Gossip Girl Reboot Cast: Meet the Stars of the New HBO Max Series

Greetings, Upper East Siders — the time for Gossip Girl reboot cast news is nigh, and we're ready to divulge everything.

The series officially has a premiere date after months of anticipation: Thursday, July 8 is when the show's first episode will hit HBO Max. (Original network The CW will also air the premiere on July 9.) While the cast and creators have shared the new show isn't technically a reboot, we will see a return to the Upper East Side and notorious fictional private school Constance Billiard. Plus, this time around the showrunner is Joshua Safran, who was a writer on the original series; also returning are costume designer Eric Daman, and OG hair and makeup team Amy Tagliamonti and Jen Johnson. And guess who's coming back to voice the titular Gossip Girl? Kristen Bell, of course — and she's already teased “a big twist” at the end of episode one.

On March 2, Deadline revealed the first cast member (Emily Alyn Lind) for the upcoming reimagining of The CW's iconic drama Gossip Girl. But we've since learned more about the cast as a whole, and you'll definitely recognize some of these young stars who are on their way to Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley, or Blake Lively status.

Check out all the new Gossip Girl cast, and learn more about the upcoming Gossip Girl reboot on HBO Max below.

Jordan Alexander as Julien Calloway

Canadian actor Jordan Alexander is ready to step into the spotlight. Her character Julien Calloway was described by the official Gossip Girl social media account in one word: “Influence.”

"Julien has this effortlessness about her that causes people to listen and pay attention and want to do what she does,” Jordan told W Mag recently about her Gossip Girl character. “That is the essence of her character. She’s navigating that pedestal in a way that I think will be interesting for the target audience, being that most of them will have grown up on social media and have had the pressures of a lot of eyes on them.”

In the show, Julien is at the center of the narrative — she's Constance's queen bee, though a potential rival/new best friend is on the horizon in the form of her half-sister Zoya (Whitney Peak). Will blood be thicker than expensive green juice on the Met steps?

Like several of her castmates, Jordan is also a musician who previously has opened for Kehlani and worked with Carly Rae Jepsen. Her previous acting credits include the Facebook Watch show Sacred Lies, which she starred in alongside GG costar Emily Alyn Lind, and the short series Unbury the Biscuit.

Whitney Peak as Zoya Lott

If you're up to date on your Chilling Adventures of Sabrina binge-watching, you might recognize Whitney Peak, who played Judith Blackwood in several episodes of part 3 of the Netflix show.

The 17-year-old actor, who was born in Uganda and grew up in Vancouver, has only a few roles on IMDb, but they're all pretty notable. Her credits include the Academy Award-nominated film Molly's Game, in which she played Stella, and she also had a small role in the show iZombie. According to IMDb, Whitney is also a competitive dancer, and she's also a new brand ambassador for Chanel.

In the new Gossip Girl, we'll see her take center stage as Zoya, a Constance newbie whose only acquaintance is her half-sister Julien. Much like previous outsider Jenny Humphrey, Zoya is still figuring out the social rules — and games she must play — to survive on the Upper East Side.

“A lot of things she’s experiencing I’ve already had a taste of,” Whitney told Rolling Stone recently. “Being an outsider in a new world and having to decide if you’re going to stick to your morals or try to change yourself to fit in, to make the adjustment less painful.”

Emily Alyn Lind as Audrey Hope

As previously reported, 19-year-old Emily Alyn Lind is one of the leads of the forthcoming Gossip Girl. The experienced American actor (whose mom Barbara Alyn Woods starred in fellow iconic drama One Tree Hill!) has appeared in Doctor Sleep, Revenge and The Babysitter, and she also starred in Sacred Lies alongside Jordan Alexander. Fittingly for GG, Emily is also a singer who has posted covers and photos of herself playing guitar on Instagram (big Rufus Humphrey vibes, honestly).

In the new Gossip Girl, Emily will play a character named Audrey, who has some Blair Waldorfian qualities right off the bat. “Her friends really, really obsess over social media. But Audrey is more into the finer things, like classical literature or going to the best restaurant when she goes to Paris," Emily told Who What Wear recently. "If she's going to go to Paris, then she's going to go to all the best museums. It's not even the fact that they're super expensive but the fact that she wants to be cultured. I guess you could say she was born in the wrong era, and her friends love that about her. Or at least, they accept that about her. She really moves through life in a way that you would see Grace Kelly or something, you know? But don't let that fool you, though, because she has a bad side as well.”

Emily shared her casting news on Instagram, telling her 115,000 followers, "See u soon upper east side, xoxo ;)." Plus, she already has the support of her mom, who wrote "SOOOOO GOOOOOD!!!! Xoxoxoxo!!!" and fellow One Tree Hill star Chad Michael Murray, who added, "CONGRATS EM!!! You rockstar!"

Zión Moreno as Luna La

Texas-born model and actor Zión Moreno's former Instagram bio read, "I like writing bad poetry. I act sometimes." But that "sometimes" is about to change, since she's now in the Gossip Girl ensemble cast.

Zión plays Luna, part of Julien's ruling crew and a character who loves to stir up trouble. A self-proclaimed Serena van der Woodsen fan, she's excited that Luna sometimes channels the character's style.

