This article contains spoilers. 

1. Max Wolfe: Chuck Bass

Max (Thomas Dorthey), cunning and carefree, is most like season 1 (minus the Pilot episode) Chuck Bass. Max is confident and unabashedly himself and tends to go looking for trouble. His family issues find him often looking for distractions and spending a lot of time partying. Even though he is often gallivanting through the Upper East Side, he is also there for his friends and is seen to be just as considerate as he is reckless when it comes to his friend group. Unlike Chuck, Max is pansexual. This is one of the many occasions this reboot has prevailed in representing other identities. Dorthey’s portrayal as Max is one of the strongest performances in the entire cast, making him one of the most enjoyable characters to watch. 

1. Julien Calloway: Serena Van Der Woodsen 

Julien (Jordan Alexander) is the ‘It girl’ and one of the notorious influencers of both her school and the Upper East Side, sharing many similarities to Serena Van Der Woodsen of the original series. Her father is a Grammy-winning record producer, and she is regarded highly as one of the elites. Serena and Julien both have good intentions, the tendency to see the best in people, and overall bright personalities. So far in the series, Julien’s main flaw is that her good nature is often disregarded because of conflicts revolving jealousy, faltering relationships, and familial drama. It is then when her self-destructive and troublesome antics start to play out, reminiscent of the OG Gossip Girl. Throughout the first few episodes, Julien is continuously humbled for her misguided actions, and she takes on the consequences of her misjudgments very publicly. She is different in many ways from Serena in the fact that her morals are much more apparent early on.

1. Monet De Hann: Georgina Sparks/ Blair Waldorf 

Monet (Savannah Lee Smith) is the school’s mean girl. She is sneaky, manipulative, and unabashedly conniving through it all. Like Georgina Sparks and Blair Waldorf, Monet knows that she is mean, and that people are intimated by her, so she leans into that part of her personality. Similarly to Luna, we have yet to see much of her home life, but these few episodes have positioned Monet to be at the forefront of plot lines in future episodes. Besides Gossip Girl, Monet is the main driving force behind some of the biggest climaxes of each episode, so at the very least her character is proven to be necessary. 

1. Zoya Lott: Dan/Jenny Humphrey 

Zoya Lott (Whitney Peak) is the outsider who starts to find her way in. Half-sisters with Julien, she begins attending the same school as her sister, and the rest of the elite at Constance Billiard. Zoya is from Buffalo, New York and similarly to Dan and Jenny Humphrey’s experience, the minor geographical and financial discrepancies make all the difference in how they are seen. Although excited to meet each other on the first day of school, tensions quickly arise between Julien and Zoya. Zoya both resents the Upper East Side lifestyle and is also sucked into its charms. It is apparent from the episodes so far that Zoya is much more levelheaded than her older counterparts, but her naively regarding her new life often gets the better of her. She is not the most immediately captivating character compared to her counterparts and that is due to most of her current conflicts being underwhelming; however, she and her sister are at the center of Gossip Girl’s attention so there is most likely more to be revealed. 

1. Aki Menzies: Eric Van Der Woodsen/Nate Archibald 

Aki (Evan Mock) is laid back and easygoing. He tends to be a voice of reason in and often brings a leveled head when dealing with the melodrama; in these ways, he is similar to Eric Van Der Woodsen. He is dating Audrey and best friends with Max and always provides his support or advice in their plans. Aki is a decent character based on what has been shown up to this point. He is more reserved than the rest of the crew, but in the final few episodes, he begins to come into his own a little more. It will be interesting to watch his character unfold. 

1. Audrey Hope: Blair Waldorf 

Audrey (Emily Alyn Lind) shares many parallels with Blair Waldorf. Audrey’s closest friend is Julien and although compassionate and considerate of her friends, she is the opposite toward everyone else. She is a cold, exclusionist, and judgmental person and she is seemingly aware of it. Like most of the other characters, Audrey, too, has family issues: her mother and father have split up causing her mother to be estranged from her life. As well as that, some sudden financial issues might drive her away from attending Constance Billard. Audrey has select moments of Blair-like charm, but she is not as immediately in your face. Although not a favorite character on the first watch, she has potential. 

1. Luna La: Georgina Sparks 

Luna La (Zión Moreno) is Julien’s stylist, social media manager and best friend. She helps Julien maintain her image and believes she always executes her plans with Julien’s best interest at heart. Luna’s plotting is comparable to the likes of Georgina Sparks, but her motivation is solely for Julien to be the best at what she does. Like many of the characters, she is well versed in Upper East Side snobbishness, which is expected from a character who, as of now, only operates as a sidekick. Luna has yet to be fleshed out, but hopefully, she will be further explored soon because her one liner’s show promise in her character. 

1. Obie Bergmann: Dan Humphrey/Nate Archibald 

Obie (Eli Brown) is another one of the extremely wealthy but, like Nate Archibald, he is not brash regarding his riches. Obie tends to make fun of the frivolous culture that is characteristic of his friends and the Upper East Side in general. His do-gooder attitude would not come off as pretentious if it were not paired with his constant judgments. He is like Dan Humphrey in this way, just without the wit to compensate for it. Many viewers have stated that Obie is a “white Savior” and in many ways that description is fitting. Aside from his personality, the role he plays in the tension between Julien and Zoya makes him even more unlikeable at times. He lacks self-awareness in a way that does not seem to be intentional, as the season progresses hopefully we will see character development that is for the better, if not, at least let it be more entertaining. 

1. Teachers: Gossip Girl 

In the first few minutes of the Pilot, a few teachers at Constance Billard revamp Gossip Girl in secret to control and manipulate the lives of their student body. An immediate major difference between the reboot and the original is that the viewers now get to see the perspective of Gossip Girl instead of the once anonymous figure among the original character’s lives. Kate Keller (Tavi Gevinson), the newest teacher at Constance and the main one running Gossip Girl, is a failed writer and discusses how running Gossip Girl has helped her find a voice. Overall, the teachers (who run Gossip Girl) are the worst characters in the show. The concept of adults banding together to damage the lives of some of their underage students is deplorable. Their dialogue is written in a way that is supposed to make the viewer sympathize with them because the kids “treat them badly.” The teachers are hiding behind a screen to essentially bully kids and the allure of anonymity is gone for the viewer. Repercussions for the teachers would be most pleasing as a viewer who did not particularly enjoy these characters whatsoever.