HBO Max took to the Television Critics Association winter press tour on Wednesday, and offered up some tidbits of information for some of the most popular projects.
We’ll start with Gossip Girl because who doesn’t love to hear about that show?
Well, the script for the first episode has been completed, and head of original content, Sarah Aubrey said “we all breathed a big sigh of relief because it’s very good… as you can imagine, the bar is very high.”
Great news, right?
Well, we didn’t expect the opener to get a lukewarm response because it hails from the people who brought us the original series.
The key to whether the new Gossip Girl will be a success or failure is in the casting. The original series was lightning in a bottle, with the most perfect cast around.
Casting for the new iteration is in “very early” conversations, meaning that nobody has officially signed on the dotted line to appear.
But Aubrey offered up the following: “We’re kind of drawing circles around people. It’s early days on that.”
That means we should learn about casting soon, especially if the scripts are starting to be completed.
While not much has been revealed about the reboot, here is the official logline:
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.
Time to switch gears and talk about one of the most popular TV shows ever: Friends!
Remember the reunion special that was previously said to be in the works? Well, it’s not looking as certain as it once did.
“There’s interest all the way around, and yet we can’t quite seem to get that interest all aligned to kind of push the button on it,” Kevin Reilly, HBO Max’s chief content officer said. “So today, unfortunately, it’s still a maybe.”
Jennifer Aniston, Matthew Perry, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow, and David Schwimmer would reunite with series creators, Marta Kauffman and David Crane to talk about the impact of the series.
It would have been the perfect thing to help introduce fans to the new streaming home of the series, but it could still happen.
For now, it’s a maybe.
Meanwhile, if you’ve been wondering what will become of DC Universe with everything seemingly being gobbled up by HBO Max, there’s hope that the streamer will continue to exist, with Reilly stating “we intend to keep [it] going, at least for the immediate future.”
It was previously announced that HBO Max will also be home to the streamer’s Doom Patrol, which will air on both streaming services when its second season launches.
What are your thoughts on all these nuggets of information?
Hit the comments below.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.