Entertainment
Underrated Performances By The Original 'Gossip Girl' Cast
Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley and more in roles you can stream now.
Many of the cast of Gossip Girl were relative unknowns when the popular chronicle of Manhattan’s elite first premiered on The CW in 2007. But it didn’t take long for the actors behind beloved characters like Blair Waldorf and Serena van der Woodsen to skyrocket to A-List Hollywood fame. So naturally, these actors all went on to prosperous careers when the series ended in 2012. Here, we take a look back at some of these stars’ best post-Gossip Girl roles.
Blake Lively in A Simple Favor
If Serena van der Woodsen traded in her Constance-Billard uniform for suits and wide-brimmed hats, she might morph into Emily Nelson. Though Anna Kendrick is undeniably great, Blake Lively is the reason to tune into Paul Feig’s hilariously subversive crime thriller A Simple Favor. (Hulu)
Chace Crawford in The Boys
Nate Archibald may have been rich, but The Deep, Chace Crawford’s well-endowed superhero on Amazon’s Emmy-nominated The Boys, breathes underwater and talks to dolphins. After his unsavory actions in season one, The Deep spends season two atoning by joining a Scientology-like cult. (Amazon Prime)
Penn Badgley in You
In many ways, Joe Goldberg, Penn Badgley’s psychopathic stalker character in Netflix’s You, isn’t too far off from Dan Humphrey, Gossip Girl’s token “Lonely Boy.” Both men think they’re entitled to worlds out of their reach, after all. (But, hey, Dan Humphrey never killed anyone.) (Netflix)
Leighton Meester in The Roommate
Remember Blair Waldorf’s reaction to Jenny Humphrey taking over as Queen Bee? Leighton Meester reprises that story in the over-the-top camp-fest that is The Roommate, but to an even more disturbing degree — and all to win the friendship of a design student played by Minka Kelly. (Amazon Prime)
Connor Paolo in Revenge
Set amongst the Hamptons’ wealthy elite, the deliciously juicy murder soap Revenge is a nice companion piece to Gossip Girl. But where Connor Paolo played the privileged Eric van der Woodsen in the latter, Revenge finds him in the Dan Humphrey role of frustrated outsider. (Hulu)
Ed Westwick in White Gold
If you ever thought the suave Chuck Bass would feel right at home in a quick-moving sitcom, well, so did the creators of White Gold. Here, the handsome Ed Westwick plays a fast-talking immoral window salesman who uses his unmistakable charm to scam unwitting customers. (Netflix)
Kelly Rutherford in Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists
Much like Lily van der Woodsen, Kelly Rutherford’s character in the Pretty Little Liars spinoff The Perfectionists is a wealthy matriarch who rules over her picture-perfect family unit with a well-bejeweled iron fist. When her son turns up dead, she stops at nothing to get justice. (Hulu)
Zuzanna Szadkowski in The Knick
As Blair Waldorf’s maid, Dorota was often the beating heart of many of Gossip Girl’s biggest events. So it’s fitting that Zuzanna Szadkowski went on to play a similarly integral-but-oft-ignored figure — a nurse — in Steven Soderbergh’s uber-stylish medical period piece The Knick. (Hulu)