After the original show came to an end on The CW in 2012, HBO Max is reviving Gossip Girl, but is it technically a reboot, or is it a sequel? One of the most prominent young-adult dramas of this generation was Gossip Girl, which was about a mysterious gossip blogger following the lives of rich Upper East Side teenagers. The identity of Gossip Girl themselves was a mystery that wasn't properly dealt with until the final season. Instead, the show focused primarily on what was happening to the characters as they dealt with secrets, scandals, romances, and more.
While Gossip Girl season 6 did reveal that Dan Humphrey was the one behind the gossip site, it became a controversial ending for viewers and critics. Despite the questionable conclusion, Gossip Girl was a huge show for the teenage genre, especially because of its popularity on social media. Back when Gossip Girl first premiered on The CW, Twitter was barely two years old, and part of Gossip Girl's success came through its dominance on that platform. Given its massive reception around the world, it is not surprising that it took almost only ten years for Gossip Girl to get resurrected, this time on HBO Max.
Even though Gossip Girl has a new cast and follows a different set of characters, it has been debated whether or not the HBO Max product is considered a reboot or sequel. Despite the word "reboot" being used when talking about Gossip Girl, this is 100% a sequel to the original series for several key reasons. A reboot would suggest HBO Max's Gossip Girl features new actors playing Serena, Blair, Dan, Chuck, and Nate while remaking the story they told from 2007-2012. The classic characters may not have anything to do with the HBO Max series, but that doesn't mean this is completely separate from The CW show.
So far, Kristen Bell is the only returning Gossip Girl cast member in the sequel, further ing the idea that the show is not a true reboot, as in that case Bell would likely not have been brought back as the narrator. Even if the original cast may not make an appearance, this doesn't necessarily leave them out of proceedings entirely, as it doesn't stop Gossip Girl from referencing where Serena and Dan are today or how Chuck and Blair are doing in their respective professional fields.
It also makes sense why the Gossip Girl creators are not rushing to have the classic characters back already. Since this sequel focuses on a new generation, those characters would quickly get overshadowed if Blake Lively, Penn Badgley, Leighton Meester, Chace Crawford, or Ed Westwick were in one or more episodes of Gossip Girl season 1. Even without them, there are already a few connections that establish how the two shows are connected, mainly through the Constance Billard setting. Despite studios and networks doing reboots of old properties, Gossip Girl is not one of them in this case.
Gossip Girl releases new episodes every Thursday on HBO Max.