With a 2020 reboot on HBO Max coming in the springtime, Gossip Girl has been in the news a lot, and it’s a great time to look back on what made the original series shine so brightly. Fans enjoyed catching up with the Upper East Siders in every episode over six seasons, and the drama was always at an all-time high.
There are always a lot of fascinating things happening on a TV set when cameras aren’t focused on the fictional characters. Here are 10 behind the scenes facts about Gossip Girl that you never knew.
Dan And Serena Dated IRL And Even Split Up
When fans become invested in a TV series, they often wonder if any of the actors are seeing each other off-screen. It can be hard to separate reality from fiction when couples are so iconic and seem to be so good together.
Dan Humphrey and Serena van der Woodsen are a beloved couple on Gossip Girl and the actors who played them, Penn Badgley and Blake Lively, were romantically involved IRL. While the show was on the air, fans didn’t realize that the couple had split up — even the people who worked on GG weren’t actually aware of that fact.
Cecily von Ziegesar Wasn’t A Fan Of Vanessa’s Portrayal
Gossip Girl is the TV adaptation of a series of young adult novels by Cecily von Ziegesar. Something that fans might not know is that she has said that she’s not a fan of Vanessa’s portrayal.
Often, when a writer is interviewed about a film or TV adaptation of their work, they mention what they would have changed or what they would have done if they had written the screenplay or been involved with the TV show. It’s impossible to make everyone happy, and creative choices have to be made as a show progresses.
Taylor Momsen Wasn’t Easy To Work With
Fans of Gossip Girl know that Taylor Momsen, who played Dan’s sister Jenny, wasn’t on the show for very long. It turns out that, similar to the situation with Shannen Doherty on Beverly Hills, 90210, Momsen wasn’t super easy to work with.
Some actors don’t have the greatest reputation when they’re on a film or TV set and it seems that she is in that category as well. Tim Gunn was in an episode and said she was a “diva.”
Leighton Meester Read For Serena But Had Her Heart Set On Blair
Leighton Meester did read for Serena when the casting process for Gossip Girl was going on. She had her heart set on playing Blair, though.
Fans might also not know that Meester was a blonde at this time in her life, and she dyed her hair so she would be a brunette and, therefore, look more like the character of Blair. It’s safe to say that Blair and Serena are two of the most famous characters on the teen drama and are definitely one of the most beloved friendship pairings. Fans are very used to Blake Lively playing Serena and Meester playing Blair.
Blake Lively Had Her Sights Set On School Instead
While Blake Lively has a successful film career now, at first she was best known in Hollywood for playing Serena. But that actually might have never been a role that she played at all.
Something that fans might not know about the show is that Lively had her sights set on school, and she was thinking more along the lines of college than starring on a juicy teen drama.
Gossip Girl Could Have Been Other Characters
While many fans aren’t happy with the creative choice of making Dan “Gossip Girl” in was a pretty polarizing series finale, it did make a powerful impact and it’s something that fans still think about today.
Fans of Gossip Girl will be interested to hear that there were two other characters who could have been the one spying on everyone: Serena’s sibling Eric (Connor Paolo) or Nate (Chace Crawford). It’s hard to know if fans would have been more comfortable with those choices, of course.
Penn Badgley Didn’t Like Gossip Girl
In one interview, Penn Badgley said, “I can walk a little taller feeling that I don’t have to be constantly apologizing for the work that I’ve done in the past.”
People have taken this to mean that he didn’t like being on Gossip Girl and that this was probably not his favorite role to date.
It Was Going To Be A Film
Fans also probably don’t know that Gossip Girl was going to be a movie and there are actually some very famous people who were originally attached to the project. Lindsay Lohan was going to play Blair and Amy Sherman-Palladino was going to pen it.
Of course, that wasn’t what happened, and the end result is one of the most popular teen dramas of all time. It’s always interesting to hear about the origin story of a film or TV series since many changes are often made.
Ed Westwick And Chace Crawford Shared An Apartment In Chelsea
Gossip Girl features many friendships that are pretty complicated, including that of Nate Archibald and Chuck Bass.
Ed Westwick and Chace Crawford, who played Chuck and Nate respectively, shared an apartment in Chelsea, NYC in the very early days of the show. They didn’t share this space for the entirety of the six seasons that the show aired for, but it’s still fun to hear about.
Penn Badgley Didn’t Want To Play Dan At First
Another fact about behind-the-scenes of Gossip Girl is that Penn Badgley didn’t want to play Dan at first. He was told that he had been granted the role and his answer was actually no.
Of course, he did eventually agree. When he was interviewed once, Badgley said, “And then they couldn’t find anybody for it—which is weird, because a million people could play Dan Humphrey—and she came back around, I was about to get a job as a waiter, and I was like, ‘Okay.’”
