The reveal of Gossip Girl’s original identity would have been much worse than the true ending

gossip GirlThe big twist in the title character’s identity has been a topic of discussion among fans for years, but the original plan for it would have been even worse. The 2000s were the heyday of teen drama on TV, with shows like The CO and others like Dawson Creek ending during this decade, and one of the most popular is gossip Girl. Created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, gossip Girl was based on the novel series of the same name by Cecily von Ziegessr and took audiences to New York City’s Upper East Side.

There the audience met a peculiar group of privileged teenagers at a prestigious high school, led by best friends Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) and Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester). The drama in their lives came not only from their troubled family dynamics, but also from the so-called “Gossip Girl,” who exposed their scandals and intimate details on a blog. At the end of gossip Girlthe identity of this character was revealed and, as controversial as it was, the original plan would have been much worse.

Gossip Girl was originally going to be Eric Van Der Woodsen – Why it changed to Dan

The original Gossip Girl would have been a much bigger shock

At different points along gossip GirlSerena and the others tried to shut down the title character’s website and discover her identity, but were never successful. It wasn’t until the end of the series gossip Girl that the character was revealed to be Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley), who made this big revelation in his own words, published in The spectator. Despite all the damage she caused as Gossip Girl, Serena still chose to be with Danwhich generated controversy surrounding the big reveal.

gossip Girl being Dan was disappointing and in some parts absurd, even more so because he also revealed that his sister, Jenny (Taylor Momsen), knew this all along, but the identity reveal could have been worse. Talking to Variety In 2021, executive producer Joshua Safran revealed that Gossip Girl’s identity was changed because, Originally, Eric van der Woodsen (Connor Paolo), Serena’s brother, was going to be Gossip Girl.

According to Safran, the character’s identity was changed because Paolo became a regular on another program and became a recurring character on gossip Girlso they started looking for other options (including Dorota and other secondary characters at the school). Nate was even considered, as someone pointed out that he never tipped Gossip Girl, and along with his rocky history with Serena and Blair, it would have made sense. Ultimately, they chose Dan, which, for Safran, makes sense when remembering the series.

Eric being Gossip Girl would have been much more brutal for Serena and Jenny than Dan

Eric’s Gossip Girl Reveal Would Have Created Even More Controversy

Dan Humphrey being Gossip Girl is already bad and controversial, but if it had been Eric, it would have been much worse for the audience and the characters, especially Serena and Jenny. Despite being younger than Serena, Eric was very mature for his age, but that doesn’t mean that he himself didn’t go through a lot of problems, mainly due to loneliness and instability at home. Eric was very supportive of Serena and Jenny and was a source of kindness amid drama and cruelty at school and with friends.

On the other hand, Gossip Girl’s revelations and attacks were quite brutal and created a lot more problems for Serena and the rest, ruining their lives at different points in the series. Gossip Girl’s attacks were the complete opposite of Eric’s kind and understanding nature, and knowing that the same person who supported them and gave them comfort was also the one who ruined their lives online would have been devastating for Serena and Jenny. More, the reasons for Eric being Gossip Girl are unknown.

Dan created Gossip Girl to blend in with his rich peers and win over Serena, who he knew was out of his league. And yet, after learning all of this and after everything he did to her and the rest as Gossip Girl, Serena stayed with him, which is problematic. gossip Girl did well to swap Eric for Dan, but that had many, many flaws.

Source: Variety.