What The Gossip Girl Cast Looks Like Today
The 2000s were a prime time for primetime teen soaps — and after the success of "The O.C.," creator Josh Schwartz switched coasts with "Gossip Girl." Adapted from the series of satirical novels by Cecily von Ziegesar, "Gossip Girl" depicted, as its intro says, "the scandalous lives of Manhattan's elite." Led by a cast of impossibly beautiful actors well beyond their teenage years (for the most part), the series watched as those elite, wealthy teens got into all sorts of scrapes. And as the show continued, it leaned into its strangest impulses, marrying off one character to a prince of Monaco and bringing an evil dad back from the dead (among other wild storylines). The show did return for an HBO Max reboot in 2021, but it didn't fare as well as the original.
So what made "Gossip Girl" different from other teen dramas? It's right there in the title. Throughout the show, the central group of New York trust fund babies are stalked by a mysterious online entity known only as Gossip Girl, who reports on all of their various wrongdoings. Uncovering Gossip Girl's identity is a narrative throughline that pops up every now and again throughout the show (though we'll get to the somewhat unsatisfying answer later), but really, audiences just got a kick out of watching unbelievably privileged teenagers be really, really mean to each other.
So what about that impossibly beautiful cast? What do they look like now? Still pretty good, honestly.
Blake Lively brought the role of Serena van der Woodsen to life
In "Gossip Girl," the main inciting incident is Serena van der Woodsen's return to New York City amidst mysterious circumstances. Played by Blake Lively, the former queen bee who left Manhattan for boarding school makes a splash when she comes back, ruffling her former best friend's feathers and catching the attention of more than a few lovelorn guys. Serena is, in many respects, an agent of chaos; as a beautiful and rich young woman, she possesses a wild amount of power but doesn't seem to realize that half of the time. Throughout the show, she frequently tangles with her best friend, Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), goes back and forth between a number of suitors that include Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford) and Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley), has affairs with teachers and married men alike, and claims she once killed a guy. (She didn't, actually.)
Blake Lively's post-"Gossip Girl" career has been pretty impressive, even putting aside her high-profile marriage to "Deadpool" star Ryan Reynolds. Lively has shown up in mostly movies since getting her start on TV, appearing in flicks like "The Town," "The Age of Adaline," "The Shallows," and the campy noir thriller, "A Simple Favor." In 2022, she made her directorial debut by helming her friend Taylor Swift's music video for "I Bet You Think About Me."
Leighton Meester starred as queen bee Blair Waldorf
Serena's best friend and rival Blair Waldorf, as played by Leighton Meester, is an on-screen force to be reckoned with. The queen bee of the Upper East Side, a style maven, and the brief Princess of Monaco, Blair is one of television's most iconic characters, from her signature headbands to her near-constant schemes to her razor-sharp comebacks. Despite sometimes clashing with Serena — whose effortless charm and style often makes Blair feel inferior and lash out — she'll do anything for her best friend, and her on-again, off-again relationship with high schooler turned hotel tycoon Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick) makes for some pretty compelling television. Above all, Blair is perhaps the first person on television to definitively declare that tights are not pants.
Meester, who dyed her natural blonde hair brown to claim the role of Blair, returned to television in 2018 for the comedy "Single Parents," where she appeared alongside Taran Killam and Brad Garrett. In 2022, she starred in the original Netflix thriller "The Weekend Away," playing a woman who vacations with her best friend in Croatia and then has to investigate that friend's sudden disappearance. Most of the time, though, Meester stays out of the spotlight, quietly raising a family with her husband Adam Brody. As it happens, Brody originated the role of Seth Cohen in "The O.C.," also created by original "Gossip Girl" showrunner Josh Schwartz.
Ed Westwick created a catchphrase playing Chuck Bass
You can't talk about Blair Waldorf without discussing her troubled paramour Chuck Bass. Played by British actor Ed Westwick, the "bad boy" of the series starts things off as a total antagonist, but partway through Season 1, the writers clearly noticed that Leighton Meester and Westwick had an irresistible chemistry together. From there, Blair and Chuck became the central couple of the show, overshadowing any of Serena's romantic exploits, as the two were drawn together, and then drawn apart, and then... Well, you get it.
Chuck might seem like a brooding, angry teenager who ends up purchasing a Manhattan hotel before he can even legally drink, but underneath his father issues and damaged exterior, he genuinely loves Blair. He also goes to great lengths to protect other people he loves, like his stepmother, Lily van der Woodsen (Kelly Rutherford), and his best friend, Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford).
