Kristen Bell will return as the omniscient narrator in the Gossip Girl reboot for streaming service HBO Max. Bell was the voice of the narrator for the original series, based off a series of young adult novels by author Cicely von Ziegesar.
Never seen once, but always heard loud and clear, Bell took viewers for a drama filled ride as she took on the eponymous role of “Gossip Girl” who was the “one and only source into the scandalous lives of Manhattan’s elite.” The original run of Gossip Girl ran for six seasons on the CW from 2007 to 2012. While the show had a large cast of complex characters, the two characters at the heart of the series were sometimes best friends and frequent frenemies Serena Van Der Woodsen (Blake Lively) and Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester.) Bell’s narration would follow Serena and Blair as they navigated the ups and downs of a privileged private school life on the Upper East Side in New York City, as the women intertwined with scandal, men, money and more all while dressed to the nines in the latest fashions.
According to Variety, Bell was officially confirmed to return for the HBO Max reboot as the show’s narrator once again. The reboot will take place eight years after the original series finale and will follow a new cast of affluent teens as they navigate life while under the watchful eye of Gossip Girl herself.
The reboot is in good hands with the show’s original creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage. While no official casting has been announced for the reboot’s main cast, we do have official confirmation that there will be ten hour long episodes. Members of the original cast have yet to confirm or deny if they’ll be returning to the reboot, but with the official premiere date still yet to be announced, a return from the original Upper East Side elite may yet be in the cards.
“The show will explore how much social media and the landscape of New York itself has changed in the intervening years.”
What made the original show so such a delightful guilty pleasure watch was the utter charisma of the main cast. The audience couldn’t help but root for Blair as she fell in love with status, clothes, princes from Monaco, and Chuck Bass time and time again, let alone be bored by Serena Van Der Woodsen, who effortlessly put the “it” in “it girl.” The original show was like watching one of those tabloids on newsstands at the local grocery store, with headlines that draw attention and keep it. It will be interesting to see how the new reboot addresses the impact of the onslaught of social media. Instagram, Facebook and Twitter weren’t particularly as prominent as they are now, and it will be fascinating to watch how the new Gossip Girl will utilize those tools to enhance her fine-tuned sense for scandal.
Source: Variety
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