BLAKE, LEIGHTON & PENN!
Where the original Gossip Girl cast is now as reboot drops steamy first episode
HBO Max is getting ready to release the steamy first episode of its Gossip Girl reboot on Thursday, giving fans a closer look at its all new cast.
After nine years away from our screens, the Upper East Siders are back, but seeing this all new set of characters has made many wonder what the original Gossip Girl cast has been up to since the CW show came to an end.
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Here's what the stars of the original show have been busy with since its final episode in 2012...
Blake Lively
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Since the end of her time as Gossip Girl's Serena van der Woodsen, Blake Lively, 33, has certainly been busy.
The star has made her way to the big screen with appearances in The Shallows (2016), A Simple Favour (2018) and The Rhythm Section (2020) and is one half of a Hollywood power couple through her marriage to Ryan Reynolds.
The talented actress, who takes her rightful place among Hollywood royalty, has also ventured outside of acting, becoming the new face of L'Oreal in October 2013.
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Speaking on her marriage to Ryan Reynolds, whom she met whilst filming Green Lantern, the mother of three told People: “My husband and I don’t work at the same time, so we all go together as a family.
"If we’re away as a family, it’s never more than for a day. We stay together.”
Blake and Ryan share three daughters together: James, six, Inez, four, and Betty, one.
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Leighton Meester
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Leighton Meester, 35, played Blair Waldorf, "Queen B" of the Upper East Side and best friend to Serena, appearing in every episode of the series.
She went on to star alongside Adam Sandler in That's My Boy, but the film was a box office failure and received largely negative reviews.
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In 2014, Leighton married actor Adam Brody, whom she met while filming The Oranges in March 2010.
The couple also starred together in the 2014 romantic dramedy Life Partners, which also featured actress Gillian Jacobs
Leighton and Adam share a son and daughter together.
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The stars latest movie role was in Semper Fi, a thriller about a police officer in the Marine Corps Reserve, but it failed to find success at the box office.
However, Leighton has announced that she will be returning to movies, with a role in Netflix's The Weekend Away.
On the TV side of things, the actress showed off her comedic chops on the ABC sitcom Single Parents, which lasted for two seasons from 2018 to 2020.
Penn Badgley
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Penn played Dan 'Lonely Boy' Humphrey, the sensitive poet and on-again, off-again boyfriend of Serena van der Woodsen.
The 34-year-old actor has gone on to see a huge amount of success in his career since the show, starring as stalker and murderer Joe Goldberg in hit Netflix series You.
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The third series of You is due to be released later this year. Penn also won critical acclaim for his role in Margin Call (2011), earning himself an Independent Spirit Award.
The star's talents go beyond acting as he is also the lead singer of band MOTHXR, with the band having released its debut album in 2016.
Penn married singer Domino Kirke in 2014 and became a stepfather to Domino's son Cassius. The pair welcomed the birth of their son in August 2020.
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Chace Crawford
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Chace played Nate Archibald, best friend to Chuck Bass and a heartthrob who was seen in a numerous amount of unsuccessful relationships throughout the show.
Chace is still best known for playing the attractive Upper East Sider but has worked on plenty of other projects, starring in What to Expect When You're Expecting (2012) and the short-lived ABC drama, Blood & Oil.
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Crawford also starred in 2020 thriller The Inheritance opposite Simon Pegg and Lily Collins, but the film received generally negative reviews.
Chace told The Independent in an interview that he felt disconnected from Gossip Girl during his time on the show, saying: "[I] had no idea what was going on in any other storyline, because I just didn’t care."
He now stars on Amazon Prime Video's alternative superhero series, The Boys, as The Deep.
Ed Westwick
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English actor Ed Westwick played bad boy Chuck Bass, who had an on-again off-again relationship with Blair Waldorf, before marrying her in the series finale.
Critics have looked back on Westwick's character, saying that the misogynistic exploits of Chuck were glamourised and glossed over.
An article in Refinery 29 that discussed a scene where Chuck is seen exploiting drunk women, stated: "Showing sexual assault as a real risk in teenage girls' lives is very different from glossing it over as just something that happens at a party, only to be forgotten the second it's convenient for that character's arc."
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Since his time on the show, Westwick has been pretty busy, starring in Chalet Girl with Felicity Jones and TV series White Gold.
In 2017, the actor was accused of rape by two women and sexual assault by another, which he vehemently denied.
He did not face any charges as courts deemed there was insufficient evidence.
Earlier this year, Ed starred in the comedy-thriller Me You Madness, which was written and directed by Steven Mnuchin's wife Louise Linton, who also co-starred in the flick.
Taylor Momsen
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Taylor Momsen took on the role of Jenny Humphrey, who idolised Serena and Blair, and was the sister of Dan Humphrey.
Taylor's Gossip Girl role was not her acting debut however, as the star played the part of Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) alongside Jim Carrey.
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Since the show wrapped, Taylor has been focused on her music career and is the frontwoman of the rock band The Pretty Reckless.
Momsen told Digital Spy: "Acting is easy. I've been doing it for so long and I totally love it. But you're playing a character instead of yourself.
"Music is more personal because you're writing it and you're involved in every step of it."
The Pretty Reckless released their latest album Death by Rock and Roll in February 2021.
Jessica Szohr
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Jessica Szohr starred on Gossip Girl as Dan's Brooklyn friend Vanessa Abrams, who was originally supposed to be a recurring character but ended up as a series regular.
Although she was not part of the CW show's fifth season, she returned for a cameo in the series finale.
The 36-year-old actress went on to land a slew of other TV projects in the years since, including stints on both USA's short-lived Complications and the Nick Jonas MMA series Kingdom in 2015.
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She also appeared in a few episodes of Twin Peaks in 2017 and had a recurring role on Shameless for a couple years.
On Fox's The Orville, Jessica portrayed Lt. Talla Keyali, alongside stars Seth MacFarlane and Adrianne Palicki.
On the movie front, she worked on projects like The Internship (2013), Lucky in Love (2014), and Ted 2 (2015).
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In January, the actress welcomed her first child, daughter Bowie Ella Richardson, with her partner Brad Richardson.
The Gossip Girl reboot premieres with episode 1 on HBO Max on Thursday.
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