"Did you miss me? I know I've missed you."
Gossip Girl is back in the first full trailer for HBO Max's revival of the glitzy 00s teen soap, complete with the perfect Frank Ocean needle drop. Kristen Bell, the original's impeccably smarmy voice of Gossip Girl herself (or *sigh* himself), returns to remind you in those familiar insinuating tones that while the cast might be new (and significantly less white than the old gang), the super-rich-kid problems and power struggles of Upper East Side teens promise to be as dramatic and delectable as ever. And this time, they're playing out — where else? — on Instagram.
"Privilege and power will always win in the end," intones one character. Is this a hint that the show's 2021 incarnation might actually acknowledge concepts like class in ways that go beyond, say, characters who live in a massive Brooklyn loft being constantly mocked for being "poor"? Hard to say — but while Constance Billard's students may be more woke, they don't seem to have become any nicer, or any less thirsty, in the nine years since the original GG shut down.
Gossip Girl premieres on HBO Max on July 8.