“She is a stylist, and she's one of Julien Calloway's best friends. So she acts as her style right hand, if you will, and she helps her just look good. She's a really fun role to play. She's all things fashion, and she's very talented and really, really funny in her delusion of how the world works, too,” she told Who What Wear. “I think that, out of all the characters, her style is much more related to Serena from the original, which is fun for me because, you know, I loved Serena's style. Luna just has these amazing outfits that are genuinely fun to wear.”

Zión's acting credits include the show Claws for TNT, as well as appearances in several of singer Melanie Martinez's music videos for her project K-12, per IMDb. On Instagram, Zión looks the part of the model/influencer, she seems to love Paris almost as much as Blair Waldorf, and she clearly isn't afraid to poke a little fun at the concept of Instagram vs. reality. Chic!

Savannah Lee Smith as Monet de Haan

Newcomer Savannah Smith rounds out Gossip Girl's central clique trio as Julien's other lady-in-waiting. The actor, whose casting was announced on April 1, is currently an acting student at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Deadline reports. Her part in Gossip Girl is reportedly her first booking, which seems like a pretty great first gig.

As Monet de Haan, Savannah is clever and quick to plan devious schemes with Luna to keep Julien on top, where she belongs. But Savannah is excited for her first big role to be one that's important for representation and inclusive storytelling, particularly given the original series' largely straight, white stars.

“It’s already a dream to be able to be a part of this project, but on top of that I get to be a part of a greater responsibility that I feel as a Black, bisexual woman in the media," she told Wonderland. “It’s important for everyone to see Black bodies and Black female bodies and people of colour in positions of power, and positions of wealth and status. It’s just as important to see everyone in those positions and I feel like when you start to level out the playing field then we can start to see some real change.”

Like much of the cast, she's also a musician, telling Wonderland she grew up in a family of musicians that played jazz all the time when she was younger. We'll be anticipating her future album!

Thomas Doherty as Max Wolfe

Thomas Doherty is another familiar face in the new Gossip Girl series. The 24-year-old Scottish actor is likely best known for his Disney Channel work — he acted in Descendants 2 and 3 as Harry Hook.

But recently, the trained dancer has moved into various other projects, including Hulu's Catherine the Great (starring Elle Fanning) and High Fidelity (starring Zoe Kravitz), as well as a role in Vampire Diaries spinoff Legacies. Seeing him expand his repertoire in the Gossip Girl reboot... well, let's just say we're thrilled.

Thomas's Max Wolfe is sort of in the vein of Chuck Bass, though he actually understands consent. In a teaser video, the Gossip Girl Instagram account described him as “debonaire,” a “man about town,” and a "habitual pleasure seeker." But will Max's heedless hedonism get him into trouble with the new Gossip Girl?

Evan Mock as Akeno “Aki” Menzies

Model, surfer, and skateboarder Evan Mock has a unique entry point to his Gossip Girl role: Josh Safran used his photo as inspiration for the character he plays even before he joined the project.

The 24-year-old grew up in Hawaii, and kickstarted his career with admiration for Frank Ocean, who shared a video he made on social media. Evan has since modeled for Louis Vuitton, Saint Laurent, Calvin Klein, and more. Gossip Girl is his first major acting role.

In the series, he plays Aki, boyfriend to Emily Alyn Lind's Audrey. Aki is also figuring out his gender and sexuality, and where his relationship to Audrey fits into that. “Me and my girlfriend in the show are super into this dude, Max, and we have a threesome. It’s pretty lit,” he told Mr. Porter magazine about his character. “I’m not actually gay in real life, but the character is… I guess… bisexual. I had to make out with [co-star] Thomas [Doherty] and I feel like I’m playing the character, but, for my personal life, I’m also seeing if I like it or not.”

Eli Brown as Otto “Obie” Bergmann IV

Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists stans, where are you? The Freeform series was sadly short-lived, but it did help launch the career of Eli Brown, who played Dylan Walker on the show. Now, he's joining the cast of another beloved, reimagined teen series: Gossip Girl.

As Otto, Eli plays a Dan-Nate combo, wealthy and privileged but with somewhat of a good heart. “He tries to give back and goes to support the workers striking at big corporations by bringing them doughnuts and coffee, but he doesn’t realize he went out to a fundraiser dinner the night before and spent $2500 just to show up,” he told W about Obie. “It’s like, dude, if you took that money and gave it to a solid cause, you’d be doing so much more. He’s stuck in limbo—he thinks he’s helping, but he’s not, really.”

21-year-old Eli, who is originally from Oregon, had his first big credit on The Perfectionists, but he's gone on to appear in a few episodes of Netflix's Spinning Out and acts in films like The F**k-It List and Run Hide Fight. In addition to acting, he's a singer-songwriter... so we'll be awaiting his collabs with the rest of the cast.

Tavi Gevinson as Kate Keller

In a case of life imitating art, Rookie magazine founder/fashion influencer/actress Tavi Gevinson has been added to the Gossip Girl reboot cast. An IRL socialite for the fashionable literary set, 23-year-old Tavi started her career as a preteen, when she founded her own blog, Style Rookie. That turned into the iconic Rookie, which closed in 2018 after seven years of inspiring young people to engage in fashion and pop culture on their own terms.

