These 11 Actors Were Almost Cast In Gossip Girl

Over a decade after Gossip Girl ended, it’s clear that the CW drama had the ultimate cast. But back when the show first aired in 2007, the Gossip Girl’s stars weren’t A-listers they are now. In fact, producers and casting directors made a point to casting relatively unknown actors so they could fully embody the “essence of the show.”

“That is the fun of doing movies or TV shows for people this age: You really do get to discover people,” Josh Schwartz, one of the show’s co-creators, told HuffPost about casting for shows like Gossip Girl and The O.C. “It’s really about finding people that are bringing something new to this kind of part. People who are making it feel real and true. Then it's about trying to foster that chemistry. But you really want to make sure everyone is bringing a different color, flavor and tone, and that's what helps fill out the ensemble.”

Before the show cast Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley, Chace Crawford, and Ed Westwick to play the ensemble of New York socialites, there were some other recognizable faces in the running. From Jennifer Lawrence to Ashley Olsen, here is every actor who auditioned for parts in Gossip Girl.

Jennifer Lawrence as Serena van der Woodsen

“We did not realize this at the time, but Jennifer Lawrence really wanted to play Serena and auditioned,” Schwartz told Vulture in 2017. “This story came to us secondhand, but we were told she definitely auditioned and was bummed to not get it.”

Schwartz didn’t even remember watching her audition. “We can’t remember if we saw it or not,” he added at the time. “It was ten years ago, and she would’ve been how old, 15?”

Lily Collins as Jenny Humphrey

Lily Collins went out for the part of Little J, aka Jenny Humphrey. “I wanted it so badly,” she told Glamour in 2016. “Everything happens for a reason.”

“I remember the screen test for Gossip Girl was on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank," Collins added. "I was about 17 or 18 years old at the time. I remember driving onto the lot and going, 'Oh my God. This is surreal.'"

Greta Gerwig as Eva Coupeau

Greta Gerwig *almost* played opposite Ed Westwick. The Barbie director auditioned for the role of Eva Coupeau, Chuck’s French girlfriend in Season 4.

"I have had moments when I was starting out when I was auditioning for things like Gossip Girl," she said in a HuffPost Live interview in 2015. “They would look at me like, ‘Why are you wearing overalls to this audition?’ And I'd be like, ‘They said she was from a farm!’ and they would be like, ‘Well, this is Gossip Girl.’”

She added, “There were moments like that, where I didn't fit what they wanted. But I always wanted to be part of them. I wish they had wanted me.”

Ashley Olsen as Blair Waldorf

Queen B could have been played by Ashley Olsen. “I think the network initially pitched us Ashley Olsen and Rumer Willis for Blair and Serena,” David Rapaport, Gossip Girl’s casting director, told BuzzFeed.

He also explained casting Leighton Meester instead. “Leighton is a little bit colder than Blake but I like that ... Leighton wasn't a b*tch when she came in, but she wasn't overly nice or overly generous. She was professional and she did the job and played the role well, and what I liked about her is that she owned who she was,” he said. “She wasn't going to kiss everyone's ass and that was very Blair.”

Rumer Willis as Serena van der Woodsen

Rapaport also explained why they didn’t go with Rumer Willis, either. “I love Rumer, she's grown into quite an amazing actress and person, but that, to me, was based on protecting the investment of a television show where creatively, these lesser-known girls really captured the essence of the show and carried it for six years,” he told BuzzFeed.

Willis remembered the audition in a 2015 interview with People, per Entertainment Tonight. “I felt like I did an awful audition back then,” she said at the time. “I was so young and it was, like, one of the first things I'd ever auditioned for.”

"My sisters and I were huge fans of the books – huge, huge fans so I remember we were just so excited when they said they were doing a TV show," she continued.

Willis also responded to Rapaport’s comments. “That's so crazy — it's pretty cool," she said. “Blake and Leighton did an incredible job.”

Betty Gilpin as a Teacher

Betty Glipin auditioned for Gossip Girl when she was a theater student at Fordham University. “I have a picture somewhere of the waiting room hallway, and there were 50 of us, like, all sitting in the tightest dresses possible, just staring into space,” she explained on a May 2023 episode of The Awardist podcast. “I was wearing mismatched Converse and teal, wide-leg movement pants, and purple wizard sleeves. My hair unbrushed, no makeup. Just being like, 'I'm here to make art and inhabit the character of Gossip Girl.’”

She got a callback for the role of a teacher, not a student. “They were like, 'Your portrayal of a very disturbed woman makes you seem 45 years old,' even though I was 21 or whatever at the time," she said. “They were like, 'You can come back as, like, the haunted teacher.' And in the email, they were like, 'Please come back wearing makeup, a different outfit, and high heels,' in bold bullet points... and then, of course, did not get the part."

Penn Badgley as Chuck Bass

Penn Badgley wasn’t initially interested in working on Gossip Girl. Apparently, the actor was disillusioned with television acting at that point after having several CW projects get canceled after about one season.

“The reason I turned [Gossip Girl] down initially was because I was just frustrated. I was frustrated, and I was broke, and I was depressed, and I was like, I cannot do that again. I can’t,” Badgley told Vulture in 2012. “And then they couldn’t find anybody for it — which is weird, because a million people could play Dan Humphrey — and she came back around, I was about to get a job as a waiter, and I was like, ‘OK.’ You know?”

Badgley also revealed he originally wanted to play a different character on the show. “When I first started, my ego wanted to play Chuck Bass,” he added.

Ed Westwick as Nate Archibald

Ed Westwick was the perfect Chuck Bass, but that wasn’t the only role he was in the running for. During an interview on the XOXO Podcast with Jess Schor (who played Vanessa), Westwick shared that he read for Nate Archibald as well.

“When I auditioned for Chace’s part as well, it was obvious that they liked me more for the Chuck role,” he said in the February 2022 podcast episode. “It was a much more interesting role. I was having more fun with it. That was the one that resonated. So they were like, just stick with the Chuck role.”

Mischa Barton as Georgina Sparks

Apparently, Mischa Barton was nearly cast as pot-stirrer Georgina Sparks. Back in 2008, New York Magazine wrote about the rumors. Apparently, the speculation started at Gawker. Then, TVLine confirmed the casting before Us Weekly got word from sources that Barton was offered the part, but passed on it.

Selma Blair as the Voiceover

Selma Blair was being considered for the voiceover in Gossip Girl before casting went with Kristen Bell. “I think Selma Blair was in the mix,” Stephanie Savage, the show’s producer, said on the XOXO Podcast in January 2022. “She had [done] Cruel Intentions.”

Christina Ricci as the Voiceover

Christina Ricci was also in the running for the voiceover. “Christina Ricci read the audio books. So she was in the mix,” Savage added on the XOXO Podcast.