We've officially started rebooting TV shows that only wrapped this decade - with upper-class teen drama Gossip Girl, which only finished in 2012, the latest to be tapped for a second coming.
However, if writer and executive producer Joshua Safran is to be believed, viewers will enjoy a much more diverse lineup of characters this time around.
“There was not a lot of representation the first time around on the show,” Safran said at Vulture Festival, reports Dazed.
“I was the only gay writer I think the entire time I was there.”
“This time around the leads are nonwhite,” Safran continued.
“There’s a lot of queer content on this show. It is very much dealing with the way the world looks now, where wealth and privilege come from, and how you handle that.”
The original Gossip Girl series, which ran for six seasons, featured an overwhelmingly white and heterosexual lineup of characters.
While there was one woman of colour, Vanessa Abrams (played by Jessica Szohr), and one gay character, Eric van der Woodsen (played by Connor Paolo), the show's main characters (Blaire Waldorf, Serena van der Wooden, Chuck Bass, Dan Humphrey, and Nate Archibald) were all white and straight - something Safran is intent on changing.
The creators have previously commented on the show’s lack of diversity, but Safran has gone on record, saying that he regretted having “not as much representation for people of colour and gay story lines”.
It's not yet clear whether any of the show's original cast will be involved in the HBO reboot, but TVLine has reported that Kristen Bell, who voiced Gossip Girl's narration, will return.
