Gossip Girl fans have been raving about HBO Max’s new revival of the classic teen drama. When a reboot of the popular CW series was announced, fans were startled and happy, but creator Joshua Safran vowed that the new series would be significantly different.
After premiering on HBO Max on July 8, the relaunch of the CW’s hugely popular series is proving to be just as popular. While Gossip Girl fans have been finding tiny parallels to the original series since the reboot debuted, the showrunner has stressed how the reboot will be different, as well as the care being taken in the age of social media to guarantee a realistic portrayal of how it can destroy lives.
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From 2007 through 2012, the first Gossip Girl series portrayed the lives of a group of privileged teens living on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Following its premiere, the revival appears to be on track to forge its own course while paying tribute to the original.
The new series stars Whitney Peak, Emily Alyn Lind, Evan Mock, Jordan Alexander, Thomas Doherty, Eli Brown, Zión Moreno, Savannah Smith, and Tavi Gevinson as the newest wealthy students in New York.
However, showrunner Joshua Safran recently spoke to TV Line about the new series and he revealed how the filmmakers were tackling the reboot.
While the original series didn’t reveal the face of the titular blogger until the last ever episode, the reboot is playing things differently.
Safran explained: “I felt like it had been done already, and the reason to do a show again is to find something new to look at.”
The showrunner also stated that he didn’t want to continue the evil streak of the posts posted by the gossip girl, which was later revealed to be Dan Humphrey (played by Penn Badgley) in the original show.
Safran said that Dan’s postings were always timed to be hurtful to the people around him.
“That was a full avenue that we never drove down,” the showrunner added.
“So it felt like this was the time to look at that — all the things we never got to see Dan do when he was Gossip Girl.”
However, this time on the reboot, it is a group of teachers at the fictional Constance Billard school that take up the mantle of the gossip girl using Instagram.
Safran wanted to ensure that audiences saw how a “game-changing” post is “acquired, vetted, and posted”.
The new gossip girl teacher group is led by Tavi Gevinson as new teacher Kate Keller.
“What we’re exploring is that no one can successfully play God,” Safran remarked.
The showrunner was interested in discovering how posting mean things about people for a significant period of time will affect everyone.
He was interested in learning and writing about the psychology of someone who could do this to other people so easily.
Safran also discussed with the publication how the changing times would affect the reboot, considering the original ended in the early 2010s.
He states that the show will aim to be “more aware now” in the age of social media and celebrity culture.
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“They know the world they’re in. They know that wherever they go, it’ll be talked about,” he comments.
The showrunner notes that the characters are happier at the start of the series and “then it’s a slow descent into madness for everybody.”
Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images during “Gossip Girl” New York Premiere