Remember when news broke last year that Gossip Girl will be getting a reboot? Well, months after its announcement, we're finally seeing bits and pieces of the new show fall together. Its development is at full speed, with HBO Max's Head of Original Content Sarah Aubrey confirming to Entertainment Tonight that the first script has been turned in by producer Joshua Safran and is "quite good," seeing how it's handled by the same showrunners of the original series.
Hello to all these wonderful humans. More cast coming soon, but in the meantime, an extra hug to Whitney, cause she was cast first and has been keeping the secret all this time! https://t.co/Ft3RSay7dP
— Joshua Safran (@Anthologist) March 2, 2020
We already know that this 10-episode show will feature a whole different set of teens in New York 10 years later, but who will these new kids be? The five private school teens that will be the centre of Gossip Girl's surveillance will be played by Emily Alyn Lind, Whitney Peak, Eli Brown, Johnathan Fernandez, and Jason Gotay. According to Deadline, this diverse group of leads will "have a similar character dynamic to the original, with Peak, Brown and Lind as the leading trio and Fernandez and Gotay as members of the core ensemble." Just based on that, it seems we're getting quite the juicy drama. But while we wait for the coming of the show, let's learn more about the Gossip Girl reboot's new cast.
Emily Alyn Lind
From the whole pack, the first announced as a new Upper East Sider was Emily Alyn Lind. She comes from a family wholly involved in show business. In fact, Emily's mum is none other than Barbara Woods, who played One Tree Hill's Debb Scott for nine seasons, while her dad John Lind works as a producer, and her two sisters work as actresses as well. With such influence around her, it's not a surprise that Emily has been working in the industry since her childhood. You might have seen her as the young Dakota Fanning in the 2008 film, The Secret Life of Bees, as well as Shirley Temple in the Scorsese movie J. Edgar. More recently though, the singer-actress co-starred in Doctor Sleep, the sequel to Stephen King's classic horror flick, The Shining. Would she be the new it girl filling in the shoes of Serena in this Gossip Girl reboot?
Whitney Peak
Or perhaps, that could just be the other way around. Perhaps this decade, Whitney Peak will be the Serena to Emily Alyn Lind's Blair. Though the former's casting was announced first, it was actually Peak who won her role first, thereby deserving of extra appreciation for keeping the secret longer. Though she'll be one of Manhattan's young elite, in real life, Whitney grew up in a completely different environment. Born in Uganda and grew up in Canada, the rising star has been in quite a few titles too. You might have watched her on Netflix as the mysterious Judith Blackwood on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina or on the big screen in Molly's Game.
Eli Brown
The third of the central trio is Eli Brown. Not a stranger to teen shows, Eli recently starred as a series regular on the Warner Horizon series, Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, the spin-off to the hit mystery teen drama. Aside from acting, the 20-year-old also enjoys singing and playing the guitar, and shares some of his songs on Instagram and YouTube. He definitely exudes the same boy-next-door vibes reminiscent of our OG lonely boy, Dan Humphrey, so would he also be playing a tortured artist in this Gossip Girl reboot?
Johnathan Fernandez
Another one joining us in New York years after the shutdown of the Gossip Girl website is actor Johnathan Fernandez. Born in Brooklyn, New York, the 46-year-old actor couldn't be more in-tune in the environment of the show. A veteran in the industry, Johnathan was a series regular in Fox's action-comedy Lethal Weapon. No details of his role in Gossip Girl has been released as of yet, but perhaps he'll be a parent figure for one of the main trio? Maybe we'll see a younger Rufus Humphrey-esque character from him, maybe even a Bart Bass.
Jason Gotay
Finally, actor Jason Gotay will also be part of the main Gossip Girl reboot cast. Theatre enthusiasts will probably recognise him from the whole slew of Broadway titles he performed in. Most recently, he was Che in NY City Centre's production of Evita and Bring It On: The Musical. From that, we can surmise that the 30-year-old New York City native has quite the acting abilities (not to mention singing skills), and we can't wait to see what sort of fresh role he'll bring into the show.
(Cover photo from: @whitneypeakk)
Meanwhile, look back at the best fashion moments of Gossip Girl.
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