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The Gossip Girl reboot is getting off to an interesting start, as showrunners have made some markedly different decisions regarding the series this go ’round.
Not only was ‘Gossip Girl’ revealed in the first episode, the new cast is slightly more diverse than the original with talents like Jordan Alexander, Savannah Lee Smith, and Whitney Peak (photographed above) starring. Karena Evans, who directed the premiere episode of P-Valley as well as music videos for Drake’s “In My Feelings,” “God’s Plan,” and “Nice For What,” was also tapped to direct two episodes of the Gossip Girl reboot.
The show’s got Black Girl Magic all around and it’s paying off, as reports state it broke the streaming service’s previous viewership record. From Deadline:
“The Gossip Girl reboot made its mark on HBO Max upon its premiere, becoming the steamer’s most-watched original series over the first weekend of availability. According to HBO Max, the updated Gossip Girl, which premiered Thursday, July 8, saw record viewership over the first four days of availability. The first episode opened to viewers in 555,000 U.S. households, per Samba TV.”
Of course, Gossip Girl also trended on social media:
“Beyond HBO Max stats, the Gossip Girl took over Twitter on its premiere date with the show sliding into the No. 1 trending spot on Twitter,” Deadline adds. “Gossip Girl stayed in the top five trends through mid-day. On TikTok the series gained around 15 billion impressions of content inspired by the series.”
Here at Global Grind, we love to celebrate up-and-coming entertainers of color, so today we’re doing just that. Meet Gossip Girl star Whitney Peak, who was named an ambassador for Chanel earlier this year, below and be sure to stay tuned for more actress spotlights to come.
1. Whitney Peak is a Ugandan-Candadian actress.
2. She’s just 18 years old!
3. She portrays the character ‘Zoya Lott’ on ‘Gossip Girl.’
4. She previously acted in ‘The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.’
5. She also has acting credits on ‘DC’s Legends of Tomorrow,’ ‘Molly’s Game,’ ‘iZombie,’ and ‘Home Before Dark.’
6. She was a fan of the original Gossip Girl.
“I just loved seeing people complain about things that were so outside of my world,” she said about the series in an interview for NY Times. “It was so ridiculous, but at the same time so good. And now that I’m living in New York, I catch myself complaining about something like that. I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I’m doing it!’”
