Jude’s teachers deadpans: “A blog-I haven’t seen one of those in years.” Gone are the flip phones, with the latest iPhone models in their stead. While checking out the original Gossip Girl site, one of the Constance-St. About halfway through the first episode, Audrey spouts this gem: “Don’t straight-shame me”-something we would have never heard back in 2007.įor a show whose entire premise is based on surveillance tech, it is a given that more up-to-date technologies must be featured in this 2021 revival. Meanwhile, actress Moreno is openly transgender. Max Wolfe (Thomas Doherty) has two gay fathers and identifies as pansexual, while Aki is bisexual. While GG circa 2007 featured two gay characters, Eric van der Woodsen and Blair’s dad, the 2021 show includes a wider spectrum of sexualities. Meanwhile, actor Evan Mock who plays Aki Menzies is half- Filipino on his mother’s side.īesides ethnicity, the reboot also does a great job with queer representation. The original Gossip Girl had an overwhelming white cast, whereas four of the five main females in the 2021 version are played by actresses with either Mexican-American or African-American ancestries. What the reboot does obviously better is representation of minorities. Max Wolfe (Thomas Doherty) has two gay fathers and is pansexualĬourtesy of HBO Go 2. Half-Filipino Evan Mock plays Aki Menzies (left), who is bisexual. However, there are hints from the actors that their characters will be more fleshed out in future episodes. In the first episode, Monet de Haan (Savannah Smith) and Luna La (Zion Moreno) are simply shown as Julien Calloway’s (Jordan Alexander) minions, with no distinct roles of their own. The name isn’t great, but what’s worse is that a couple of characters inevitably get lost in the shuffle because of the bigger group size. But in the reboot, there is a core group of seven ruling elites called “The Samurai Seven”.
In the original Gossip Girl, there was the non-judging breakfast club of Blair, Serena, Nate, and Chuck.
The Samurai Seven, with Monet de Hann (Savannah Smith) and Luna La (Zion Moreno) two furthest from the right Here are the five main differences between the two shows, and regardless of what you feel about them, I think there’s one thing everyone can agree on: thank god it’s still Kristen Bell saying XOXO, Gossip Girl. This reboot captures many of those key changes, rendering them on screen with self-aware, tongue-in-cheek humour. Although drama and glamour still rule the Upper East Side today, society as a whole has changed noticeably in many ways since the original Gossip Girl’s last episode a decade ago. Then again, comparisons are inevitable, with frequent references made to the OG in the reboot’s first episode. As a diehard fan of the original Gossip Girl, which ran from 2007 to 2012, I couldn’t help comparing the 2021 show to its predecessor.