Nine years after the closure of the Gossip Girl blog, a new group of high school students from New York’s Upper East Side find themselves targeted on social media by an anonymous blogger determined to reveal all their secrets.
Gossip Girl, The Next Generation, developed by Joshua Safran from the original series that aired from 2007 to 2012 on The CW.
With Jordan Alexander, Whitney Peake, Eli Brown, Thomas Doherty, Emily Ellen Lind, Tavi Gevinson, Evan Mock, …
Every Friday at 21:05 on TFX for three episodes a week. Watched 12 episodes out of 12.
A cult hit for an entire generation that was enthralled by the adventures of Blair, Serena, Nate, Danny, Chuck and Jen on TF1 in the late 2000s, or later discovered it in its entirety on Netflix, Gossip Girl really needed a reboot. ?
Probably not. But in an age of remakes and all sorts of other revisions, from Charmed to Roswell to Les 4400 just passing by, the return of the small screen’s scariest anonymous blogger was surely inevitable.
Helmed by Joshua Safran (Quantico), who was already one of the writers and executive producers of the original series, this next generation Gossip Girl takes us back to New York, on the steps of the MET, nearly a decade after the hype ended. By Dan Humphrey. A gang of high school students on the Upper East Side becomes the target of a new gossip girl who now runs a very informative Instagram account.
The pilot begins when Zoya Lott (Whitney Peake), a 14-year-old from Buffalo who won a scholarship, joins Constance Billard’s private high school (which fans are familiar with) and finds her stepfather, Julien Calloway (Jordan Alexander), the school’s star influencer and The “Queen Bee” he never knew because their fathers hate each other.
And although Julien is ready to integrate Zoya into his social circle, which consists of her boyfriend, Obi (Eli Brown), the Audrey-Ake couple or Max Wolf (Thomas Doherty), who, of course, has nothing to envy to Chuck Bass. Not everything will go as planned. And as rivalries emerge, or re-emerge, drama obliges. But unfortunately, it’s all a bit too weak.
And the characters who try to hide that they’re reworked versions of characters from the original series – Audrey is the new Blair, Julien is the new Serena, and Obi is a cross between Nate and Dan – just remind us how much Leighton Meester, Blake Lively or Penn Badgley are missing from this sequel reboot, which Mentions their characters several times without them ever appearing on screen. At least for now.
With more diverse characters and sexuality portrayed throughout the episodes – where the original series was almost exclusively white and heterosexual – this new version of Gossip Girl also lacks its themes, both of which are not interested in the social inequality that exists in New York, and more so in America today ( After all, Zoya is supposed to be the new Jenny/Dan Humphrey, alien to the world of money and glitter).
He also mentions covid and promptly forgets about it. And trying to fully adapt to the current era, behind an effective soundtrack, highlighted by the hits of Billie Eilish or Ariana Grande. It seems that not much has changed since 2012, except for the dominance of social networks. A somewhat surprising observation from Joshua Safran and the HBO Max platform.
Fortunately, even if the first episode turns out to be rather laborious and too beautiful, all is not lost in this reboot, which has a good idea to offer a significant change compared to its predecessor: the identity from Gossip Girl. It is revealed early on and is therefore not a secret to the viewer.
It’s a good way to change cards, don’t make the same mistakes and be interested in the consequences that can follow such dirty tricks or people hiding behind a terrible Instagram account. which was never explored with Dan.
Additionally, some characters in the episodes manage to gain depth and end up being quite endearing. Like Julien, more complicated than we might think, Max, who might be the most interesting and exciting character in the series (and not just Chuck B), or even Audrey, who has a complicated relationship with her mother, which we hope. Will develop and soon find himself in the heart of a love triangle with Aki and Max.
A triangle that goes through ups and downs over the course of the first season’s 12 episodes, and which almost single-handedly warrants a chance for this new generation of Upper East Siders. Even if the ultra soapy side of the original series is sorely lacking.
Let’s hope that season 2, which should be released on HBO Max in the coming months, manages to find the bite of the original series, which, if far from a masterpiece, at least had the merit of never boring us. His coups and revelations are numerous. And since we already know Georgina Sparks (Michelle Trachtenberg) will be making a big return in these episodes, we tell ourselves there’s still hope.
We met the reset team:
Source: allocine
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
