[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Gossip Girl series finale “I Am Gossip.”]
In a way, the last episode of HBO Max gossip girl It serves as the series finale. But it also ends with a post-credits scene teasing what happens next.
Kate (Tavi Gevinson) is in jail after revealing herself to be Gossip Girl after the teens caught her. Teens look forward to a drama-free life. But what they don’t know is that Roger (Malcolm McDowell) has consulted Jordan (Adam Chanler he Berat) about plans to gossip her girl.
Showrunner Joshua Safran reveals what was cut from the finale and what we’ll see in the third season.
After the news of the cancellation broke, you said you were looking for another home, but you said you didn’t think you would find one. Have your views changed since then?
Joshua Saffron: No, not at all.It’s a very expensive show and it’s time for all networks to cut costs, so I don’t think that’s happening. I think it’s because it fits the economic situation. [plans] Not only in those networks, but also what they want. Two things are happening right now. YA content has been completely removed and cost savings.yes [it’s] Very unlikely.
The finale, for the most part, leaves the group in a pretty good place, and we think it looks to the future without Gossip Girl. , or would it have ended the same way had it been renewed for season 3 at that point?
That was the usual ending.It didn’t seem like it was going to be picked up, so I made some changes, but I was actually removing some of Aaron Dominguez’s character who briefly met Zoya [Whitney Peak], not the other. However, there is a sequence after the credits that some of you may have never seen.
That was my next question.
OK, it was always there to kick off season 3.
What did you cut out of Aaron’s?
Aaron interacted with both Emily [Alyn Lind] and Jordan [Alexander]There was a scene in the last scene where Julian says “I met this guy who just broke up with my boyfriend” and Audrey says “I met this guy at the museum”. Aaron was the enigmatic character who interacted with them all.
Stefano Cristiano Montesi/HBO Max
That post-credits scene hints that Gossip Girl could be back in an even worse way.
Yes, we were going to invent our own app like TikTok. Who’s messing with all the intended confusion that comes with the idea that there are many people in an app and they’re controlling it, when in fact someone else is managing it? can also be used. of that app. It was a lot of fun and I’m sad that it won’t be held.
What effect did it have on the group? I feel like they’re heading towards something drama-free, but this would have been even more drama than they’ve been dealing with.
That was the point.And of course Luna [Zion Moreno] To become a superstar far beyond the realm of Julian and Monet [Savannah Lee Smith] We wanted Season 3 to be even bigger than the previous seasons. HBO Max kindly extended the conference room for us to take a break from the season when we were filming season two. This was some time ago. Many seeds of Season 3 are actually planted throughout Season 2, not just in the finale.
Luna seems to have lived her best life until the end.
Oh yes.
You couldn’t get away from the drama as you wanted, right?
correct. And season 3 was the one where she was cut off from everyone because nobody wanted her because they wanted a piece of her fame, they wanted her to beat her, they wanted her credit for her fame. It would have followed an increase in attempts to stay away. What happens when you become super famous at a young age.
Audrey, Aki (Evan Mock), and Max (Thomas Doherty) didn’t seem to work as a triad, at least not the way they did this season.
yes. They were all endgames in all of our minds as the Triad. It was. Season 3 was meant to continue that storyline.
Who’s with Max at the end? Should we recognize the voice?
No, you’re the only one who asked me that. It’s so funny because I forgot until you said it. There Aaron approaches all four of him: Max, Audrey, Julian and Zoya. So we were leaving the finale, why is this guy pretending to be four different people to get closer to all of our characters? I didn’t want Max to be at the end of the finale.
Kara Howe/HBO Max
By the way, he was still not visible in the cut of the finale before the cancellation. We’ve seen him with his next three, so we can assume it’s probably him. I never saw Aaron’s face in that scene, but slowly, as each scene went on, it was the first scene, so oh, this guy must have been with Max. .
Julian is trying to reunite with his family. why now? Was that part of her story in Season 3?
It would have been the main part. It was a real pleasure to work with Lachanze. She cast Lachanze in hopes of having her big arc with her. What’s interesting is that I also modified that sequence. That scene is now the one that was written and shot, but in the original finale, we deleted a lot of the scene so that you don’t even know who that woman is. did not say She didn’t say, I want to know about her mother. You’re like, “Wait, is that the mother? Is that—?”
Julianne and Zoya never asked or investigated their mother enough. They took what was said for granted and learned a little more about her story in Thanksgiving in Season 1. Julian actually learned more about her mother after shaming her father. I think I want to do. For Season 3, I was going to spend my time learning more about Marion. There was no universe in which she was still alive. It wasn’t a story. The story really opened up that world for Julian and Zoya, learning more about her and her family and why they didn’t know her family.
Julian and Obie (Eli Brown) are back together, and Zoya seems to have a new crush. Is that love triangle over?
Yes definitely.
So was there more focus on Julianne and Zoya figuring things out?
yes. I would have hoped Zoya would tell the story of having this new love interest played by Aaron. Julianne and Obie were meant to be together, but Julian has a discovery about his mother and her mother’s family. Traveled but teamed up to defeat Luna with Monet or get a piece of that action.
Where’s Kate?
prison! Our goal was for her to be in prison and it was for a short time. We had her put out a few episodes and she was going to be interested in seeing what became Gossip Girl and claiming her work.
What is your relationship with Jordan?
Once Jordan turns out to be a multi-millionaire and has nothing, it’s over.
Do you think you would have done anything different if you knew it was only these two seasons?
I would have finished the show perfectly. I hate that the show isn’t over.I hate [with the triad], it seems like what I was trying to say is that polyamory doesn’t work. I think that’s my biggest regret. I couldn’t put the story together. [the stories] It ends well actually.
Gone are the days of network television where a show could be guaranteed to be back in three months, so I’m a big believer in season finales without major cliffhangers. Now, especially on streaming, most shows haven’t returned in over a year for him. So nothing really changed in the way this finale was put together, other than putting the triads together in a better way.
What else could we see in Season 3?
Just a little practical joke. Season 3 definitely had a storyline that really got me excited about bringing parents together in ways the kids didn’t know. This was the element that went first, like Lily. [Kelly Rutherford] and Rufus [Matthew Settle] will gather. There hasn’t been much integration with my parents this season. Obviously, Laura Benanti and Todd Almond’s characters Kiki and Gideon were friends, but there was a bigger story that brought many people together. , I promise it was a very juicy story that had a big impact on children.
Have you seen any other new relationships?
Max actually ended up having a new boyfriend, which was a lot of fun and ended up causing a lot of drama for Aki and Audrey. they were able to get him back. Monet was about to fall in love again.Luna still had Florian [Aaron Quinn Long]was meant to play a bigger role.
