Hey Upper East Siders, new details about the new Gossip Girl revival have been released - and producer Joshua Safran has confirmed the reboot will be more diverse.
The writer behind the new HBO Max series explained that he was initially hesitant about returning to Constance Billard School and wanted to ensure the new instalment showcased representation on TV.
"There was not a lot of representation the first time around on the show," Safran said at VultureFest. "I was the only gay writer I think the entire time I was there.
"Even when I went to private school in New York in the '90s, the school didn't necessarily reflect what was on Gossip Girl. So, this time around the leads are nonwhite. There's a lot of queer content on this show.
He added: "It is very much dealing with the way the world looks now, where wealth and privilege come from, and how you handle that. The thing I can't say is there is a twist, and that all relates to the twist."
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At the same event, Safran revealed that he had his "heart set on Nate" being Gossip Girl
He revealed: "I like to joke that Dan was Gossip Girl because I had left the show by then. Dan was not my intended Gossip Girl, so honestly, you'd have to ask someone else," he said.
"But, I understand why Dan was Gossip Girl. I just had my heart set on Nate."
Adding: "We worked hard to kind of lay in tiny seeds about it being Eric, and then the NY Post wrote an article saying that Gossip Girl was Eric so we were like, 'We gotta scratch that.'"
"Then...one of the writers realized that Nate had never sent a tip in to Gossip Girl, which is true at least through the end of season five. Nate never sent in a tip in through all of those episodes, which is when we're like, 'Oh, well then he's Gossip Girl.'"
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The new details comes days after it was confirmed that Kristen Bell was returning to her role of narrator for the remake-come-sequel.
They said in a statement: "Kristen Bell has always been and will always be the voice of Gossip Girl."
Kristen acted as the omnipresent voiceover throughout all six seasons of the original series which ran from 2007 to 2012, ending with the big reveal of who the titular character really was.
While many fans debated whether the actress would actually appear and reveal herself as Gossip Girl, the accolade fell to Dan Humphreys, played by Penn Badgely, who most recently starred in Netflix's YOU.
While the revamp will have a little nostalgia with Kristen starring, it will feature an all-new cast of private school teens and their drama.
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"Eight years after the original website went dark, a new generation of New York private school teens are introduced to the social surveillance of Gossip Girl," reported Deadline.
"The prestige series will address just how much social media-and the landscape of New York itself-has changed in the intervening years."
The new 10-part series, which is not based on Cicely von Ziegesar's novels, has original creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage at the helm.
The remake will air sometime in 2020 on HBO Max, a new streaming service launching next year to rival Netflix in the States. However, it is not known whether UK TV lovers will be able to access the US broadcaster's new streaming service.
So keep your ears to the ground, xoxo Gossip Girl.
Featured Image Credit: The CWTopics: TV News, TV Entertainment, Gossip Girl