Leighton Meester Gave Her Honest Opinion About The Gossip Girl Reboot

Gossip Girl fans may not have seen the last of Blair Waldorf. In a recent interview with Elle, Leighton Meester, the actor behind the one-of-a-kind character, revealed how she really feels about HBO Max’s Gossip Girl revival. “I think it’s great,” she told the magazine. “I’m really happy for them finding a new way with it.”

The reboot premiered on the streaming platform in July 2021 and was renewed for a second season in September. The series stars an entirely new cast of Upper East Siders, including Jordan Alexander (Julien), Whitney Peak (Zoya), Evan Mock (Aki), Thomas Doherty (Max), Emily Alyn Lind (Audrey), Eli Brown (Obie), Zión Moreno (Luna), Savannah Smith (Monet), and Tavi Gevinson (Kate Keller).

Although Meester isn’t in the reboot, her role in the original series made a lasting impact. “Still, young women will come up to me and I’m like, ‘Wow, you were not born when we started,’” she told Elle. “It’s interesting that it can continue to be something that means a lot to even this generation. And the fact that they can capture some of that magic while making it its own thing is quite a feat and really cool.”

Although the reboot is very much its own thing, there’s a chance that some of the original cast members may return. In a July 2021 interview with Variety, showrunner Joshua Safran teased that some familiar faces may appear in Season 2. “My hope is one or two [original] series regulars come back, and we have some arcs planned for them should they wish to,” he said. “And not just one episode, not just two scenes.”

In 2019, co-creator Josh Schwartz also expressed a desire for the original cast to return. “We’d love for them to be involved if they want to be involved, but certainly didn’t want to make [the show] contingent upon [them being involved],” he said at the July 2019 Television Critics Association summer press tour. “They played these characters for six years, and if they felt like they were good with that, we want to respect that, but obviously...it would be great to see them again.”

Kristen Bell, who narrated the original series, is the only member of the original cast who returned for the reboot. However, several other Gossip Girl stars have expressed interest in making a guest appearance, including Chace Crawford (Nate Archibald) and Penn Badgley (Dan Humphrey). “If there’s an opening in the future for doing a cameo, I would definitely be open,” Crawford told August Man in 2019.

For Badgley, the decision wouldn’t be as easy. “I guess it would just depend on a lot of things,” he told ET in December 2019. “It would depend on how and why he's there.” Meester, for her part, would love to make a cameo, but told E! News in 2019 that she’s never been approached about it. “No one’s ever talked to me about it except for in interviews,” she said. “I always say the same: I never say never, so I don’t know.”