The following is a list of characters for The CW teen television drama series, Gossip Girl (2007–2012) and its standalone sequel series of the same name (2021–2023). The series is based on the popular book series of the same name written by author Cecily von Ziegesar. Both series follow the lives of privileged high school students who attend the fictional Constance Billard School for Girls and St. Jude's School for Boys.
The original series starts with nine regular characters: it girl of the UES Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively); school queen bee Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester); Serena's new love interest Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley); golden boy Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford); Dan's sister Jenny Humphrey (Taylor Momsen); Nate's billionaire best friend Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick); Dan's best friend and ex-lover, the creative Vanessa Abrams (Jessica Szohr); Serena's mother, a socialite and philanthropist Lily van der Woodsen (Kelly Rutherford); and Dan Humphrey's father, former rock star turned art gallery owner, Rufus Humphrey (Matthew Settle). A tenth recurring later in the series is Serena's cousin who turns out to be a con artist, Ivy Dickens (Kaylee DeFer).
The standalone sequel series, meanwhile, features sixteen regular characters and follows the lives of a ring of teachers in addition to the students: famous influencer, it girl, and queen bee Julien Calloway (Jordan Alexander); Julien's morally-upstanding half-sister Zoya Lott (Whitney Peak); English teacher Kate Keller (Tavi Gevinson); guilty rich Otto "Obie" Bergmann IV (Eli Brown); pansexual flirt Max Wolfe (Thomas Doherty); avid literature reader Audrey Hope (Emily Alyn Lind); movie enthusiast and bisexual skateboarder Akeno "Aki" Menzies (Evan Mock), Zoya's father and lawyer Nick Lott (Johnathan Fernandez); computer science teacher Jordan Glassberg (Adam Chanler-Berat); personal stylist and trendsetter Luna La (Zión Moreno); the intimidating and powerful billionaire Monet de Haan (Savannah Lee Smith); gay classics teacher Rafa Caparros (Jason Gotay); gay theatre impresario & Max's dad, Gideon Wolfe (Todd Almond); divorced athleisure wear designer and Audrey's mother, Kiki Hope (Laura Benanti); Zoya's new troublemaker friend, Shan Barnes (Grace Duah); and Kate's friend, Wendy (Megan Ferguson)
Both series are narrated by the seemingly omniscient "Gossip Girl" (voiced by Kristen Bell); within the original series, Gossip Girl is a single character whose true identity is never fully revealed until the series finale, while in the sequel series, the Gossip Girl mantle is shared by different characters.
Cast Main
The cast should be organized according to the series' original broadcast credits, with new cast members being added to the end of the list. Please keep in mind that main cast status is determined by the series producers, not by popularity or screen time.
Actor Character Gossip Girl Gossip Girl Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 Season 6 Season 1 Season 2 Blake Lively Serena van der Woodsen colspan="6" colspan="2" Leighton Meester Blair Waldorf colspan="6" Penn Badgley Dan Humphrey colspan="6" colspan="2" Chace Crawford Nate Archibald colspan="6" colspan="2" Taylor Momsen Jenny Humphrey colspan="4" colspan="2" Ed Westwick Chuck Bass colspan="6" colspan="2" Kelly Rutherford Lily van der Woodsen colspan="6" colspan="2" Matthew Settle Rufus Humphrey colspan="6" colspan="2" Jessica Szohr Vanessa Abrams colspan="4" colspan="2" Kristen Bell Gossip Girl colspan="8" Kaylee DeFer Ivy Dickens colspan="3" colspan="2" colspan="2" Jordan Alexander Julien Calloway colspan="6" colspan="2" Whitney Peak Zoya Lott colspan="6" colspan="2" Tavi Gevinson Kate Keller colspan="6" colspan="2" Eli Brown Otto "Obie" Bergmann IV colspan="6" colspan="2" Thomas Doherty Maximus "Max" Wolfe colspan="6" colspan="2" Emily Alyn Lind Audrey Hope colspan="6" colspan="2" Evan Mock Akeno "Aki" Menzies colspan="6" colspan="2" Johnathan Fernandez Nick Lott colspan="6" colspan="2" Adam Chanler-Berat Jordan Glassberg colspan="6" colspan="2" Zión Moreno Luna La colspan="6" colspan="2" Savannah Lee Smith Monet de Haan colspan="6" colspan=2" Jason Gotay Rafa Caparros colspan="6" Todd Almond Gideon Wolfe colspan="6" colspan="2" Laura Benanti Kiki Hope colspan="6" colspan="2" Grace Duah Shan Barnes colspan="6" Megan Ferguson Wendy colspan="6"
Recurring
Actor Character Gossip Girl Gossip Girl Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 Season 6 Season 1 Season 2 Zuzanna Szadkowski Dorota Kishlovsky colspan="6" Michelle Trachtenberg Georgina Sparks colspan="6" Margaret Colin Eleanor Waldorf-Rose colspan="5" colspan="3" Connor Paolo Eric van der Woodsen colspan="4" colspan="2" Amanda Setton Penelope Shafai colspan="2" colspan="2" colspan="3" Robert John Burke Bart Bass colspan="2" colspan="2" Yin Chang Nelly Yuki colspan="2" colspan="3" colspan="2" Sam Robards Howard "The Captain" Archibald colspan="2" Sebastian Stan Carter Baizen colspan="2" colspan="5" Caroline Lagerfelt Celia "CeCe" Rhodes colspan="2" colspan="2" colspan="3" Aaron Schwartz Vanya colspan="3" colspan="2" Desmond Harrington Jack Bass colspan="2" colspan="2" Wallace Shawn Cyrus Rose colspan="6" Sheila Kelley Carol Rhodes colspan="3" Chris Riggi Scott Rosson colspan="5" Kevin Zegers Damian Daalgard colspan="2" colspan="2" colspan="4" Hilary Duff Olivia Burke colspan="2" colspan="5" William Baldwin William van der Woodsen colspan="2" colspan="2" Azhy Robertson Milo Sparks colspan="3" colspan="2" colspan="2" Hugo Becker Louis Grimaldi colspan="3" colspan="2" colspan="3" Katie Cassidy Juliet Sharp colspan="3" colspan="2" David Call Ben Donovan colspan="3" colspan="4" Michael Boatman Russell Thorpe colspan="3" colspan="4" Tika Sumpter Raina Thorpe colspan="3" colspan="4" Elizabeth Hurley Diana Payne colspan="4" colspan="3" Ella Rae Peck Charlotte "Lola" Rhodes colspan="4" colspan="2" Barry Watson Steven Spence colspan="5" colspan="2" Sofia Black-D'Elia Sage Spence colspan="5" colspan="2" Luke Kirby Davis Calloway colspan="6" colspan="2" Elizabeth Lail Lola Morgan colspan="6" colspan="1" colspan="1" John Benjamin Hickey Roy Sachs colspan="6" colspan="2"
Recurring characters Family members Recurring characters who are family to one or more main character. Names are listed alphabetically.
