All the Ways the ‘Gossip Girl’ Reboot Will Be Similar to Original CW Series
The first two episodes of the all-new Gossip Girl reboot are currently streaming on HBO Max, and for fans, it’s the content that they have been waiting years for. The rebooted series is a continuation of the drama featured in the original series, but with a lot of interesting new twists and turns — as well as a whole new cast of characters.
Many viewers have noticed that the new series is very different from the first Gossip Girl series, and have called out the new themes and storylines. Still, as show creator Josh Safran recently revealed in a new interview, there are some overall ideas and tropes that hardcore fans of the franchise can definitely expect to be featured in the rebooted Gossip Girl.
The original ‘Gossip Girl’ is an iconic teen drama
For many pop culture fans, the original Gossip Girl series, which aired on The CW from 2007 through 2012, is one of the greatest teen dramas of all time. The show focused on a group of upper-class teenagers who attend a prestigious school, but who are often more focused on their romantic foibles than studying or professional pursuits.
Starring Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Chace Crawford, and Penn Badgley, Gossip Girl received acclaim from viewers and critics alike. It has remained very popular in the years since it went off the air, with fans clamoring for more content — and in 2020, the rumors that a rebooted Gossip Girl would be debuting on HBO Max were finally confirmed.
The new ‘Gossip Girl’ reboot features more mature content
The rebooted Gossip Girl premiered on HBO Max in early July. With a new episode dropping each week, new and original fans of the franchise are discovering a lot to love about the show. Showrunners have clarified that the newest incarnation of Gossip Girl is actually an “extension” of the original show, rather than a true reboot and that fans can expect to see a lot more mature content in the series since it is streaming on HBO.
In addition to the raunchier subjects and storylines, the new Gossip Girl features an almost entirely new cast. Except for the anonymous narrator Kristen Bell, every actor in the show is new to the franchise. Finally, the new series will include much more diversity, and highlight the many ways that technology has changed over the years.
How does Josh Safran say that the ‘Gossip Girl’ reboot pays homage to the original show?
Recently, Gossip Girl showrunner Josh Safran spoke out to Interview Magazine, opening up about the ways that the two shows mirror each other:
“There has to be a scene outside school. Every episode has to begin with the Gossip Girl voice-over. There were rules that are still in the DNA and stay no matter what. But I think the biggest thing that makes Gossip Girl, Gossip Girl is that every single episode of the first show had an event. It could be as small as a tea party or as huge as a wedding, and every character converged.”
He went on to say that even though the format of a streaming series doesn’t allow for “act breaks,” they still manage to create them in the context of the story:
“The end of act one, you hear about something that’s going to happen. At the end of act two, all of the trains are headed towards each other. And in act three, the trains collide. And act four, it’s the aftermath. So we break the episodes that way. And it helps make it feel like Gossip Girl because everything comes together and explodes.”
