These are the New Gossip Girl Characters: Blair And Serena,

Listen up, Upper East Siders.

A Gossip Girl ‘update’ TV show has been confirmed to return to our screens.’

The original show ran from 2007 to 2012, depicting the life of the elite teens of New York City, who broadcast every scandal to their entire community by the mysterious ‘Gossip Girl’.

The programme ultimately catapulted the careers of Blake Lively – who portrayed the ultimate IT-girl Serena van der Woodsen – Leighton Meester, the headband wearing princess Blair Waldorf, You’s Penn Badgley (Dan Humphries), Chace Crawford (Nate Archibald) and Ed Westwick aka Chuck Bass.

So, what do we know about this reboot?

Will the original Gossip Girl cast, including Blake Lively and Leighton Meester, return?

The reboot will be penned by the show’s original producer Joshua Safran, and executively produced by the creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage.

Which leads to the question… will the original cast be included in the reboot?

Well, the original cast – including Lively, Meester, Badgley, Crawford and Westwick – have all been asked to return for the project.

‘We reached out to everybody in the cast before the announcement came and let them know that it was not contingent upon their involvement, that it was going to be a new generation of Upper East Siders attending the school,’ the show’s co-creator Josh Schwartz told The Wrap.

‘But, obviously, we loved working with everybody in that cast and it was such an important moment in our lives and six wonderful seasons with them that if anybody wanted to come back, we would absolutely love to have them.

‘If they feel like they played that part and have moved on, we respect that, and if they want to come play with us again, we would love to see them,’ Schwartz continued.

Without meaning to dash dreams, Lively has strongly suggested she will not be reprising her role.

Speaking to E! at the premiere of her action-film The Rhythm Section, the mother-of-three clarified that she is not ‘involved’ in the production of the remake and to direct any questions to the producers.

Back in 2017, Lively was asked about ever reprising van der Woodsen and appeared to leave the door open.

She said: ‘It sort of all depends. Would I do seven years of the show? No, because it’s hard work and I’ve got my babies and I don’t want to be away from them that much. But I’ve just learned in life you never say never.’

Other co-stars including Badgely and Meester have made similar comments in the past.

Just weeks before the reboot was confirmed, Crawford hinted at the return of the show, telling Digital Spy, ‘with the golden age of the TV streaming service, maybe [Gossip Girl could come back] as an eight-episode season’.

As for whether he’d be game for exploring what Nate Archibald was up to in 2020, he was unsure how that would look but suggested he’s open.

‘I don’t know what it would look like with us being in our 30s now, but I always say, because it was such a big part of my life, I’m open to anything,’ he said.

However, while the original cast may not appear in the film, the 2020 Gossip Girl cast are paying tribute to the Upper East-siders that came before them, judging by the latest photos from filming.

The new cast (who you can read more on below) were *spotted* filming on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the famous New York City location where Blair, Serena and crew would spend their school breaks.

One co-star is confirmed to return, however, the voice of Gossip Girl herself Kristen Bell.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, after months of negotiations The Good Place star has signed on to narrate the new series.

‘Kristen Bell has always been and will always be the voice of Gossip Girl,’ producers said in a statement.

When previously asked if she’d be reprising her role, Bell stayed perfectly in character, telling E!: ‘Maybe, I’ll never tell.’

We’re thrilled, can you imagine any other voice uttering: ‘Xoxo, Gossip Girl’, at the end of an episode. Us neither.

Will the Gossip Girl remake have the same storyline?

Safran previously told THR they are able to give this series a go because ‘the stars aligned and we had availability to jump’ and described the project as an ‘extension’ of the original series.

‘Eight years after the original website went dark, a new generation of New York private school teens are introduced to the social surveillance of Gossip Girl,’ the upcoming series description says.

‘The prestige series will address just how much social media – and the landscape of New York itself – has changed in the intervening years.’

Let’s be honest, Gossip Girl would be much more tech-savvy in 2020 rather than sending a mass text alert through to people’s old-school flip-phones so this makes sense.

On November 5, some photos of the new cast (who you an read more about below) were photographed on set filming the upcoming series.

The photos featured Whitney Peak, dressed in a silver mini dress, and Eli Brown appearing to show their characters leaving a bar, with one showing Brown putting a jacket over Peak.

Who is in the new cast of the Gossip Girl remake?

To start with, five actors were cast with some drops of information as to the characters they will play. Then gradually, the show’s creators introduced more while providing further information about each character.

To kick off 2021 (the year the show is expected to premiere), on January 2 the Gossip Girl Instagram account announced the name of nine main characters, adding a photograph of them along with a one-word description of each character…

Emily Alyn Lind – Audrey Hope

With previous acting credits including Revenge (she played a young Amanda Clarke) and Stephen King’s 2019 horror Doctor Sleep, it was reported in March 2020 that Lind would be taking on the lead role of Audrey ‘who is in a long-term relationship and is beginning to wonder what else might be out there’, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

On January 2, Gossip Girl revealed that Audrey’s one-word description is: ‘Grace’.

Whitney Peak – Zoya Lott

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Eli Brown – Otto (Obie). Bergman IV

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Anyone else getting Chuck Bass vibes? Obie’s character key word is ‘privilege’…

Jordan Alexander – Jullien Calloway

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Savannah Smith – Monet de Haan

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Tavi Gevinson – Kate Keller

The blogger, editor and actor Tavi Gevinson will join the cast as the ‘ambitious’ Kate Keller.

Evan Mock – Akeno ‘Aki’ Menzies

Mock is a model (walking for the likes of Louis Vuitton), photographer (having shot for Saint Laurent), designer (collaborating with Justin Bieber on his Drew House line), skater and muse, even championed by Frank Ocean.

In Gossip Girl, his character Aki has been described as possessing ‘innocence’.

Thomas Doherty – Max Wolfe

Most recently appearing with Zoë Kravitz in her new Hulu series High Fidelity, Doherty is also confirmed to join the cast as Max Wolfe, whose descriptor is ‘freedom’.

Zion Moreno – Luna La

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Adam Chanler-Berat

Jason Gotay

Johnathan Fernandez

Is there a trailer or release date for the new Gossip Girl series?

The show’s originally planned release date (in Autumn, 2020) has had to be pushed back due to the Coronavirus pandemic. As with the vast majority of other shows and anticipated programmes (like the Friends reunion special), production on the reboot has been halted so the series will not be released until 2021.

On November 2, Deadline reported that production had officially started in New York (where else) and a director for the first two episodes has been found. Karena Evans is a Canadian director who has been behind the camera of some of Drake’s most famous music videos including ‘God’s Plan’, ‘In My Feelings’ and ‘Nice For What’ – which featured impressive cameos from incredible women like ELLE cover star Letitia Wright, Misty Copeland. Olivia Wilde, Yara Shahidi and Tracee Ellis Ross.

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While we wait for the new year to come around, channel your inner Blair Waldorf with our picks of the best headbands:

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