Kristen Bell Returning for New Gossip Girl Series on HBO Max

Many of the upcoming streaming services are banking on nostalgia to bring in new subscribers once they launch. From Disney+ to Peacock to HBO Max, nearly all of these services have announced the production of rebooted or reimagined versions of already popular properties. Disney+ has made a follow-up series to the High School Musical franchise, NBC’s Peacock is working on a sequel to Saved by the Bell, and HBO Max has an updated Gossip Girl on the way. All three will lean on the power of their original franchises, with some even bringing old their old stars back for another around. The new Gossip Girl falls into that category.

It was confirmed on Thursday that Kristen Bell would be returning as the narrator for the Gossip Girl update on HBO Max, reprising her role from the first series. Bell and WarnerMedia were reportedly working on a deal for months ahead of her signing on to the project. Bell narrated all 121 episodes of Gossip Girl on The CW and appeared on-screen in a brief cameo in the series finale.

Creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage will also be returning to the world of Gossip Girl, developing the new series alongside former showrunner Josh Safran. The trio will executive produce while Safran is set to write the 10-episode series.

“Kristen Bell has always been and will always been the voice of Gossip Girl,” Schwartz and Savage said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.

The Gossip Girl is being described as an extension of the original Gossip Girl, and it will take place 10 years after the first “website” was shut down. This show will focus on a new generation of private school teenagers in New York and will address how much things have changed since the original, particularly when it comes to social media.

HBO Max will launch in May 2020 and will cost $15 per month. However, there has been no word as to when the Gossip Girl series will be released, and if it will be one of the launch day titles for the service. HBO Max will be the streaming home of popular sitcoms Friends and The Big Bang Theory.

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