Chace Crawford has shared a sweet story from his final Gossip Girl audition that involved his very first meeting with co-star, Leighton Meester. Having established itself as one of the 2000s' most beloved TV shows, Gossip Girl told the story of some of the Upper East Side's most privileged residents, as they endured the highs and the lows of their teen years under the watchful eye of Gossip Girl, an anonymous blogger who sought to expose their most intimate secrets. Alongside Crawford and Meester, the series starred Blake Lively, Penn Badgley, Ed Westwick, and Taylor Momsen, with Kristen Bell providing the iconic voice of Gossip Girl.
The original Gossip Girl series, which ran from 2007 to 2012, saw Crawford star as Nate Archibald, the golden boy of the Upper East Side and a central part of the series' core friendship group that included Lively, Westwick, Meester, and Badgley. Last year, HBO aired its highly anticipated reboot to the beloved series, which offered a modern take on the Gossip Girl story, featuring a fresh young cast, and with Kristen Bell returning to voice the mysteriously vicious blogger. Despite their names having become synonymous with the Gossip Girl series over the years, Crawford, alongside the rest of his original castmates, had no involvement with this new series. However, their characters were referenced a number of times by the new Upper East Siders.
Now, Crawford has shared a sweet story from his final audition for the CW series, while chatting with one of his Gossip Girl co-stars, Jessica Szohr, on her podcast XOXO with Jessica Szohr (via E! News). Sitting down with Szohr to discuss their Upper East Side past, Crawford recalled the audition during which he met Meester, his soon-to-be co-star, and how he felt an "instant friendship connection" with her. Check out Crawford's full quote below.
They let me into this massive waiting room, and there was this one girl in this chair at the very end, with her back to me...and I kind of went, 'Hi, let me introduce myself,' she turns around, headband on, it's Leighton. I assumed like, 'Oh, that's the girl! Like if she can act, I'm sure she can’. We kind of had an instant friendship connection, easy to talk to.
Szohr played Vanessa Abrams throughout seasons 1-4 of Gossip Girl, before returning for a brief cameo in the very final episode in which the true identity of Gossip Girl was revealed. Crawford and Szohr's characters shared a brief fling in the series before Nate ultimately broke up with Vanessa to rekindle his relationship with Meester's character, Blair Waldorf. During the podcast, Crawford also shared that during filming he asked his on-screen best friend Westwick, who played Chuck Bass, to move to New York with him, with the pair then going on to live together for two years.
While there have always been whispers of feuds and various other behind-the-scenes dramas on the set of Gossip Girl, it's certainly nice to hear that Crawford shared such a sweet connection with one of his main co-stars within the show. Meester is often acclaimed for her portrayal of her flawed-but-lovable character, and it's interesting to hear that Crawford immediately felt she was right for the part upon meeting her. Although his Gossip Girl days may be over, at least for now, Crawford will return for The Boys season 3 later this summer.
Source: XOXO with Jessica Szohr