Warning: spoilers for Gossip Girl season 2 finale ahead.
We've reached the final curtain call for the second generation of meddling Upper East Siders. Now streaming on HBO Max is the Gossip Girl season 2 finale, which also serves as the reboot's sudden series finale.
On January 19, exactly one week out from the season finale, show creator Josh Safran announced Gossip Girl's cancellation on Twitter. “So here's the goss: it is with the heaviest of hearts that I have to announce GOSSIP GIRL will not be continuing on HBO Max," wrote Safran. "The EPs and I will forever be grateful to: the network and studio for their faith and support; the writers for their devious brains and dexterous talent; the superstar cast for being the greatest of collaborators and friends; and the crew for their hard work, dedication, and love for the project. This was honestly the greatest set I ever worked on, top to bottom.”
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The 2022 version of Gossip Girl was set within the same universe as the original series with a fresh ensemble cast that included Jordan Alexander, Whitney Peak, Savannah Lee Smith, Emily Alyn Lind, Thomas Doherty, Evan Mock, Zión Moreno, Eli Brown, Grace Duah, and Tavi Gevinson.
Ahead of season 2's premiere, Safran told Teen Vogue this next installment would be “bigger, faster, meaner, funnier.” Season 2 did indeed receive praise from fans online for its improved tone, successfully delivering on a promised return to the storytelling charm of the original series. Even Georgina Sparks made a comeback.
And yet, the show couldn't be saved at HBO Max. An unexpected cancellation means many a plot hole and loose thread, but the season-2-slash-series finale did provide some satisfying answers and conclusions: teacher, failed writer, and social media menace Kate Keller was finally outed and arrested for her crimes as Gossip Girl, Obie exposed his sister Heidi, Audrey, Aki, and Max broke up for good, and Luna rightfully stepped in the spotlight as a rising global supermodel. No one can say Gossip Girl didn't go out with a scheming, delicious bang — I mean, crashing the Met Gala? Come on.
But there were a handful of tiny details you might have missed that make the Gossip Girl season 2 and series finale even sweeter. In case you don't have to time to rewatch the episode, check out the three major easter eggs hidden in the finale below.
Hidden end credits scene reveals the future of Gossip Girl
Kate Keller is caught after her ego gets the best of her. She gets a late night news alert that reports a Hollywood bidding war for the story rights to Gossip Girl, and soon enough Kate owns up to everything in front of Julien, Zoya, Obie, and… Andy Cohen. (Spotted: an OG GG easter egg! The news alert Kate gets is from The New York Spectator, the newspaper owned by Nate Archibald that revealed the true identity of the first Gossip Girl. When Kate arrives for the fake industry meeting, Obie tells Kate that this “exclusive” was given directly to Nate, and her face will be plastered on the front page of the Spectator the next day.)
Though it seems that Kate's arrest may be the true end of Gossip Girl, a hidden end credits scene reveals otherwise. Aki's dad, the terrible billionaire Roger Menzies, meets secretly in a secluded garden with Kate's techie boyfriend-slash-accomplice Jordan to chat about Gossip Girl.
“You flew me all the way to Europe to meet you at dawn and talk about Gossip Girl?" asks Jordan, confused. Once Menzies reveals that he knows all about Jordan's involvement with the anonymous title, he proposes a business plan: “Don't worry Mr. Glassberg, I'm not gonna kill you. I'm gonna hire you. I want to expand Gossip Girl. Kate made it too personal. She was on a mission. But you did it for love. And I bet you love money, huh? You see, Gossip Girl, it shouldn't be just one person. It should be everybody, in the palm of your hand, at any moment, in any part of the world. And all ad-supported." Wait, so…
“You want to make Gossip Girl an app?” Jordan says.
“No, not an app. The app. Imagine. All the teenagers all over the world, spying on each other,” responds Mr. Menzies with an ominous, goosebump-inducing laugh. “I'm offering you a piece, Mr. Glassberg. A piece of the future. What do you say?” Though we may never get to see Aki's dad and Jordan take the terrifying power of Gossip Girl to an international level, it's clear the showrunners had grand plans to ensure teens would not be able to hide from GG's chaos.
All the celebrity cameos — and there's a lot
The finale of Gossip Girl's second era is held at the most Gossip Girl location yet: the Met Gala. That means endless celeb cameos are in store, and not just former cast like Matt Doyle, who played Jonathan in the original series.
The Met Gala carpet ushers in a slew of well-known faces, including Lukas Gage ("If you show your ass on TV, you get invited to the Met Gala!" he says, in a meta HBO moment), yes, Andy Cohen ("I'm a big Gossip Girl fan!" he proclaims), and more. Gideon Wolfe also alludes to either Alessandro Michele or Jared Leto being in attendance, though Gideon can't tell which. Finally, a real Vogue staffer makes a cameo on the carpet, Vogue Runway writer José Criales-Unzueta.
Meanwhile, Julien and Luna get a moment with Fernando Garcia, creative director at Oscar de la Renta, who invites them to model. Julien shoves Luna down, saying she's “just a stylist, not a model.” But Luna gets her revenge… look for her face on every billboard in Rome.
Eric and Jonathan ended up getting married
In a sweet surprise in the season 2 finale of Gossip Girl — which will likely be the end of the series — the show wrapped up one of the OG's cutest couple storylines with some good news. That's right, Eric van der Woodsen and Jonathan Whitney got their happy ending after all. Matt Doyle crops up in the finale at the Met Gala to fill us in on what happened to their relationship. If you recall, Eric and Jonathan first get together in season 2, and at one point, J is even suspected of being the titular gossipmonger. In season 3, however, Jonathan is disappointed in the pettiness and humiliation Jonathan has engaged in against Jenny Humphrey, and they two break up.
But all's well that ends well for one of the few gay pairings in the original show. Jonathan shares with Obie and Andy Cohen (lol) that GG was the one who outed “my husband.” “She nearly destroyed his family and friends, and then she turned out to be my brother-in-law. It's a very complicated story that would take like six years to explain,” he says, an allusion to the six season of the original series. Cheers to the happy couple!
