More than a decade after Gossip Girl signed off, Leighton Meester and Penn Badgley are reflecting on how their characters’ love lives ultimately turned out and whether fans should feel satisfied with where Blair Waldorf and Dan Humphrey landed by the finale.
During the Feb. 18 episode of Badgley’s podcast Podcrushed, the former costars discussed the endgame romances on the CW hit. Badgley, 39, shared his take on Dan’s arc, saying, “I think he ended up with who he meant to end up with,” referring to Dan’s eventual marriage to Serena van der Woodsen, played by Blake Lively. He added that Blair’s storyline also felt fitting, noting, “And Blair ended up with Chuck. I think they ended up with who they were meant to be with.”
Meester, 39, agreed with her former on-screen love interest, responding, “I think you’re right.”
Although Blair and Dan’s friendship turned romantic in season five a pairing that was embraced by many fans both actors acknowledged that Blair’s heart ultimately belonged to Chuck Bass, portrayed by Ed Westwick. Despite Blair’s many romantic detours, including nearly becoming the Princess of Monaco, her story circled back to the New York elite world she could never quite leave behind.
Penn Badgley’s Reaction to the Gossip Girl Reveal
While Badgley seems content with where Dan’s romantic journey concluded, there was one major storyline he didn’t love: Dan being revealed as Gossip Girl in the season six finale.
Recalling his reaction to the twist on Call Her Daddy last April, Badgley said, “I was in the hair and makeup trailer room. I remember just being like, ‘What the f–k? Huh? I’m trying to math it. It’s tough. Alright.’”
He added that the cast had hoped for a different character to be unmasked as the mysterious narrator. “But they needed it to be a series regular, sorry,” Badgley explained. “They needed it to be one of the core six, otherwise nobody cares.”
Badgley revealed that many of the actors were rooting for Blair’s housekeeper Dorota, played by Zuzanna Szadkowski, to be Gossip Girl instead.
Original Plans for Gossip Girl
The final reveal wasn’t always the plan. Executive producer Joshua Safran previously shared that Serena’s brother, Eric van der Woodsen (Connor Paolo), was initially meant to be Gossip Girl. However, that idea was abandoned after the plot twist leaked to the press.
“I always thought it was Eric until the end of season two, and I even guided it that way,” Safran told Vulture in 2017. “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 — and we realized we couldn’t go down that road anymore, so we abandoned him.”
With the cast now openly reflecting on the show’s biggest twists and romances, it’s clear that while Gossip Girl may be long over, debates about who truly belonged together, and who should’ve been behind the blog are still very much alive.
Source: E! News