Attention Upper East Siders: There’s a new gal moving to town and word on the street is she’s an absolute diva. A Broadway diva that is. Per Deadline, Tony-award winning actress Laura Benanti has joined the highly-anticipated Gossip Girl reboot on HBO Max. The updated Gossip Girl, written by Joshua Safran and based on the (iconic) series by Cecily von Ziegesar, will focus on a new crop of New York private school teens “introduced to the social surveillance of Gossip Girl,†and will address how much New York and social media has changed since the dark ages of *gulp* 2010.
Benanti is no stranger to HBO Max or teen culture, as the streaming platform is home to her upcoming variety special Homeschool Musical: Class of 2020, which will give teens across the nation who missed out on performing in their Spring Musical this year due to COVID a chance to perform for the entire world. There’s also no word on what character Benanti will be playing yet, but with her range the possibilities are truly endless. Will she portray an austere Upper East Side mother, a la Eleanor Waldorf, or maybe a New York City model and socialite spoof on her impeccable Melania Trump impersonation? In any case, with Benanti in the mix, you know it’s going to be good. XOXO, you know you love Benanti.