Gossip Girl Is Officially Getting An Update, And Here’s What You Need To Know

Prepare yourselves, Gossip Girl fans, because it's officially time to return to the Upper East Side and immerse yourselves in the lives of Manhattan's elite — again. Finally, soon after a number of online rumors and numerous requests for a reboot from diehard fans on social media, the hit drama series that aired on The CW from 2007-2012 is coming back. And no, it won't be a carbon copy of the original.


According to The Hollywood Reporter, the series will not air on network television, yet alternatively, 10 hour-long episodes will go directly to WarnerMedia's upcoming streaming service, HBO Max, which is set to launch in 2020. And don't worry — the future of Gossip Girl lies in good hands. THR reports that Joshua Safran, who executive produced the latter seasons of the original show, will write and executive produce the new version, as well. Nevertheless according to Josh Schwartz, one of the show's creators, what they have proposed for the series should not be considered a reboot.


So how did showrunners determine to bring back the iconic series? Well, it's definitely not a new discussion. Case in point, it's something Safran has been considering with Schwartz and Stephanie Savage (another one of the show's creators) for a while right now. "It's something we've been talking about — Josh, Stephanie and I — for a little, just in terms of, 'Is this something we desire to explore?' We're all so in love with the original and had such a magnificent time working on it, and it's such a big piece of our lives," Safran told THR. "Then the stars aligned and we had availability to jump, and Warners, naturally, it's something they're very enthusiastic about. It looked like the ideal time as well as the perfect way to do it."


Unfortunately, Safran remained exceptionally tight-lipped about the plot of the impending series, although he did describe it as a "extension" of the original. "It's just a new look at this particular society in New York, the idea being that society changes constantly," he mentioned. "So how has this world changed, how has social media and its effect changed? All of these things permit us to look at the world 12 years on as instead of just redoing the story. None of us are interested in just redoing a story."


The executive producer didn't delve into further specifics, although the show's logline does reveal a little more about what fans can expect from the updated series. It reads: "Eight years soon following the original website went dark, a new generation of New York private school teens are introduced to the social surveillance of Gossip Girl. The prestige series will address just how much social media — and the landscape of New York itself — has changed in the intervening years." Hmm...


Based on that intelligence alone, we can safely assume that there will be a number of new leads taking over the Upper East Side. However that doesn't mean we're not hoping to be able to see some of the OG characters make an appearance. Immediately considering that, what's Gossip Girl without Blair Waldorf and Serena Van Der Woodsen? And although we're unsure if the original cast would even be down for a comeback, we do know that Chace Crawford would imagine it. In a recent interview with Digital Spy, the actor mentioned, "I don't know what it would look like with us being in our 30s right now, yet I routinely mention, because it was such a big piece of my life, I'm open anything."


Do you hope to be able to see some of your favorite Gossip Girl stars return for the new version? Uh, same. Although so far, it looks like we're just going to have to wait up until the series hits HBO Max. Up until then, XOXO. You know you love us!