“It’s Expensive to Look This Good”: ‘Gossip Girl’ Creator Josh Safran on the End

On Thursday, HBO Max’s Gossip Girl was officially banished from the Met Steps when Warner Bros. Discovery announced that it was not moving forward with the series for a third season. The news has taken the internet by storm, as fans mourn the end of the series. “I know that people love this season,” Gossip Girl creator, showrunner, and executive producer exclusively tells Vanity Fair. “I feel the love.”

In his first interview since the news broke, Safran chats with VF and breaks down the danger of reboots, whether he thinks Gossip Girl will find another streaming home, and what season three would have had in store for his Upper East siders.  

Vanity Fair: I’m sorry to hear about Gossip Girl’s cancellation. I was loving this season. 

Josh Safran: Everyone is. It’s hard. All I get is constant feedback from how great people are feeling. So it’s rough. 

How are you taking the news? How are you processing this? 

Unfortunately it was to be expected in a way because of what’s happening at all streamers these days. Things are just going different ways than we all would hope. That Golden Age is coming to an end. 

Also, this show is incredibly expensive. “It takes a lot of money to look this good,” [laughs]. And so it really would’ve had to have gotten House of the Dragon numbers or Last of Us numbers and there just aren’t shows like Gossip Girl that get those numbers. I mean, who even knows what anyone’s numbers are? I just know that a show like Gossip Girl isn’t going to get House of the Dragon or Last of Us numbers.

It felt like Gossip Girl was resonating with its core audience. I’m already seeing on social media that people are really distraught about the cancellation. Do you think HBO Max’s decision to cancel Gossip Girl has something to do with Warner Bros.’ recent merger with Discovery? 

I think you’re looking at a lot of cancellations at this particular network, but [also] every network, every streamer. In the rush to announce themselves, they spent money—which is great for us. I’m very grateful for that. Over time there is debt, and that’s why we’re seeing a wave of cancellation. So sure, I’m sure the merger had something to do with it, but also we are very expensive. Even if there hadn’t been a merger, who knows? I don’t know numbers, I can’t speak to that. I know that people love this season. I feel the love, I definitely get more reactions on social media than any other show I’ve ever worked on. 

All we can do is have made a great show. We’re really proud of this season. I’m also proud of season one, but I think that the saddest thing about what’s happening these days in the marketplace is that the whole point of TV was to create characters and worlds that could grow and deepen as they went on. That’s becoming less and less likely for the majority of shows, and that sucks. 

Have you talked to the cast and crew?

Yeah, of course. Honestly  the one silver lining in all of this if this is the end—which I believe that it is—is that we are going out on the high. Nobody is going through the motions on a season five or six being like, ‘How much more of the same stuff can I do.’ Weirdly, we all love each other. We love working together. It was an incredible experience. So there’s no sadness or unhappiness or negative memories. I mean, we truly went out not only on a high, but, like, in Rome having the best time of our lives. 

Did you say Rome?

Yes, in Rome. We finished shooting the season in Rome. So even that ended in the best place you could be: gorgeous, glamorous Rome with everybody. 

We’ve talked about how it took a little while for the world to catch up to the new Gossip Girl. How do you feel about the ending to this version of Gossip Girl in comparison to the original Gossip Girl, which had six seasons, but ended in a somewhat weird way?