Gossip Girl‘s return will not go beyond its current second season. HBO Max has opted not to order a third season of the reboot, with the upcoming Season 2 finale on January 26 serving as a series finale.
The new Gossip Girl iteration was developed by Joshua Safran based on the bestselling novels by Cecily von Ziegesar and the original hit CW show developed by Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz, who executive produced the reboot alongside showrunner Safran.
“We are very grateful to showrunner/executive producer Joshua Safran, and executive producers Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz for bringing us back to the Upper East Side and all the scandals at Constance Billard,” HBO Max said in a statement. “Although we are not moving forward with a third season of Gossip Girl, we thank them for the enticing love triangles, calculated backstabbing and impeccable fashion this series brought to a new audience.”
The follow-up got off to a hot start in July 2021, setting a record as HBO Max’s most-watched opening weekend for an original series at the time. It was given an early Season 2 renewal ahead of the November 2021 Season 1B premiere. Despite the big initial interest, fueled by fans of the original series, the follow-up could not capture the zeitgeist the way the 2007-12 CW show did. The second season did better with critics than the first, scoring 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating vs. 69% for Season 1.
“It is with the heaviest of hearts that I have to announce Gossip Girl will not be continuing on HBO Max,” Safran said in a message to fans Thursday morning. “Thank you for watching, and I hope you’ll tune into the finale next Thursday to see how it all comes together. xoxo”
Safran, who also worked on the CW series before spearheading the reboot, alluded that this may not be the end for the Gossip Girl franchise.
“A big thank you to all the GG fans around the world. You’re the reason we came back in the first place, and who knows, maybe the reason we will meet again. Much love,” he wrote.
While HBO Max’s slate has been culled over the last six months as part of companywide cost-cutting efforts, Gossip Girl’s cancellation is not believed to be a financial decision but a result of the show not being able to break out the way HBO Max’s revival of another YA series, Pretty Little Liars, has done, for instance.
The new Gossip Girl follows a new generation of New York private school teens who are introduced to the social surveillance of Gossip Girl. The series explores just how much social media — and the landscape of New York itself — has changed in the intervening years. The reboot, which features a diverse cast and queer stories, just landed a GLAAD Award nomination.
The series stars Jordan Alexander, Eli Brown, Thomas Doherty, Tavi Gevinson, Emily Alyn Lind, Evan Mock, Zion Moreno, Whitney Peak, Savannah Lee Smith, Johnathan Fernandez, Adam Chanler-Berat, Todd Almond, Laura Benanti, Grace Duah and Megan Ferguson. The original series’ Kristen Bell is back as the narrator.
Gossip Girl is produced by Fake Empire and Alloy Entertainment in association with Warner Bros. Television and CBS Studios. The series is written, executive produced and developed by Safran of Random Acts. Executive producers also include Schwartz and Savage of Fake Empire, and Leslie Morgenstein and Gina Girolamo of Alloy Entertainment. Lis Rowinski of Fake Empire serves as co-executive producer.
