blatantly obvious that Dan was never supposed to be Gossip Girl in the first place. They point to plot hole from early on in the series that makes it clear it was not him. There were also a ton of better options, argue fans and those close to the production.
Blake Lively doesn’t think Dan Humphrey should have been the one, either
If you have a hard time believing that Dan was Gossip Girl all along instead of Lonely Boy, then you aren’t alone. Lively also didn’t care for the end of the series. Lively, who portrayed Serena van der Woodsen for all six seasons, stayed quiet about the finale for several years. In 2020, with a new Gossip Girl preparing to be released, she finally broke her silence. In October, she shared a Gossip Girl meme on Instagram that referenced the finale.
Lively pointed out that audiences might have been surprised by the finale, but so were the writers and the cast. Lively’s comments make it clear that she didn’t see the twist coming, either. She has never commented on where the pressure to turn Dan into the series’s anonymous narrator came from, though.
Who was supposed to be Gossip Girl?
When the final episode of Gossip Girl aired, fans were angry. Viewers argued that they had spent six years watching the show, only to end up with a reveal that seemed absolutely illogical. There is a reason the decision to make Dan Gossip Girl felt illogical – it was. In 2019, Joshua Safran, the show’s executive producer, revealed that he never saw Dan as Gossip Girl.
According to Teen Vogue, Safran stopped by the Vulture Festival and revealed that initially, he planned for Eric Van Der Woodsen to be Gossip Girl. When The New York Post accurately guessed the anonymous blogger’s identity, Safran and the writing team changed directions. Dan was never on the table as Gossip Girl, though. Safran planned to make Nate Archibald the author of the gossip column. By the time the show entered its final season, Safran wasn’t a part of the team any longer. So, the writers carried on without him. Lively insists, however, that the writers were, perhaps, pressured into the Dan storyline.
