It’s been ten years since we first delved into the scandalous lives of Manhattan’s elite and our Gossip Girl love affair began. It’s undeniably the greatest TV show on earth, and we could happily spend the rest of time burrowed away in our room binge-watching series one to six on loop.
But one thing that’s had us vexed since the 2012 season finale, is the absolute trash bombshell that whiney old Dan Humphrey - played by Penn Badgley - was Gossip Girl all along (apart from that brief moment Georgina Sparks took over).
The ludicrous notion that moody artiste and J.D. Sallinger wannabe Dan doubled as an anonymous teenage gossip blogger, ‘cos he wanted to be part of the gang (WHICH HE WAS VERY MUCH PART OF ALL ALONG), didn’t sit well with us. And now we finally understand why it happened. Kinda.
Gossip Girl was originally supposed to be someone entirely different. That is until some pesky journos at the New York Post came along and ruined everything.
It turns out show bosses’ first choice was actually Eric van der Woodsen (Serena’s younger brother), which makes so much more sense.
"I always thought it was Eric until the end of season two, and I even guided it that way," executive producer Joshua Safran told Vulture.
"But when the New York Post revealed it was Eric – and I still don't know how that happened, I think they were just guessing – we realised we couldn't go down that road anymore, so we abandoned him."
FFS. We’re still not entirely sure why this meant bloody Dan had to take the reins.
Apparently, at one point, the producers even considered making fitlord Nate Archibald the bitchy blogger, which we would have totally been on board with as he had never been shown sending any tips to Gossip Girl.
Alas, Joshua continued to explain that in the end it had to be Dan, as he was ‘a writer, observer, and could write in different styles’. EUGH.
So, we’re just going to gloss over that fact that he basically documented his younger sister losing her virginity. OR that he regularly outed himself as a cheat. OR that on a number of occasions he was technically messaging and sending tips to himself despite not even having a phone anywhere near his person. Can we just not?
In other Gossip Girl news, Jennifer Lawrence auditioned for this major role on the show and was totally devo when she didn't get it.
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Gossip Girl was originally supposed to be set somewhere VERY DIFFERENT to New York