HBO Max is moving forward with a Gossip Girl spinoff. Based on the book series by Cecily von Ziegesar, the teen drama originally aired on the CW from 2007-12. Garnering high ratings for the network, Gossip Girl boosted the careers of Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Ed Westwick, Chace Crawford, and Penn Badgley.
Created by Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz, Gossip Girl quickly became a fan favorite and popular guilty pleasure. Narrated by an omniscient blogger (voiced by Kristen Bell), the series follows Serena van der Woodsen (Lively), Blair Waldorf (Meester), Nate Archibald (Crawford), Chuck Bass (Westwick), and DanHumphrey (Badgley), a group of wealthy socialite teens navigating life through Manhattan’s Upper East Side - while under the social surveillance of the mysterious Gossip Girl. Riddled with scandal, romance, secrets, and privilege, the pop culture phenomenon bowed out of its CW tenure after six seasons with a good twist and major reveals. Earlier this year, CW president Mark Pedowitz revealed that there was a discussion about rebooting the show. Now, it appears Gossip Girl has found a new home.
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According to EW, HBO Max has given the greenlight on a 10-episode, straight-to-series order for a Gossip Girl spinoff. Savage and Schwartz will return to executive produce, and Quantico creator Josh Safran, who was part of the creative team on the original series, has been tapped as showrunner. The new series takes place eight years after the Gossip Girl website went dark. Following a new generation of New York’s private school adolescents, the spinoff will touch on how social media - and New York’s landscape - has altered over the years. Penned by Safran, the reboot will continue to derive concepts from Ziegesar’s novel.
Savage and Schwartz have continued their rapport with The CW, as their current projects include the upcoming Nancy Drew series and season 3 of Dynasty. As of this writing, it's unclear if any of the original cast members will return for the Gossip Girl spinoff. Fresh off the success of her acclaimed performance in A Simple Favor, Lively’s film career continues to thrive with her starring role in the upcoming The Rhythm Section. Badgley currently stars as the charming, deceitful, and complicated Joe Goldberg in Netflix’s thriller You.
Offering a slew of content, including Friends, Pretty Little Liars, The Fresh-Prince of Bel-Air, The Flight Attendant, and Love Life, WarnerMedia’s HBO Max is set to launch in 2020. Providing a home for the continuation of Gossip Girl is a wise choice on HBO Max’s part, however, it would benefit the series if original cast members were added to the slate. Perhaps the creative team will refuse to share the secrets of surprise cameos and casting choices, and create further anticipation for the spinoff of Gossip Girl.
Source: EW