TMC
12-04-2025, 05:43 PM
https://www.looper.com/2038445/gossip-girl-worst-characters-ranked/
BY NINA STARNER DEC. 4, 2025 1:18 PM EST
This article contains a discussion of sexual assault.
What do we talk about when we talk about the worst characters on "Gossip Girl?" The series, which was very loosely adapted from Cecily von Ziegesar's series of young adult novels by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage (https://www.looper.com/1129400/best-gossip-girl-episodes-ranked/), is a deliciously mean, campy, and wonderfully over-the-top show about young, unbelievably privileged, and astoundingly wealthy teens and young adults running New York City's elite Upper East Side with iron fists. One of the show's best qualities is that everyone on the show is conniving, scheming, and even a little evil (the HBO Max reboot, which aired from 2021 to 2023, failed largely because it tried to make its characters sympathetic and even nice (https://www.looper.com/1173747/it-isnt-a-secret-why-hbo-maxs-gossip-girl-reboot-failed-xoxo/)). From the acid-tongued queen bee Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) to her socialite bestie Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) to golden child Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford) and bad boy Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), this fictional version of New York is filled with people who do genuinely awful things to each other all the time. So what makes a "bad" character on a show like this?
Honestly, the worst crime a "Gossip Girl" character can commit isn't selling their partner to maintain a hotel, stealing their best friend's boyfriend, or sending in "gossip blasts" to the titular anonymous blogger (and yes, these are real things that actual characters do on the show). The absolute worst thing that a "Gossip Girl" character can be is boring, annoying, or most insultingly, both ... and at least one character who's neither boring nor annoying does such unbelievably reprehensible things that they land right at the top of the list. Without further ado, here are the 5 worst "Gossip Girl" characters, ranked — and this should go without saying, but spoilers follow!
BY NINA STARNER DEC. 4, 2025 1:18 PM EST
This article contains a discussion of sexual assault.
What do we talk about when we talk about the worst characters on "Gossip Girl?" The series, which was very loosely adapted from Cecily von Ziegesar's series of young adult novels by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage (https://www.looper.com/1129400/best-gossip-girl-episodes-ranked/), is a deliciously mean, campy, and wonderfully over-the-top show about young, unbelievably privileged, and astoundingly wealthy teens and young adults running New York City's elite Upper East Side with iron fists. One of the show's best qualities is that everyone on the show is conniving, scheming, and even a little evil (the HBO Max reboot, which aired from 2021 to 2023, failed largely because it tried to make its characters sympathetic and even nice (https://www.looper.com/1173747/it-isnt-a-secret-why-hbo-maxs-gossip-girl-reboot-failed-xoxo/)). From the acid-tongued queen bee Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) to her socialite bestie Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) to golden child Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford) and bad boy Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), this fictional version of New York is filled with people who do genuinely awful things to each other all the time. So what makes a "bad" character on a show like this?
Honestly, the worst crime a "Gossip Girl" character can commit isn't selling their partner to maintain a hotel, stealing their best friend's boyfriend, or sending in "gossip blasts" to the titular anonymous blogger (and yes, these are real things that actual characters do on the show). The absolute worst thing that a "Gossip Girl" character can be is boring, annoying, or most insultingly, both ... and at least one character who's neither boring nor annoying does such unbelievably reprehensible things that they land right at the top of the list. Without further ado, here are the 5 worst "Gossip Girl" characters, ranked — and this should go without saying, but spoilers follow!