Blair Waldorf’s New Gossip Girl Book Gets Early Review From OG Star

The original Gossip Girl series ran from 2007 to 2012 and features a cast of actors known all too well now, including Blake Lively, Penn Badgley, Ed Westwick, Chace Crawford, Leighton Meester, Taylor Momsen, and the late Michelle Trachtenberg. It has since become a cult classic and a culture-defining series for young teens. Since arriving on popular streaming channels, it has achieved major success.

In an interview with ScreenRant‘s Ash Crossan in our SXSW media suite for Basic, Meester spoke about her role in the new film alongside Ashley Park and Taylor John Smith, but also about the news of a new book dedicated to her iconic character Blair Waldorf who has remained a constant source of fashion ideals and witty banter for teens in the early noughties to now. Meester was asked about the upcoming novel, and she stated:

“I think it’s cool. I did read some of it. They sent it to me in advance just so I could, I don’t know, see what’s going on. So, I read like the first seven chapters, and yeah, I think they’re making it, they’re going to release it as a book.”

The book, written by Cecily von Ziegesar, is titled Blair and will be a standalone novel expected to be released in 2027. The original series is already based on the adult novel series of the same name, written by Ziegesar. The books and series follow the lives of wealthy teenagers attending elite private schools on New York City’s Upper East Side. There is an all-knowing presence called Gossip Girl who periodically sends out salacious texts and alerts to the students, which in turn upend their seemingly perfect lives.

The plot of Blair seemingly picks up 20 years after the original series, with the character, now middle-aged, returning to Manhattan in hopes of climbing the social ladder and returning to her elite status from years ago. The original novels actually ended very differently for Blair, who ended up not marrying her long-time love, Chuck Bass (Westwick), and also finishing her schooling at Yale.

Gossip Girl was so popular that HBO attempted a reboot, which was canceled shortly after two seasons. The cancellation was due to an underwhelming viewership and response, with many stating it didn’t feel as promising as the original series. A third-season renewal remains highly unlikely to this day.

Basic premiered at SXSW on March 16.