Aside from her media ambitions, Tavi has also moved into acting; she appeared in Ryan Murphy's Scream Queens, had a part in Parenthood, and also starred in Broadway's The Crucible with Saoirse Ronan. Most recently, she voice-acted the Gossip Girl-vibey fashion blogger Helena St. Tessero in Ezra Koenig's Neo Yokio anime series for Netflix.

Last fall, Tavi mused on the effect of Instagram on her own career in an essay for The Cut, which lends itself well to the idea for the new Gossip Girl as a show that "looks at how social media has changed" since the original series. As Kate Keller, she plays one of the young teachers at Constance, in a unique position to see the high school drama from a different perspective.

She also told Teen Vogue about how the show unpacks the social media age we live in now. “When you think about when the original was on, and Gossip Girl was a blog where people sent tips, voyeurism online is a million times more extreme now,” she said. “I think that… it is just so hard to say this without giving anything away... it's how rapidly public opinion can shift now. How people can use social media to infringe on people’s privacy, or hold people accountable. What it means for so many more people to have a platform, and to have access to people who they admire or who they think should be held accountable for whatever position they occupy in the world. All of these things are going on in the reimagining.”

Jason Gotay as Rafa Caparros

Thirty-year-old Jason Gotay is a Broadway alum with major acting chops. A New York City native, Gotay studied at Marymount Manhattan College before making his way to Broadway, where's he performed in Bring It On and Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark. Meanwhile, his onscreen credits include a broadcast of Peter Pan Live!

On Instagram, Jason's bio reads, "Actor/Singer/Teacher/Peanut Butter enthusiast," and we can't wait to see which of those skills (in addition to acting) Jason will get to bring to the screen in Gossip Girl. In the series, he plays a classics teacher at Constance who finds himself embroiled in drama with one Max Wolfe.

Johnathan Fernandez as Zoya's Dad

Brooklyn-born Johnathan Fernandez already has a stacked career in comedy — you probably recognize him from role on Lethal Weapon, where he played Bernard for three seasons, but he's also appeared in Girls, Younger, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and so much more. The 46-year-old actor also acts in the new Togetherish, where he's opposite Ed Helms and Patti Harrison.

In Gossip Girl, he plays Zoya's father, another outsider figuring out where he fits into GG's ecosystem (think Rufus Humphrey). “I mean, it’s just like so layered,” he said of the reboot in an interview with Nerds of Color. “I really feel in a pretty deep level, like a visceral level, when I finish an episode and I’m just like, “I can’t believe it’s all one episode.” Like so much stuff happens. Every single character is doing something, you find out more stuff about them, and they have something to do with the overall wheel of the entire show. It’s every episode you feel like you just ran a marathon and it just gets juicer, juicer, and juicer. It’s wild.”

On Instagram, Johnathan describes himself with the words "Acting, Fashion, Fitness, Motorcycle" and revealed he styles himself — surely a trait Blair Waldorf would love.

Laura Benanti as Audrey's Mom

Laura Benanti, a Tony-winning performer who recently starred in Younger as Quinn Tyler, joins the cast as Audrey's chaotic mother.

“I think so much has shifted in that time, you know?” Laura told The Nerds of Color at the premiere. “Instagram and social media, that’s a huge part of it. But also the awareness of privilege, which I think we can still have fun with this rich world, but I appreciate that the majority of the kids are sort of aware of their privilege in this and some are conflicted about it. It feels like it has a grounding to it that I appreciate.”

Adam Chanler-Berat

Adam Chanler-Berat is a New York state native and theater veteran who originated the roles of Henry in Next to Normal, Peter in Peter and the Starcatcher, and Nino in Amélie.

In addition to his stage work, he's also acted on film and TV, most recently in Gossip Girl writer Josh Safran's Netflix series Soundtrack, so the GG ties are strong. His other credits include smaller parts in Law & Order, Veep, and Elementary.

In the new series, Adam plays one of the teachers at Constance alongside Tavi Gevinson's Kate. “I have to be very coy with you about my character, but what I can tell you is that he’s a teacher and that there is a sort of parallel storyline with the teachers and kids; they’re very much connected, but they kind of run parallel to each other,” Adam told The Nerds of Color at the Gossip Girl premiere. “I’m going to leave it at that. He’s lovelorn, loves technology, and is a tech wiz.”

Megan Ferguson as Wendy

Another teacher at Constance, Megan Ferguson is a veteran actor who has appeared in Safran's Soundtrack, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Casual. 

Rana Roy

Rounding out the clique of teachers is Rana Roy, who plays another Constance educator who gossips with Kate Keller and company. The British actor has appeared in The Blacklist, Life Sentence, and Switched at Birth.

Elizabeth Lail

While Elizabeth Lail's character isn't in the first episode of Gossip Girl, fans will soon find out where she comes in to the narrative. You'll recognize her for her memorable turn as the ill-fated Guinevere Beck in YOU, who truly deserved better.

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Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue