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Gossip Girl " showrunner Joshua Safran spoke to Insider about season one of the HBO Max series. - Safran said that he would happily do five or six seasons of the show.
"Gossip Girl" showrunner Joshua Safran said that he could see the HBO Max teen drama sustaining itself for several more seasons.
"In my mind, I would happily do five or six seasons of the show," Safran told Insider in an interview ahead of the release of the season one finale on Thursday. "I think that the characters really can support it. The world is so much larger than the first one even. And the first one made it to 121 episodes, you know?"
The original "Gossip Girl" series, which starred Blake Lively and Leighton Meester as frenemies named Serena van der Woodsen and Blair Waldorf, lasted for six seasons on The CW.
Safran served as an executive producer of the show and currently helms the continuation series that premiered on HBO Max in July 2021. It was renewed for a second season a couple of months later.
The new show is set nine years after the original Gossip Girl blog, run by Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley), went dark.
The new series maintains many elements of its beloved predecessor — like returning narrator Kristen Bell as the voice of GG — but also deviates and makes changes to keep up with Gen-Z.
From the get-go, viewers are made aware of the identity of the new Gossip Girl, this time spilling secrets about a new generation of students at Constance Billard and St. Jude's via an Instagram account, rather than a blog.
And whereas the original series was criticized for its lack of diversity and representation, the current show's cast is comprised of characters with varying backgrounds and identities.
The number of series regulars and supporting characters on the HBO series is also significantly larger than the original series, allowing for substantial character development over season one and multiple storylines woven together.
The final three episodes of season one of "Gossip Girl" will be released on Thursday on HBO Max.