Here's Where You've Seen The Gossip Girl Reboot Cast Before
You could say they've been spotted.
In the world of Gossip Girl, being recognized is everything. After nearly a decade away, the all-seeing Gossip Girl has logged back in to dish the dirt on a scandalous new group of Upper East Siders. Unfortunately, fans won’t see any familiar faces from the original series, but if you’re a big TV and movie watcher, then you might recognize some of the new stars from their past projects. If you found yourself asking “Where do I know them from?” while watching the new show, the answer may lie in these TV shows and movies starring the Gossip Girl reboot cast.
As with The CW’s original Gossip Girl cast, the reboot features a ton of newcomers to the small screen, many of whom are just breaking into the limelight for the first time thanks to this show. A couple of the new stars are total acting newbies: Both Evan Mock (who plays Aki) and Savannah Lee Smith (who plays Monet) have no acting credits prior to Gossip Girl. That said, a handful of the actors on the show have had some pretty juicy roles before GG in buzzy series and movies — it’s just that you might not have recognized them before now.
1. Whitney Peak in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Zoya is at the center of all the drama on Gossip Girl, which is a welcome change from actor Whitney Peak’s previous roles. Prior to landing the part of Zoya, Peak had a small part in the 2017 Aaron Sorkin movie Molly’s Game along with a one-episode appearances in supernatural CW shows Legends of Tomorrow and iZombie. Most notably, she appeared throughout Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina as Judith Blackwood, the twin daughter of the villainous Father Blackwood. Despite making multiple appearances as Judith, Peak didn’t really get much to do on CAOS, but luckily Gossip Girl is a whole different story for her.
2. Thomas Doherty in High Fidelity
Thomas Doherty is probably one of the most well-known actors in the main cast, thanks to his Disney Channel past. He played Captain Hook’s son Harry Hook in Descendants 2 and Descendants 3, and famously dated his co-star Dove Cameron up until recently. He recurred as the vampire Sebastian on Legacies, and his most high-profile recent role was as a heartthrob singer on Hulu’s High Fidelity reboot.
3. Jordan Alexander in Sacred Lies
Jordan Alexander is the queen bee as Julien in Gossip Girl, which is a significant departure from her past roles. The young actor hasn’t had many big parts prior to landing GG. She starred in a 2016 sports crime drama called Unbury the Biscuit, but her biggest role was her lead part in Season 2 of Facebook Watch’s Sacred Lies. Alexander played a foster child named Elsie who’s desperate for the truth about her parents.
4. Eli Brown in Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists
Eli Brown had the perfect training for starring in an over-the-top teen drama like Gossip Girl: Brown starred in Pretty Little Liars’ short-lived spinoff The Perfectionists, on which he played a young cellist named Dylan who, befitting of the show’s title, is hard on himself when he doesn’t get everything just right. Aside from that role, Brown also starred in the Netflix teen comedy The F**k-It List and the recent Jason Statham action flick Wrath of Man.
5. Emily Alyn Lind in The Babysitter
Emily Alyn Lind may have the most acting experience of the main cast. She got her start as a child actor in soap operas, then garnered some attention for playing the protagonist’s younger self in the ABC thriller Revenge and Shirley Temple in the 2011 biopic J. Edgar. She’s continued to work steadily throughout the years, gaining the most attention for her role in the Netflix horror movies The Babysitter and The Babysitter: Killer Queen.
6. Tavi Gevinson in Scream Queens
As a teen blogger extraordinaire herself, Tavi Gevinson was the perfect choice to replace Dan Humphrey as the new Gossip Girl. Gevinson is best known for her blog-turned-magazine Rookie, which she started when she was 12 and quickly became a sensation for its bold takes on style, pop culture, and feminism. Gossip Girl isn’t Gevinson’s first acting role, though. She’s hit the stage for Broadway productions of The Crucible and Assassins; onscreen, she appeared in the Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Gandolfini romcom Enough Said and the 2017 drama Person to Person. She’s also popped up in several TV shows, including notable guest spots in Scream Queens, The Twilight Zone, and Parenthood.
7. Zión Moreno in Control Z
Zión Moreno’s Gossip Girl character Luna La is a fashion expert, which could be inspired by Moreno’s real life as a supermodel. But that’s not all she’s known for; Moreno has already found success in showbiz, having starred in the Netflix teen drama Control Z, a Netflix show with a lot of similarities to Gossip Girl.
8. Laura Benanti in Younger
The teens may be mostly new faces, but the new Gossip Girl parents are full of acting legends. Anyone even tangentially familiar with Broadway knows Laura Benanti is a powerhouse performer, and she’s sure to bring tons of fun and drama to her role as Audrey’s mom on Gossip Girl. Though she’s best known for her work in the theater, Benanti has done TV tons of times before GG. She had notable roles in Nashville, Supergirl, and Nurse Jackie. Most recently, she reprised her recurring role of power-hungry Quinn Tyler in the final season of Younger.
9. Luke Kirby in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Another experienced thespian, Luke Kirby has appeared on several stages before graduating to Gossip Girl’s penthouse suite as Julien’s famous father, Davis. Kirby has appeared in countless movies and TV shows throughout the past two decades, but fans will probably best recognize him as Midge Maisel’s will-they-won’t-they love interest Lenny Bruce in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
10. Elizabeth Lail in You
Casting Tavi Gevinson as a Gossip Girl was an inspired choice, but the reboot’s most fun bit of casting has to be Elizabeth Lail’s role. Lail has starred in shows like Once Upon a Time and Dead of Summer before, but her buzziest role was as Beck, the object of Joe Goldberg’s obsession in the first season of You. It’s this past role that makes Lail’s appearance in the new Gossip Girl such a fun wink, since her You co-star Penn Badgley was infamously revealed to be the mysterious blogger all along in the original GG finale.
New Gossip Girl episodes release Thursdays on HBO Max.
