Gossip Girl: The Next Generation? How TV Shows Rebooted With New Casts

A new version of the fan-favorite teen soap is coming to HBO Max, but it's not the first time a series restarted with new characters

By Chris Harnick Jul 18, 2019 3:07 PMTags
Gossip Girl Cast, 2007Andrew Eccles / The CW

Spotted on HBO Max: A Gossip Girl reboot following a brand-new group of rich private school kids in New York City. This new generation falls under the watchful eye of a mysterious blogger (Who is definitely not Dan Humphrey this time around, right? Because that'd be really weird, even weirder than him turning out to be the original Gossip Girl), eight years after the original Gossip Girl blog went dark.

The new Gossip Girl, which got a 10-episode straight-to-series order and has original writers and producers Joshua Safran, Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage on board, will examine how much social media—and the landscape of New York City—has changed since the original series ended. Reboots are all the rage in the world of TV, and one spotlighting a new generation is nothing new.

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There's no word on whether any of the original cast will appear in the new series, but the description indicates Gossip Girl, the blog and the show, existed before the reboot, leaving the door open for the likes of Serena van der Woodsen, Blair Waldorf, Chuck Bass and Nate Archibald to return.

See how other shows have been brought back with a new generation.

Saved By the Bell: The New Class

Technically billed as a spinoff, this Saturday morning series ran for seven seasons and followed a new batch of students at Bayside High School. The show had the same concept of the original series but updated its cast list quite a bit through its seven-season run. Dennis Haskins returned as Principal Richard Belding, Dustin Diamond reprised his role of Screech starting in the second season.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Literally called The Next Generation, Patrick Stewart's Star Trek series followed the same basic format as the original Star Trek—a Starfleet ship full of folks going out to explore the cosmos, "to boldly go where no one has gone before." There have been numerous other shows set in the Star Trek world, including CBS All Access' Star Trek: Discovery.

Fuller House

Netflix's sequel series/Full House reboot lasted five seasons and followed original series characters DJ Tanner-Fuller (Candace Cameron Bure), Kimmy Gibbler (Andrea Barber) and Stephanie Tanner (Jodie Sweetin), as well as introducing a new generation of Tanner and Gibblers to the San Francisco home. The show's premise was almost exactly the same as the original: Stephanie and Kimmy moved in with DJ to help her raise her family after the death of her husband. Many original Full House cast members, save Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen, returned to Fuller House.

Girl Meets World

The Disney Channel sequel series followed Riley (Rowan Blanchard), the daughter of original series characters Cory (Ben Savage) and Topanga (Danielle Fishel). Throughout the three-season run, characters from Boy Meets world made appearances.

90210

Not to be confused with Fox's BH90210 (which features the original Beverly Hills, 90210 cast playing versions of themselves staging a revival of Beverly Hills, 90210), The CW's 90210 followed the lives of wealthy students attending West Beverly Hills High School, like the original series. Originally, the show followed the Wilson family, recent transplants (like the Walsh family before them). Original cast members including Jennie Garth, Shannen Doherty and Tori Spelling appeared in the first season, but the show eventually moved away from relying on veterans. 90210 ran for five seasons.

Melrose Place

Less successful than 90210, The CW tried its hand at a Melrose Place reboot featuring a new crop of young folks moving into the Melrose Place apartment complex. Cast members included Ashlee Simpson, Katie Cassidy and Colin Egglesfield, with appearances from original stars Heather Locklear, Daphne Zuniga, Josie Bissett and Thomas Calabro.

Heroes Reborn

Set years after the events of the original series and created by Heroes creator Tim Kring, the miniseries stuck to the concept of the first season of the original show: ordinary people discover they have extraordinary powers. Jack Coleman from the original series tied the threads together and the miniseries featured appearances from Heroes veterans including Masi Oka, Cristine Rose, Greg Grunberg, Sendhil Ramamurthy and more.

Knight Rider

Justin Bruening starred Mike Traceur—the estranged son of Michael Knight—who eventually adopts his father's last name. David Hasselhoff starred in the 1982 series of the same name as Michael Knight, a crime-fighter who had an artificially intelligent car, KITT. The new series, which lasted just a season and had Meghan Markle as a guest star, also had a new version of KITT.

Mission: Impossible

The original series ran from 1966-1973 (yes, it was a TV series before it was a Tom Cruise movie franchise), and was rebooted in 1988 with original series star Peter Graves alongside a new generation of IMF agents. It lasted just two seasons.