'Gossip Girl' is returning to TV
Hey, Upper East Siders. "Gossip Girl" is back.
The teen drama, which ran on The CW from 2007 until 2012, will be rebooted and streamed on WarnerMedia's service HBOMax, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed Wednesday.
Joshua Safran, one of the showrunners for the original, told the publication that the new show will be an "extension" of the original, though he declined to elaborate.
"It's something we've been talking about — [series creators] Josh [Schwartz], Stephanie [Savage] and I — for a little bit, just in terms of, 'Is this something we want to explore?' We're all so in love with the original and had such an incredible time working on it, and it's such a big part of our lives," Safran said. "Then the stars aligned and we had availability to jump, and Warners, obviously, it's something they're very passionate about. It seemed like the best time and also the best way to do it."
"Gossip Girl" was a hit when it premiered more than a decade ago, though it also created drama, due to its racy and at times, problematic, plot lines. However, it also helped bolster the careers of its stars, Blake Lively, Penn Badgley, Leighton Meester, Chace Crawford and Ed Westwick. Though Safran would not comment on whether characters from the original would be involved, he did note that the reboot will continue to explore the ritzy Manhattan world they inhabited.
"It's just a new look at this particular society in New York, the idea being that society changes constantly," Safran said. "So how has this world changed, how has social media and its effect changed? All of those things allow us to look at the world 12 years on as opposed to just redoing the story. None of us are interested in just redoing a story."
HBOMax is set to launch in 2020, with a possible beta launch later this year, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