While starring on "Gossip Girl," Westwick managed to appear in movies like "J. Edgar," and shortly after, he played supporting roles in 2013's "Romeo & Juliet" adaptation and the 2015 horror comedy "Freaks of Nature." As far as Westwick's television career goes, he led the British series "White Gold," which ran for two seasons and was acquired by Netflix. These days, Westwick works with his band, For You, and their first single, "Tailspin," came out in January 2023.
Penn Badgley's Dan Humphrey was pulling the strings all along
When Gossip Girl is unmasked at the end of the series, it's revealed that Dan Humphrey — Penn Badgley's lonely boy, who's largely shunned by his peers for the crime of being from Brooklyn before it was cool — is the anonymous blogger. To be honest, this revelation doesn't really hold water; Dan spends a strange amount of time in the show's early seasons reacting to Gossip Girl "blasts" while he's alone in a room, for example. Still, as the series tries to explain in the series finale, Gossip Girl is Dan, and he made the website to transform himself into the "ultimate insider" when cool kids like Serena, Blair, and Chuck wouldn't allow him into the inner circle. For his pains, Dan gets to marry Serena, a girl whom he relentlessly cyber-bullied throughout both high school and college.
In so many ways, "Gossip Girl" uniquely prepared Badgley for his next big role — the leading role of Joe Goldberg in the wildly popular Netflix original series "You." An experienced cyber stalker who throws murder into the mix, Joe fixates on various girls throughout both the United States and the United Kingdom, leaving a bloody trail in his wake. Outside of "You," Badgley also hosts the podcast "Podcrushed," where he sits down with various celebrities to talk about their middle school years — including his former co-stars Leighton Meester and Taylor Momsen.
Chace Crawford played the handsome, privileged Nate Archibald
When you think of a typical wealthy New York prep school guy, someone who looks exactly like Chace Crawford's Nate Archibald probably comes to mind. When "Gossip Girl" starts, Nate's future is already settled for him by his parents: he'll marry and attend Dartmouth, just like his father did before him. Nate ultimately breaks free of his parents' expectations, though, and after Blair ends up with his best friend, Chuck, he dates everyone from Vanessa (Jessica Szohr) to Serena to older women played by Mädchen Amik and Elizabeth Hurley. By the time the show wraps up, Nate owns the fictional New York newspaper The Spectator, because basically all of the characters on "Gossip Girl" end up buying a business before their 25th birthday.
If you recognize Crawford, but you're not exactly the target audience for "Gossip Girl," it's probably because you're a fan of Amazon's deliciously bloody original series "The Boys." Since the series started in 2019, Crawford has played Kevin Moskowitz, a superhero known as The Deep, who serves as a part of the powerful superhero team known as the Seven. Much like Aquaman in the DC universe, Kevin often goes overlooked by his peers due mostly to the fact that they find his underwater powers pretty silly, but fans of "The Boys" know Crawford is responsible for some of the show's most over-the-top scenes. (One word, three syllables: "octopus.")
Michelle Trachtenberg leaned into Georgina Sparks' worst instincts — and returned for the reboot
"Gossip Girl" is full of evil schemers, but one schemer always manages to rise above the fray: Georgina Sparks, played by "Harriet the Spy" veteran Michelle Trachtenberg. Introduced in Season 1 as a supporting player who decides to torment Serena just for fun, Georgina's multiple reappearances throughout the series always indicate that something huge and ridiculous is about to go down. Perhaps the funniest part about Georgina is how little is really known about her. At various points throughout the show, she's sent to a far-right religious boot camp, bribes New York University to become Blair's evil roommate, becomes Gossip Girl for a brief period, claims she's the mother of Dan's baby, speaks Russian semi-fluently, and works as Dan's agent when he tries to sell his book. If there's one thing you need to know about Georgina Sparks, it's that there are many layers to her.
The most important thing that "Gossip Girl" fans need to know is that Trachtenberg is one of the only actors from the original series to return for the 2021 Max reboot. Georgina returns and is ready to scheme in the reboot, where she tortures new characters like teacher Kate Keller (Tavi Gevinson). The reboot was canceled in 2023, but if "Gossip Girl" gets another go-around, it feels pretty likely that Trachtenberg — and Georgina — will return.
