“Hey Upper East Siders. Gossip Girl here. And I have the biggest news
ever.”
In a final bid to save 2020, HBO have pulled out the big guns and
confirmed a reboot of the hit 2000s show Gossip Girl. The time has finally
come for the next generation of New York’s richest, preppiest and most
talked about teenagers to grace our screens. Original executive producers
Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage are accompanying the return of the
show, and official filming began in early November. With the show is
expected to air in 2021, we know relatively little about the format of the
show, yet the log line offers a few clues: “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 prestige series
will address just how much social media—and the landscape of New York
itself—has changed in the intervening years”. So many questions are
circulating right now. Will Serena and Blair’s iconic show downs be
replicated? Will the next Lonely Boy continue to struggle to fit in? Or
perhaps social this generation of Upper East Siders will succumb to the
modern-day pressures of social media. Gossip Girl fans are eagerly waiting
to see what is install.
There is another side to rebooted series, away from the excitement and
anticipation. When a show, such as Gossip Girl, has been so strongly
associated with crucial or significant parts of people’s lives, the
expectations are always sky high. The nostalgia that can be drawn from
re-watching shows can enthuse incredibly strong memories, and
understandably, the thought of any attempts to rewrite that can be rather
disconcerting. The comfort of these re-watches can be tremendous; the
familiarities of character’s voices as they recite their iconic
one-liners, the obvious plot-twist that still astonish you every time, and
the season finales that are so embedded in your mind they feel like real
life. Surely if a show is so highly adored and successful then a reboot is
out of the question. Why on earth try and better it?!
It is undeniable that the thought of the new series airing without the
legendary insults from Blair Waldorf, the echoes of flip-phone
notifications across the courtyard of St Jude’s, the headbands and pumps,
and, of course, Dorota’s protection of Blair from Mr Chuck, is all quite
strange. However, with a more diverse cast focusing on current themes,
such LGBTQ relationships and the impact and danger of social media, I
believe the series will be refreshing to viewers. There is no doubt that
that the fashion, bitchiness and drama will live up to our expectations,
so I feel viewers should be optimistic on this rebooted series, even if
there are feelings of nostalgia on the Gossip Girl blasts of old.
LOW KEY