Anne Archibald Portrayed by Francie Swift in seasons one, two and four, Anne Archibald (née van der Bilt) is the mother of Nate Archibald. During the events of the first season, she aids her husband in dealing with Eleanor Waldorf's accounts. She once promised to Eleanor Waldorf to give Blair her Cornelius Vanderbilt engagement ring should Nate and Blair ever be engaged but when Blair witnesses Nate's troubles with his father she ends the relationship. By the second season, Nate's mother whose financial assets have been frozen since her husband's guilty departure have caught up with her and their house in Manhattan is seized, leaving Nate to lodge in temporarily with the Humphreys. Anne Archibald's reputation was also in danger during her financial situation with Chuck giving her loan after selling his club, Victrola but this causes Nate to end his friendship with Chuck. Her financial troubles come to an end when Nate convinces his father to come clean to the FBI and she sheds tears for the arrest of her husband. A short while before her husband is released from prison however she files for divorce.
Howard Archibald Portrayed by Sam Robards in seasons one, two, four and six. Howard "The Captain" Archibald is the father of Nate Archibald. Howard is a white-collar criminal and a recovering cocaine addict. He leaves to escape arrest, still addicted to cocaine and Nate punches his father before the Captain could get into his limo and flee to Dominica. In the second season, when he returned to New York, to take Nate and his mother with him, Nate gave him a choice. Either go back to Dominica and never speak to his family again or turn himself in to the police. Howard decided to do the right thing and chose to turn himself in. In the fourth season, Howard later receives a file for divorce while in jail, a few months before his release from prison. When he is paroled, Howard soon takes a job with Russell Thorpe.
Bart Bass Portrayed by Robert John Burke in season one, two, five and six, Bartholomew "Bart" Bass, whose birthday is always on Columbus Day, is Chuck's billionaire father, founder of Bass Industries and was married to Lily van der Woodsen and eventually became the main antagonist of the series. His family lived at the New York Palace Hotel, which he owned. His money was self-made, as opposed to inherited like most Upper East Side families. He was controlling with his family, ruthless in business and demonstrated little affection for Chuck, and it's revealed that this is because he holds his son responsible for his late wife's death (Chuck's mother died while giving birth to him.) At times Bart appears to care about his son, and asked him to be his best man at the wedding. Bart complimented Chuck on his speech, and said he was proud of his commitment to Blair. In season 2, with Dan's help, he and Chuck try to mend their relationship, but he suddenly dies in a limo accident. In season 3, he reappears as a "ghost" on the anniversary of his death. In season 5, Diana Payne claims that she is Chuck's biological mother, conceiving him after she and Bart had an affair, but it is revealed to be untrue. When looking for Diana's secret, he is discovered alive. As life on the Upper East Side goes on with its gossip and rage of others, Chuck finds out something he was not supposed to about his father and how he pays people off to "accidentally" kill people who are after him and with information that could destroy his reputation. As Chuck and Blair keep digging for dirt on Bart, He gets Nate into prison and tries to kill his own son in a flight to Moscow as a deal to Chuck to keep everyone he loves safe. As a party is going on for Bart, it is then announced that there was a plane crash which turns out to be a Bass industries private jet which is the one that Chuck was in. As Dan gives hits heart felt speech about what was supposed to be Bart, Dan reveals it was not Bart he was talking about, it was Chuck as he steps onto the stage and reveals in front of the cameras that his father tried to have him killed. Bart tries to fix the mess that Chuck had done while having him taken to the roof top to the building by his guards and leaves saying that Chuck is going to be put in an institute for his delusional mind set. As Chuck tries to get the truth out of Bart on the roof top, Bart threatens Chuck which leads to Chuck hitting Bart and Bart hanging from the side of the building as Blair approaches the scene. Bart eventually loses grip of the rail and falls off the building without any regret from Chuck and a horrified Blair.
Jack Bass