Jessica Szohr joined the Star Trek universe after Gossip Girl
Dan Humphrey might bill himself as the biggest outsider on "Gossip Girl," but his best friend-turned-sometimes girlfriend, Vanessa Abrams (Jessica Szohr), is even more out of place on the Upper East Side. A boho-chic girl with a video camera and a sarcastic streak, Vanessa runs afoul of pretty much every member of Manhattan's aforementioned elite, especially Blair Waldorf. Somehow, though, Vanessa sticks around for a lot of the story, joining the main crew as most of them attend New York University (without ever actually attending classes) and briefly dating Dan before he ends up with Serena in the end. After an argument with Dan at the end of Season 4, Vanessa sends out her former friend's unpublished manuscript — one that's a thinly veiled portrait of his upper-crust friends — and moves away to Spain.
Szohr has kept pretty busy since "Gossip Girl," though she did make a small cameo in the series finale where she expressed shock that Gossip Girl was her ex-boyfriend. After showing up in the music video for Taylor Swift's 2013 single "22," Szohr appeared on the series "Kingdom" for five episodes, and followed that with a three-episode arc on the 2017 Showtime revival of "Twin Peaks." The actress began her role in Seth Macfarlane's "Star Trek"-inspired series, "The Orville," in its second season, playing Talla Keyali.
Taylor Momsen moved on to the music industry
Of all the actors in the original "Gossip Girl," the only one even close to the age of their character was Taylor Momsen, who originated the role of Jenny Humphrey at just 14 years old. Primarily known for playing Cindy Lou Who in Jim Carrey's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," Momsen brought a youthful, sweet energy to Jenny. Dan's younger sister, Jenny, wants nothing more than to run with the popular kids of the Upper East Side. As she gets more involved with Blair, though, Jenny realizes the darkness it takes to succeed as "queen," and largely turns her attention to fashion design, working to become a legitimate designer and showing obvious talent. After some pretty insidious schemes and an ill-advised one-night stand with Chuck Bass, Jenny leaves Manhattan for good in Season 4 — but, like Vanessa, she reappears in the series finale and apparently works for Blair's company, Waldorf Designs.
Despite her start as a child actor, Momsen left acting behind after "Gossip Girl" and pursued her real passion: music. Her band, The Pretty Reckless, started its run together in 2009 while Momsen was still on "Gossip Girl," and she's continued touring and recording with them ever since as their frontwoman, lead vocalist, and lead guitarist.
Sebastian Stan is a major part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Sometimes, the extremely privileged characters on "Gossip Girl" dream of abandoning their financial security and running away to pursue a more "authentic" life. And when we first meet Sebastian Stan's Carter Baizen, that's exactly what he's done. However, the fact that he immediately grifts Nate Archibald during a game of poker betrays his mission just a little bit.
Much like Georgina Sparks, Carter pops up every now and then to cause chaos, dating both Serena and Blair and helping the latter find her estranged father, William van der Woodsen (Billy Baldwin). The character only appears in a total of eleven episodes throughout the series, but "Gossip Girl" fans understand the weight of Carter Baizen's name and reputation.
Stan, of course, has been a staple of the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2011, when he first showed up as Bucky Barnes in "Captain America: The First Avenger." In that movie's sequel, he played the titular role of the Winter Soldier and appeared in crossover movies like "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame," plus a few post-credits scenes for "Ant-Man" and "Black Panther." In 2021, Stan starred alongside Anthony Mackie in the MCU original series "Falcon and the Winter Soldier," and he's also popped up in director Craig Gillespie's movies "I, Tonya" and "Dumb Money."
Kristen Bell is a beloved small-screen staple
Kristen Bell is only seen once on-screen during "Gossip Girl," but she's an integral part of the series — because she voices the title character. Throughout every single episode of the show, Bell's dulcet tones read Gossip Girl's e-blasts and musings aloud over the action, whether Blair is wedding a prince with a pronounced lisp or Chuck is participating in a bizarre "Eyes Wide Shut" style adventure that may or may not have something to do with his birth mother.
So, how exactly does Bell appear in person? She plays herself, alongside Rachel Bilson, in the finale as they both audition for an adaptation of Dan's in-universe book, "Inside." When they — somewhat inexplicably — get word that Dan is Gossip Girl, Bell breaks the fourth wall and winks directly at the camera. Honestly? It's great.
Bell is, of course, one of the most recognizable television stars of her generation. After rising to fame and acclaim on her own teen drama series, "Veronica Mars," Bell voiced Gossip Girl on the original — and the reboot — while also finding time to show up in movies like "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and Disney's "Frozen" franchise. Bell's most recent high-profile TV role, though, is her starring turn in Michael Schur's afterlife comedy, "The Good Place."