2020 was unkind to most, but 2021 may still be able to bring some viewers joy with the announcements of reboots of both Sex and the City and Gossip Girl.
Sex and the City was one of HBO’s most monumental series, originally running from 1998-2004. It was recently announced that streaming service HBO Max ordered a ten-episode reboot, and production is scheduled to begin in late spring if the ongoing pandemic allows it.
According to HBO, the show will have a similar premise to the original run. “The series will follow Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte as they navigate the journey from the complicated reality of life and friendship in their 30s to the even more complicated reality of life and friendship in their 50s,” said a statement released by HBO Max.
The Sex and the City reboot will focus on just three of the four original main cast members. Who will be noticeably missing from the core group? Fan favorite Samantha. Kim Cattrall, the actress and five-time Emmy nominee who played Samantha, has expressed in the past that a reboot is not in her future.
As for Kim Cattrall’s plan to not return, it may not come as a shock to fans. Cattrall and castmate Sarah Jessica Parker have maintained a very public rift, as both have since the second Sex and the City film stated some questionable things about one another. The series has already been given two movies to finish their characters’ stories, but they failed to hit the mark and the sequel received overwhelmingly negative reviews from fans and critics. In 2017, when a possible third movie was brought up to Cattrall in an interview with Piers Morgan, she openly expressed her disinterest in the project and name dropped Sarah Jessica Parker. Parker, who will continue to play narrator and protagonist Carrie Bradshaw, remains adamant that there is no bad blood between the two despite Cattrall’s comments.
Not having Samantha on the show has upset many loyal fans and they have expressed their dissatisfaction with a Cattrall-less reboot. Although it can be brought into question why this reboot is necessary, it will still be interesting to see how the pandemic is incorporated into the show, as Parker suggested that COVID-19 will be part of the plot. It seems we will just have to wait and see what Carrie and Mr. Big are up to; hopefully divorced by now.
Sex and the City is not the only revival planned for HBO Max. Although originally a CW show, a Gossip Girl reboot is also on the way and a teaser has already been released.
This reboot, however, will follow a different format than Sex and the City. The Gossip Girl reboot will not continue the stories of its original main characters, but center on a whole new roster of rich kids living in New York’s Upper East Side.
Production has already begun and a season of ten hour-long episodes is scheduled to be released on HBO Max sometime later this year. The original run, which debuted in 2007, focused on a group of rich young socialites living in the Upper East Side and the various scandals they become entangled in. The whole series is narrated by “Gossip Girl,” an anonymous online blogger that publicly releases information about the characters.
The new series seems to have a similar premise to the original, just with a new slate of characters. According to HBO Max, “Eight years after the original website went dark, a new generation of New York private school teens are introduced to the social surveillance of Gossip Girl. The prestige series will address just how much social media—and the landscape of New York itself—has changed in the intervening years.”
The new cast features all young actors, most having had minor acting experience or none at all. Kristen Bell, who narrated the series as “Gossip Girl,” is the only original cast member thus far that has confirmed her return.
It will be interesting to see how social media has impacted the new generation of Constance students. Screenwriter Joshua Safran was quoted by Hollywood Reporter as saying, “It’s just a new look at this particular society in New York, the idea being that society changes constantly.” This chance to open back up Gossip Girl in the age of social media will allow a new perspective.
All the viewers can hope for is they don’t mess up the reveal of Gossip Girl themself again. C’mon, Dan? Seriously? These reboots may not be the same as the original shows we all love, but they can definitely give us something to look forward to in a time where there is not much of that.
IMAGE TAKEN from Harper’s Bazaar
IMAGE TAKEN from Glamour Magazine
