Gossip Girl was a staple TV show of the late 2000s that entertained and engrossed viewers, but the reboot currently airing on HBO Max does several things much better than the original. Both shows follow a tight-knit group of privileged teenagers attending the elite Constance Billard St. Jude's School. While the original Gossip Girl's central characters often schemed to protect their own and keep out outsiders, the reboot focuses on characters with a moral compass more considerate of others - characters who are privileged and self-aware of this fact.
The Gossip Girl reboot shares with the original the creators Joshua Safran, Stephanie Savage, and Josh Schwartz, who were executive producers on the older show. The setting is identical, as characters from both shows attend the same prestigious school and spend their spare time in fancy apartments and exclusive clubs. Nevertheless, season 1 of the Gossip Girl reboot has introduced an ensemble of protagonists who are not only attuned to the issues their non-uber-rich peers care about but also find themselves struggling with moral quandaries that the original show would've otherwise quickly dismissed.
Zoya (Whitney Peak) and Julien (Jordan Alexander) share the same mother, yet they come from very different worlds. Despite this, they both, in their own way, have deep-seated political beliefs that they respectively fight for. When Zoya realizes Obie (Eli Brown) was involved in the protests against a new development in town, which was a consequence of his parents' business, she immediately volunteers to help him bring food for the protestors. Likewise, when Julien considers aligning herself with a specific brand for her influencer's career, she does not sell her platform to the highest bidder but instead wants to choose the right one - one who won't censor her thoughts. The Gossip Girl reboot's central characters may have luxurious accessories and plenty of wealth, but their moral compass seems to be more easily discerned than the lead protagonists of the original Gossip Girl.
Indeed, the way the reboot depicts their characters' romances and sex lives is more respectful and insightful than the original. Even the Chuck Bass-esque Max (Thomas Doherty) shows fairly quickly where his feelings stand. For example, when he pursues his teacher, Rafa, but changes course when he realizes the teacher had preyed on his students before, and when he accepts that he doesn't only want sex from Audrey (Emily Alyn Lind) and Aki (Evan Mock) but possibly a romantic relationship as well. It's clear that Max, Audrey, and Aki are part of what could potentially be a very successful throuple, a ship that could inflame many fans' hearts. Still, very few popular TV shows successfully portray a polyamorous relationship with the dignity it deserves, and the Gossip Girl reboot seems to have done so right out of the gates in season 1.
Some have argued that the reboot lacks mystery, especially as it's known from episode 1 who the titular "gossip girl" is, while in the original show, learning who it was had been one of the show's long-lasting mysteries - one that's not revealed till the end. However, knowing that Constance Billard's teacher Kate (Tavi Gevinson) had been behind the revival of the myth led to the interesting debate regarding the climate of terror caused by the gossip girl. It was particularly intriguing seeing an anonymous Instagram page led by a teacher promising to spill everybody's secrets - this being one of Kate's central dilemmas. These peculiarities show that the different types of debate the Gossip Girl reboot allows its characters to have onscreen make it a better, more nuanced show than the original.
