Gossip Girl reboot producer ‘would love’ Blake Lively and Leighton Meester to return

Blake Lively and Leighton Meester have been asked to return for the Gossip Girl reboot by the show’s producers.
It was announced earlier this month (Jul19) that 10 new episodes of the beloved U.S. teen drama series will air on new streaming service HBO Max next year. And executive producer Josh Schwartz revealed he would love to see Blake’s character Serena van der Woodsen, and her on-screen best friend Blair Waldorf, played by Leighton, return for the upcoming reboot – with the original actresses reprising their roles.
“We’ve reached out to all of them to let them know it was happening, and we would love for them to be involved if they want to be involved,” he shared with reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour. “They played those characters for six years, and if they felt like they were good with that, we wanted to respect that. But obviously, it would be great to see them again.”
Schwartz also confirmed there will not be new actresses playing Serena and Blair, and the upcoming show is not a remake, but a “continuation of that world.”
Gossip Girl ran for six seasons on U.S. network CW from 2007 to 2012, and also starred Penn Badgley, Chace Crawford, Ed Westwick, Taylor Momsen and Jessica Szohr.
According to Us Weekly, the reboot is expected to take place eight years after the events in the original series.
Joshua Safran is returning as writer and executive producer, while it’s unknown if Kristen Bell, who served as the show’s anonymous narrator, has signed on to the new show.