Warning: Spoilers for Gossip Girl Season 2, Episode 6.Hey Upper East-siders, Gossip Girl here—and it seems like not even the second generation of spoiled socialites is safe from the infamous Georgina Sparks.
Michelle Trachtenberg reprised her role as the wonderfully wicked and wild Georgina on the latest episode of the HBO Max reboot, coming face-to-face with the latest person behind the Gossip Girl moniker in season 2, episode 6, "How to Bury a Millionare." Though G's appearance in the Gossip Girl reboot might have come as a surprise to some, showrunner Joshua Safran says Trachtenberg had been in talks to reprise her role in the drama's original run for quite some time.
JS broke his silence on the surprise reveal on Wednesday, telling Screen Rant:
"When I pitched the show coming back, I knew that I wanted Michelle to come back. Michelle and I have stayed in touch over the years through texting or DM a couple times a year. It was very important to bring her back. The second that the show was greenlit, I actually think she reached out to me, meaning she knew it was in the process. But once the announcement came out, she was like, 'Okay, what is it? What is happening?'"
Once Trachtenberg was fully on-board with her character's return, the conversation moved to the next most pressing question: how could Georgina bring maximum chaos?
The answer, it turns out, was time.
"I said to her, [and to] the writers' room, that Georgina needed to make maximum chaos. In order to do that, we needed to produce enough of our characters first so you'd understand the stakes before she showed up. She quickly understood that it would be best for her to wait [until] season 2, when she would have the maximum impact."
Will We See More Characters from CW Original? JS Says Almost Certainly
With "the bitch back in town" (in her own words), Gossip Girl fans can't help but wonder if we'll get see a glimpse of other characters from the show's first generation—namely Serena (Blake Lively) and Dan (Penn Badgley), since Georgina's maximum chaos apparently includes breaking into her former frenemies' home. Safran said:
"I certainly hope so. With Dan and Serena, it was just fun. I love knowing that Georgina hadn't left them alone. I'd say probably one of my most favorite Georgina monologues that we've ever had is her in this episode talking about the ways in which she's become a ghost in their house. All the specialists that they've had to hire to try and figure out what's going wrong with their house. (Laughs) But it's Georgina, and I knew I couldn't show Dan and Serena, obviously."
While this almost certainly isn't the last we'll hear of Serena and Dan in the reboot, especially with G dropping the first mention that the happy couple are now parents, we might get treated to more Georgina, too.
"There are characters that we hope to bring back, and if the series continues, we have every intention to. I think it's really good to have one or two returning people per season. But also, Georgina's never too far away."
Gossip Girl Season 2 releases weekly on HBO Max, episodes 1-7 are available now.