While Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley) is revealed to be the titular character in Gossip Girl, there is someone else who the creators planned on having this role, which would have changed the story entirely. In season 6, episode 10, "New York, I Love You XOXO," Dan shares that he has been spying on his peers for the past few years because he wanted to feel like he belonged to the wealthy society that he has felt isolated from given his family's lower income status. This has never been a fan-favorite storyline, given Dan's relationship with Serena Van Der Woodsen (Blake Lively) and kind-hearted nature.
Since the identity of Gossip Girl is the teen drama's biggest mystery, it's clear that a lot of thought was put into the reveal. Given that Dan being Gossip Girl doesn't entirely make sense, it's compelling that there was another character who almost spied on the characters and wrote about their deepest, darkest secrets for the whole city to read.
Eric Was Meant To Be Gossip Girl
Executive Producer Joshua Safran shared that Serena's younger brother Eric (Connor Paolo) was the original plan for Gossip Girl. He said, “I always thought it was Eric until the end of season 2, and I even guided it that way, but when the New York Post revealed it was Eric — and I still don’t know how that happened, I think they were just guessing — we realized we couldn’t go down that road anymore, so we abandoned him" (via Vulture).
The fact that the publication guessed that Eric played this role proves that there is some logic behind it. Like Dan, Eric is one of the most likable Gossip Girl characters, and Eric's reveal might've garnered empathy given his struggles with his parents. If Gossip Girl writes about other people because they feel like an outsider in this wealthy NYC world, that motive works for Eric as well, given how isolated he has always felt from his family. However, because Eric leaves the show after season 4, it would have been impossible for him to play this part.
Why Dan Being Gossip Girl Is Unpopular
It's difficult to agree with the choice of Dan as Gossip Girl, as he has been a sweet, loyal, and upstanding citizen until the series finale. He cares deeply about the people in his life, from his younger sister, Jenny (Taylor Momsen), to his on-and-off-again partner, Serena, and it's tough to believe that he would want to cause anyone harm by writing about their private lives. While there were clues that Dan was Gossip Girl, it still feels like the wrong completion of this character arc.
When Dan says, "I wrote my first post about me: Lonely Boy. The outsider, the underdog. I might have been a joke, but at least people were talking about me," it seems that he could have spent his time focusing on his own original writing instead, and it wasn't necessary for him to spy on everyone around him. While he is an otherwise solid Gossip Girl character, Dan's reveal makes him seem like an evil person with ill intentions, which isn't how he appears throughout the rest of the teen drama.