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.”
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Gossip Girl is currently streaming on Netflix. Scroll through to read more revelations from Crawford and Badgley’s reunion: