HBO Max’s Gossip Girl reboot has promised more cameos from cast members of the original series and “fun stuff” for fans of the ‘00s teen hit, but that is the last thing that the re-imagining needs as the series still struggles to form an identity of its own. Debuting in 2007, Gossip Girl was a salacious teen drama that proved a huge hit for the CW. The series chronicled the on-again, off-again love lives of Leighton Meester’s lovably bitchy Blair Waldorf, Ed Westwick’s bad-boy love interest Chuck Bass, Blake Lively’s It Girl Serena Van Der Woodsen, and Penn Badgley’s grounded antihero Dan Humphrey.
Although the antics of this quartet likely look quaint in comparison to the exploits of Euphoria’s hedonistic teens, Gossip Girl caused quite a scandal upon its initial release and proved a massive hit as a result. However, HBO Max’s Gossip Girl reboot has failed to recapture this controversy and received lukewarm reviews in July, drumming up none of the scandals its predecessor caused. In a bid to reignite interest in the ongoing show, Gossip Girl showrunner Joshua Safran has promised that the second half of season 1 will involve more of the original show’s lineup.
Speaking to TheWrap, Safran said that, while none of the central characters would be making an appearance in the second half of Gossip Girl’s season 1, the reboot would feature more cameos, call-backs, and “fun stuff” for fans of the original series. However, while some fans may be excited by the promise, this ignores the central issue with Gossip Girl’s HBO Max reboot and may end up damaging the already unsteady reception of the show. As a new project that retconned the original Gossip Girl’s ending from its beginning, the reboot is an original entity that deserves a chance to fail or succeed on its own merits.
While it is understandable that the showrunners hope to benefit from ‘00s nostalgia, relying on cameos from the original cast and fan service is the worst way to establish a new, original series. It would be better for Gossip Girl’s reboot if the series could stand on its own feet and tell its own story, rather than relying on ratings-grab cameos to paper over the shoddy reviews received by the first half of season 1. Critics have not been outright hostile to HBO Max’s Gossip Girl reboot, but a recurring criticism of the show’s early episodes is that the series fails to find an identity of its own—something that will not be helped by further blurring the lines between itself and the original series.
Gossip Girl’s reboot already introduced Georgina Sparks’ son, Milo, meaning the reboot has played with the prospect of bringing back a major recurring character from the original show as early as its fourth episode. The reboot also saw Kirsten Bell return in her ironic voice-only role as the show’s eponymous narrator, a canny decision that built hype without creating a concrete canon connection between the two iterations of Gossip Girl. However, continuing to offer call-backs and cameos from the original Gossip Girl means the HBO Max reboot will likely keep relying on nostalgia, fail to find its own identity, and never emerge from the long shadow cast by its iconic predecessor.