Who Is Gossip Girl? Revisiting the Controversial Final Reveal — and Who the Creators Originally Wanted It to Be

Hey, Upper Eastsiders. Gossip Girl it was spotted again on Netflix.

All six seasons of the hit teen drama, created by Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz and based on the young adult novel series by Cecily von Ziegesar, became available to stream on the platform in October 2024.

Gossip Girlwhich ran from 2007 to 2012, follows “it girl” Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) and her wealthy New York clique — Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester); Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick); and Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford) — as an anonymous blogger using the pseudonym “Gossip Girl” posts their every naughty move.

The true identity of Gossip Girl, narrated by Kristen Bell, is not revealed until the final season when viewers learn that Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley) has been secretly stirring the pot for 121 episodes.

But according to executive producer Joshua Safrano, it wasn’t meant to be Dan. Two more characters were in the running for Gossip Girl – until New York Post reported that one of the characters could be a mysterious blogger and the creative team had to change the plan.

Here’s everything you need to know about the big one Gossip Girl season 6 also reveals who the almost titular character was.

Who was Gossip Girl in the end?

Penn Badgley in “Gossip Girl”.

Giovanni Rufino/The CW/Courtesy Everett Collection

Fans learned who followed New York’s elite during the series finale Gossip Girl. In one last blog, Dan revealed that he is a Gossip Girl.

“The Upper East Side was like something out of Fitzgerald or Thackeray. Membership in this community was so elite that you couldn’t buy your way in. It was a birthright. A birthright I didn’t have and my greatest achievements would never have earned me,” he wrote.

“All I had to compare this world to was what I read in books. But it gave me an idea. If I hadn’t been born into this world, maybe I could have entered it,” Dan explained.

He then described how he started a website where people could submit tips – gossip about the rich who treated the city as their own playground.

“Within a few weeks I got dozens of emails with stories about Upper Eastsiders. So I posted them anonymously. Before long it was a monster,” Dan wrote. “When Serena came home from boarding school, I wrote my first post about me. Lonely Boy. Outsider. Underdog. I may have been a joke, but at least people were talking about me.”

Who is Gossip Girl the creators originally want to be the title character?

Connor Paolo in “Gossip Girl”.

Charles Sykes/Shutterstock

According to Safran’s remarks on Sup Festival 2019, “Dan was not my intended Gossip Girl.”

“We worked hard to kind of plant a little seed that it was Eric [van der Woodsen]and then New York Post he wrote an article saying Gossip Girl was Eric so we said, ‘We have to scratch that,'” Safran explained.

The producers then turned to Nate, given that Crawford’s character had never tipped off Gossip Girl. After 85 episodes, Safran left the show, and in the end it was decided that Dan would become an anonymous blogger.

“I like to joke that Dan was Gossip Girl because I had already left the show by then,” added Safran. “But I understand why Dan was a Gossip Girl. I just fell in love with Nate.”

While talking to Sup two years before, Safran noted that Badgely’s character is “a writer [and] watcher” capable of mimicking different voices, making Dan a fitting choice.

What clues pointed to Dan Humphrey being a Gossip Girl?

Penn Badgley in “Gossip Girl”.

Eric Liebowitz/The CW

Although Dan wasn’t cast as Gossip Girl until deep into the series, there were several signs that the anonymous blogger was actually an outcast from Brooklyn. Surprisingly, most of the Easter eggs popped up in the pilot episode, which helped the producers in the long run.

Dan was the only major character at Grand Central Station when Serena returned to NYC, and later in the episode, Badgley’s character made a big point by claiming that he had never even heard of the blog, let alone read it.

Perhaps the most obvious clue is when Dan talks to Rufus Humphrey (Matthew Settle) and suggests his dad “save some trees” [and] start a blog,” instead of promoting his band’s next gig using posters.

What did Penn Badgley say about being a Gossip Girl?

Penn Badgley.

Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty

Many fans were disappointed when they found out that the person behind Gossip Girl is Dan. Would viewers be happier if they didn’t know the true identity of Gossip Girl? That was the original plan, said Šafran Vanity Fair in 2021

“We didn’t expect to find out who Gossip Girl is. It wasn’t even in our plans for many years,” he explained. “So of course it doesn’t match because we didn’t start on day one and say, ‘It’s Gossip Girl Day.’ ”

Just like fans, Badgley was surprised by the big reveal. In 2013, he told HuffPost that Savage kept him in the dark until the filming of the series finale. He later told PEOPLE, “It worked enough feeling. He was a writer.”

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Source: HIS Education