Chace Crawford and Penn Badgley's 'GG' Reunion Had It All: 7 Takeaways
Spotted: Lonely Boy and Nate Archibald together again! Former Gossip Girl costars Chace Crawford and Penn Badgley reflected and reminisced about their time on the CW series during a new joint interview.
“It feels like another lifetime to me,” the 33-year-old You star told his former castmate as part of Variety’s Actors on Actors issue, published on Tuesday, June 30. “When I think of being at the Palace [Hotel], that just feels like a different person. It feels like another world, another life. It’s pretty wild.”
Badgley and Crawford, 34, played Dan Humphrey and Nate Archibald, respectively, on Gossip Girl for all six seasons. The drama, which taped in New York City, ran for 121 episodes from 2007 to 2012.
“I think it’s emblematic of our time, because back in 2007 – I mean, dude. That’s a long time ago when we were just boys,” Badgley told Crawford. “People wanted to watch a show like Gossip Girl because it was aspirational. It was like an escape. It seemed like it struck a certain cultural chord because it was this aspirational fantastical vision of excess and wealth. But now, cut to 13 years later, people are not interested in that. And I think rightfully so.”
While the Boys actor agreed, he noted that Gossip Girl was “edgy” at the time.
“I know, man,” he replied. “That’s funny because it really was.”
The series also starred Blake Lively (Serena van der Woodsen), Leighton Meester (Blair Waldorf) and Ed Westwick (Chuck Bass). News broke in 2019 that HBO Max ordered a reboot of the Gossip Girl. The new show will take place eight years after the 2012 finale and follow a new generation of high schoolers living in NYC.
Badgley and Crawford acknowledged the upcoming reboot at the end of their chat as the John Tucker Must Die actor recalled the Palace Hotel naming a sandwich after the show.
“Blake and I went there to eat, it was probably when we were shooting there. They had a grilled cheese sandwich there called ‘The Gossip Girl Grilled Cheese Sandwich,’” Badgley recalled. “And I was like, ‘You should just call it ‘The Gossip Grill.’ And then, he took the menu from me and went inside, changed the name right there, printed a different menu and handed me a new menu with my suggestion. And I was like, ‘OK. This is a way to live.’”
Crawford replied, “The new kids won’t get that treatment.”
Badgley isn’t sure what to expect, but he’s going to be tuning in. “Dude, I’m so interested to see what it’s like. I wish them well,” he quipped. “I really am also interested to see how people react to it.”
Gossip Girl is currently streaming on Netflix. Scroll through to read more revelations from Crawford and Badgley’s reunion:
Badgley admitted that he revisited the show when he started dating now-wife Domino Kirke, whom he married in 2017.
“I know that I watched with my wife, with Domino, before we got married. It must’ve been six months after we met. She had never seen it, and that’s the last time I can remember seeing an episode,” he explained. “I remember even then, it has nothing to do with the show, but it was very hard to watch. These snapshots of yourself when you’re 20, 21, 22 years old. Who can enjoy that? Sometimes it’s just uncomfortable.”
Crawford, for his part, hasn’t tuned in recently.
“Buddy, you have to strap me to a gurney and pop my eyes open like Clockwork Orange,” he joked. “But no, it would be interesting to see the first couple maybe.”
Andrew Eccles/Cw Network/Kobal/Shutterstock
While Crawford said he doesn’t typically watch his own work, he would revisit Gossip Girl if Badgley watched with him.
“So to go back and open that time capsule, I think there would be some nostalgic value. We’re doing that when you come to L.A. We’ll have a drink,” he said.
The Netflix star agreed, “A little watching party. Dude, if we live-tweet a viewing of any episode of Gossip Girl, people would love that.”
Andrew Eccles/Cw Network/Kobal/Shutterstock
Many fans of the drama were confused when Badgley’s Dan was revealed to be the anonymous blogger in the series finale.
“It’s interesting that regardless of my performance, the fact that it’s simply me, just one of the main characters of the show called Gossip Girl, and I ended up being Gossip Girl — even though we can debate about whether or not that makes sense,” Badgley said. “And we can debate about whether or not Dan is even really a male lead in the show, because the heart of the show was somewhere else.”
Crawford has a similar opinion. “At the end of Gossip Girl the show, whatever your reaction is on whether it was smart to do that or not, that he’s Gossip Girl — it didn’t really line up with the character of Dan. Right?” he asked.
Variety
Badgley currently plays Joe Goldberg on Netflix’s thriller You. Both actors acknowledged the similarities between Joe and Dan.
“[On You] playing this guy Joe, and it makes a lot of sense in a way. The funny thing is I didn’t get excited to be like, ‘Oh, this is such a different and interesting take on a similar vibe.’ I was, if anything, too self-conscious about that, and I was inclined to be like, ‘This is quite different.’ But in a way, it’s almost like Dan, just with bloody hands,” Badgley said.
Crawford noted that Joe is “like an odd continuation of Dan.”
Beth Dubber/Netflix
While discussing how social media has changed since the 2007 premiere, Badgley revealed that Lively actually gave him his first iPhone. The duo dated during seasons 1 and 2 of the series.
“Remember, ’07 was when the very first iPhone came out. I remember you got it,” Crawford recalled. “I remember you had it at a Halloween party. You had the first iPhone, and think about that now. I remember we were more about camera phones and this and that. There wasn’t social media.”
Badgley responded, “Blake got me that. I literally was like, ‘I don’t want this thing. It’s so cumbersome, and it has all these apps on it.’”
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Badgley noted that Twitter should “give credit to Gossip Girl” for some of the social media app’s success.
“It was ahead of its time,” Crawford replied. “It really tapped into something interesting on the cusp of it all changing. I’m like, ‘Why would I want to put my life out there? I’m trying to crawl into my hermit shell. I’m a Cancer.’ But now we’re all partaking. It’s part of the business.”
The two actors then realized that they didn’t follow each other on the app.
“We should follow each other,” Badgley said. “We could have had Rihanna-level followers. Actually, that’s probably not true. I’ve always tried to be both transparent and forthcoming and grateful of the way Gossip Girl positioned me to be in a role like this and for it to have the particular effect that it has.”
Variety
“I felt like our scenes, in particular, were the only ones I tried to work it in. I think some of the most fun moments are in the Nate and Dan scenes,” Crawford said. He also recalled his character punching his dad (Sam Robards) outside of the Palace hotel during season 1.
“Nate was such a tough character because you were such the straight guy,” Badgley responded. “It was kind of like he was so perfect that he only had anywhere to go but down.”
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