It’s one of the most anticipated dramas of 2021, but is the Gossip Girl reboot worth the hype and wait?
When we return to the Upper East Side, we are introduced to a fresh new group of students at Constance Billard. There’s queen of Instagram Julien (Jordan Alexander), daughter of music industry mogul; her rich but also good Samaritan boyfriend Obie (Eli Brown); and her minions and/or sidekicks Monet (Savannah Smith) and Luna (Zion Moreno).
Rounding out this crew is Audrey (Emily Alyn Lind), who’s stuck in a boring vanilla relationship with Aki (Evan Mock). Neither is willing to admit that there’s a spark with Aki’s friend Max (Thomas Doherty).
In typical teen drama fashion, Zoya (Whitney Peak) transfers to the school, holding onto a secret that creates an interesting dynamic going forward.
The cast are all having a blast and do a solid job bringing this new era of Upper East Siders to life, but after the first four episodes watched for this review, the standout has to Thomas Doherty, whos’ been given the most interesting stuff to play.
Creator Joshua Safran has a few twists up his sleeve with interesting characters, but the weekly rollout of episodes might play against him as it takes a few episodes to find its feet. While the original series kept the identity of Gossip Girl a secret until the series finale after six seasons, this new series is changing things up and providing answers by the end of the premiere. Will this prove to be a positive change, we shall have to wait to find out…
The new series changes things, but by keeping Kristen Bell at the helm as the voice of our favourite secret exposer, the series reinforces that this is Gossip Girl continuing in a new age and not rebooting the story we all know and love. There’s potential for it be a hit like its predecessor once it gets through its growing pains and finds its footing.
3 Stars
Gossip Girl premieres Today on Binge with a new episode dropping weekly
