The ‘Gossip Girl’ Reboot Has Been Delayed, So The Upper East Side Drama Is On Hold

Gossip Girl fans, you're going to have to wait a little longer to head back to the Upper East Side. According to HBO Max, the Gossip Girl reboot’s release date has been pushed back amidst scheduling conflicts due to the coronavirus pandemic. Here's why HBO Max chief content officer Kevin Reilly says it might be a while before the remake heads to the streaming service.

While the new streaming service HBO Max is still scheduled to launch on May 27, Reilly shared that the rebooted Gossip Girl — which was previously scheduled to roll out this fall — has been delayed, in addition to a number of other big projects. According to the service's CCO, the show hasn't even begun filming yet, which means the earliest it would be released would be in 2021. However, he emphasized that that tentative date would be a best case scenario if the cast is able to start production as early as this summer.

"They hadn’t even started production yet; they were in pre-production and ready to roll," he said in Vulture's newsletter Buffering.

Reports about a Gossip Girl reboot featuring an all-new cast of Upper East Side teens as they navigate present-day realities like updated social media and surveillance in Manhattan's elite private school system first started circulating in the summer of 2019. Since then, the show's creators have confirmed that the revival will have 10 episodes in its first season, and original narrator Kristen Bell will be returning to voice Gossip Girl herself.

While the news of the delay is unsurprising considering every TV production is shutting down at the moment, it's disappointing that fans won't be able to pick up eight years after the original show with the reboot. Several other planned HBO Max shows have also been pushed back, such as the highly-anticipated Friends reunion and some other original content.

"Things that would have been really meaningful and high profile have gotten pushed back," Reilly explained.

Despite these unexpected delays, Reilly confirmed that HBO Max will have no shortage of new content when it launches this month, including "30 and 40 scripted and unscripted originals" that will be released by the end of 2020.

Unfortunately, HBO Max has no set release date for when viewers can expect the new Upper East Siders to bring drama and intrigue to the streaming service, but it sounds like fans will have plenty of other content to keep them entertained in the meantime.

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