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Jessica Szohr who played Vanessa Abrams on a successful show ‘Gossip Girl’ which premiered ten years ago, is spilling all the tea from the series with her co-stars and creators.

Jessica Szohr in her recent interview with Teen Vogue spilled some tea about her podcast and how it is going to help the audience to know the cast of their beloved show a little more. She explained that she did not want to do rewatch podcast but an interview-style podcast with occasional rewatches and during the interview they will focus on memories and things fans want to know.

In the premiere episode of her podcast ‘XOXO’, Jessica Szohr’s guest was Gossip Girl’s co-creators and executive producers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage where they spoke about how they had cast every actor for their specific role. He revealed how she was finalized for the role of Vanessa Abrams. Josh said, “I was having a [4th of July] party at my house, Steph [Savage] was over. I think you came with Adam Brody [and] we were in the casting process of Vanessa. I opened the front door, you were standing there, [I was like,], ‘Vanessa!’ And found Stephanie. I don’t think we presented it to you at the party [and] let you enjoy yourself. … It was early Internet days!”

Ed Westwick was always meant to be Chuck Bass. Image Source: The Knot News 

During the interview, it was revealed that the audience might have gotten a different Chuck Bass. Explaining this, Josh Schwartz said, “[Ed] was just so cool and so unique. I had never seen a kid like him on a show like this. He got cast as Chuck but then couldn’t get his visa to shoot in the U.S. in time because he was a citizen of the U.K., and they were saying to us, as we got closer and close to the start of the pilot, ‘Guys, you need to figure out who your backup Chuck is going to be.’ … There [was] no backup Chuck, it’s Ed.”

Just like everyone’s expectations, the Chair (Blair and Chuck) were written to be the endgame since the start. Stephanie Savage shared that the stories about Ed and Leighton were super fun to write for and added, “It was really a revelation to watch the end of the first episode and feel like, ‘Oh my God, it’s like Dangerous Liaisons, like, they love each other but they hate each other but they’re going to do schemes together. Such a juicy story to want to lean into.”

Chuck Bass and Blair Waldorf. Image Source: Her Campus 

Josh added to this by sharing, “It was the end of the pilot and those two were standing outside the party watching Dan and Serena and Jenny leave the party, and there was just a connection between them. Obviously, that would evolve over the course of the series. That was immediately just so palpable and fun, their dynamic.” While the audience knows that the voice of Gossip Girl is of actress Kristen Bell what they might not know is initially that actresses Christina Ricci and Selma Blair were ‘in the mix’ to portray the voice of Gossip Girl but finally, they did get Kristen Bell. (Can you imagine someone else as Gossip Girl’s voice?)

During the podcast, Josh also shared that Penn Badgley who played Dan Humprey had long hair and it was like a nightmare for the network to make him look like a young man. Stephanie added, “He showed up on set with his big hair. And that morning, on camera, the first scene we shot was him and Rufus putting up flyers for the Lincoln Hawk concert. And we just brought him into the trailer and they just buzzed all of his hair off. It was like a Brad Pitt head buzz cut of the day.”

Penn Badly was given a Brad Pitt buzz cut on set. Image Source: Mamamia

Jessica shared with Teen Vogue, “It's bringing back all these like warm, fuzzy feelings. We're taking a walk down memory lane. Now I can totally see why this show hit the way it did and why it was a fan favorite and why people thought it was so epic. Not that I didn't see that before, it's just I'm a little bit more removed, and older, and a mom.”

Talking about the backlash, Vanessa had to face all along with the series, the actress mentioned to Teen Vogue, “I feel like she definitely got the short end of the stick, and I do think fans were testy with Vanessa, and that's okay. There were things that deserved that, for what she did, but also when you play someone, you also feel for them. That's probably why I didn't read a bunch of comments because if people are being harsh or weird, I'm not going to spend my time looking at that. For me, not worth my time. I was bringing her to life the best that I could with what was written, and if you didn't like it, then I think I was doing my job.

The cast of Gossip Girl. Image Source: Vanity Fair 

The actress who currently lives in Canada with her husband and daughter shared lastly, “The irony is it’s a Gossip Girl podcast, but I’m not here to gossip about things. We touch on challenges, but it’s a place for people to be able to come and listen, laugh, and get lost. There are episodes I cry, episodes some guests have cried, and we laugh and there’s a lot of feelings.”

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