Executive Producer Of The ‘Gossip Girl’ Reboot Says ‘I Think Of It Like The Marvel Universe’

Gossip Girl was one of the most popular teen dramas to air in the last decade. It helped popularize The CW and prided itself on its many scandalous stories about Upper East Siders. The series lasted for six seasons before coming to an end, and it helped launch the career of actresses like Blake Lively and Leighton Meester. Despite being off the air for almost seven years now, Gossip Girl is still discussed frequently by many pop culture fans.

WarnerMedia will reboot the series next year on its upcoming streaming service, HBO Max. The new series will see the return of Kristen Bell as the voice of the titular “Gossip Girl” character. Beyond that, fans don’t know much about the plot except that it will once again take place at the all-girls school known as Constance Billiard.

Executive producer Joshua Safran stated that the reboot “has the DNA of the original” in a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight.

Safran also explained his perspective of the series. According to him, the reboot will be “like the Marvel universe” in that it won’t be “a continuation or a sequel” but instead will explore the life of Gen-Z teenagers in New York City from a different point-of-view.

One of the main reasons Safran emphasized the fact that the reboot will not be a direct sequel is because none of the original cast members have been confirmed to reprise their roles. That said, Safran coyly suggested that he has talked to a few familiar people, and “they’re very excited to be on the show.”

Even if actors like Meester, Lively, or Penn Badgley don’t return to the series, you can expect to hear their characters mentioned in the reboot.

“The universe still exists. The characters talk about Serena, Blair, Chuck, Dan.”

Another critical aspect of the 2020 series will be social media. When Gossip Girl first premiered in 2007, social media was not as pervasive in society as it is today.

“I think it very much represents where we will be at in 2020 when the show airs. It really looks at how social media has changed,” Safran told ET.

He hopes that Gossip Girl will be able to explore the modern age in ways other series cannot. It makes sense, given how impactful the Gossip Girl character is. During the original show, Gossip Girl was a seemingly omnipresent force that knew everyone’s dirty little secrets, with sites like Instagram and Twitter at her fingertips, she’ll be nearly unstoppable.

Gossip Girl will launch sometime in 2020 on HBO Max.