‘Gossip Girl’ reboot will feature more LGBTQ characters, says show’s writer
The original series featured all-white, straight, cisgendered characters
By Steve Brown
Words: Steve Brown
The Gossip Girl reboot will feature more LGBTQ and persons of colour characters, says the show’s writer.
Back in July it was announced that the popular TV series Gossip Girl would be returning to the small screen.
The original series starred the likes of Blake Lively, Ed Westwick, Chace Crawford, Taylor Momsen, Leighton Meester and Penn Badgley.
Although the show was a success, it has been criticised for having a full straight, white, cisgendered cast with only Jessica Szohr as a person of colour and Connor Paolo having a queer storyline.
Now the new series, set eight years after the original show ended, seems to be more determined to reflect the real world of New York, meaning there will be a more diverse cast.
Executive producer and writer of the series, Joshua Safran, is determined to not follow in the same footsteps as the original and said at Vulture Festival: “There was not a lot of representation the first time around on the show.
“I was the only gay writer I think the entire time I was there.
This time around the leads are non-white. There’s a lot of queer content on this show.
“It is very much dealing with the way the world looks now, where wealth and privilege come from, and how you handle that.”