13 Things You Definitely Didn't Know About Gossip Girl
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It's crazy to imagine that Gossip Girl premiered over 12 years ago.
It took us into the fabulous lives of a group of teenagers as they lived the high life in New York City under the watchful eye of Gossip Girl who documented their lives.
Related: Gossip Girl Reboot: Officially Happening!
Now, thanks to Vanity Fair, the cast and crew have spoken out about some big shockers from the show's early days, and we've rounded up the biggest shockers below for you.
If you want to relive trials and tribulations of Serena and her band of fashionable friends, you can watch Gossip Girl online right here via TV Fanatic.
XOXO,
TV Fanatic
1. Blake Lively Almost Never Signed On
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"We didn't see a lot of other girls for Serena," series creator Josh Schwartz said.
"She has to be somebody that you believe would be sitting in the front row at Fashion Week eventually." Lively later relented after first declining when she was told she could attend Colombia one day a week. It was never put in writing and it sure sounds like Lively did not get to go.
"This is advice to anyone: when they say, 'We promise, but we can't put it in writing,' there's a reason they can't put it in writing," Lively said with a laugh, "But no, the show didn't slow down. It just got more and more."
2. Chace Crawford Did Not Think Leighton Meester Was Right For The Show!
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"I just don't see her as Blair Waldorf. I can't see it," he said of Meester. But he saw it immediately when she got into character, thinking, "That girl can act. She's the perfect girl for this."
Schwartz said, "Obviously; Serena had to be blonde. So, [Leighton] went to the sink and dyed her hair. She wanted it."
3. Who Did Meester Originally Audition To Play?
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"I think it was just the normal, typical pilot season audition for me. I auditioned and then I tested once and then we did a screen test with everybody. And then, that was it ... I dunno. I got it," she said.
4. Did Leighton and Blake Hate Each Other?
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"When we were filming, there was, 'Leighton hates Blake, Blake hates Leighton, everyone hates Blake, everyone hates Leighton, everyone hates Chace,' and blah, blah, blah. It really wasn't," Michelle Trachtenberg said of the energy on set. "We were all chill. It was cool."
5. Were They BFFs?
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According to executive producer Joshua Safran, "Blake and Leighton were not friends. They were friendly, but they were not friends like Serena and Blair. The second they'd be on set together, it's as if they were."
6. Why Did Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner Appear?
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"They did it for the money," Schwartz revealed with a laugh. Yes, we're going to bet he's totally kidding.
7. Blake and Penn Kept Their Split Secret
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"The shocking thing was, I found out on the set of the Season 2 finale that Blake and Penn had broken up months before," Safran said.
"They kept the breakup hidden from the crew, which you could never do now. I don't even know how they did it. They kept it from everybody which is a testament to how good they are as actors. Because they did not want their personal drama to relate to the show."
8. Producers Wanted The Cast Together
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"They wanted us all to date. They wanted us all to wear the same clothes that we're wearing on the show. They wanted that, because then it fed their whole narrative. People could buy into this world."
9. Penn Badgley
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"Penn didn't like being on 'Gossip Girl,' but ... he was Dan. He may not have liked it, but [his character] was the closest to who he was,' Safran said.
10. He Was Not The Only One
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11. Blake Was Ahead of the Game
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"When I think about shooting the L.A. episodes, Blake was dating [DiCaprio] at the time, and she had this thing where she had a doll that she took photos of that she sent to Leo. Blake was way ahead of the curve. It was pre-Instagram. She was documenting her life in photographs in a way that people were not yet doing."
12. Are The Cast Up for a Reunion?
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"If everyone was into it and if the timing was right, you know?," Meester added, "I don't want to say, 'No, never ...'"
13. What About The Creators?
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