Cast and characters
Casting
Featuring nine regular speaking roles, the majority of the ensemble cast were assembled from February to April 2007. Blake Lively and Leighton Meester were the first two actresses to be chosen in February for the lead roles of Serena van der Woodsen and Blair Waldorf respectively.[21] Penn Badgley, Taylor Momsen, Chace Crawford , Kelly Rutherford and Florencia Lozano also auditioned successfully and landed roles in the series in March.[22][23][24] Actors for the roles of Chuck Bass and Rufus Humphrey were found in April when Ed Westwick and Matthew Settle were cast.[25] As rumors swirled about the impending cancellation of Veronica Mars, it was revealed at The CW’s 2007 Upfronts on May 17, 2007 that Kristen Bell had narrated the pilot, thus making her the title character of another show on the network.[26] Further additions to the cast included Jessica Szohr who joined the show in September 2007 as Vanessa Abrams.
Characters
Although Blair was hurt by her best friend’s departure, she relishes her new position as the Queen Bee in their circle of friends, along with her boyfriend, Nate Archibald, though blissfully unaware of Nate’s involvement in Serena’s sudden departure. All is not well in Blair’s household however-- her father left her mother for a male model Roman (who did work for Eleanor Waldorf), further straining Blair and her mother’s already tense relationship. Furthermore, Blair has struggled and continues to struggle with Bulimia Nervosa.
Nate is conflicted about life and struggles with pressure from his parents to attend Dartmouth College. Additionally, his father has a crippling cocaine addiction as his mother remains in denial about the cracks forming in their perfect world. Nate also feels trapped in his relationship with Blair Waldorf, as he is in love with Serena and slept with her directly before she left.
Fueling Nate’s demons is his childhood friend, Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick). Cynical and morally bankrupt, Chuck walks on the wild side of life and is not above abusing others to service his own needs. However, Chuck does retain a soft spot for his best friend Nate, and Blair, who is herself, just as manipulative as Chuck. Later in the season, Chuck finds himself having romantic feelings for Blair.
When Serena returns from her self-imposed exile (as first reported by "Gossip Girl"), she finds herself excluded from her old crowd after her former betrayals come to light but she soon finds an ally in Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley), an outsider in her privileged world. Thrust into a society where their financial and social status do not match that of their contemporaries by their former rock star father turned art gallery owner, Rufus Humphrey (Matthew Settle), Dan and his younger sister Jenny Humphrey (Taylor Momsen) struggle to find a niche in their new environment. Rufus is struggling to reconcile with his estranged wife and also has a secret history with Serena’s mother, socialite Lillian van der Woodsen (Kelly Rutherford), who was once a groupie. Vanessa Abrams (Jessica Szohr), a former guest, is Dan’s best friend, and is actually in love with him, was added as a main cast member after the end of the writers’ strike and became Nate Archibald’s new love interest.
Supporting characters
The show is also awash with secondary characters such as Isabel Coates (played by Nicole Fiscella) and Kati Farkas (Nan Zhang). The loyal deputies of Blair, Isabel and Kati are nonetheless in awe of Serena. During the second part of the first season, other members of their clan were introduced: Elise Wells (Emma Demar), Hazel (Dreama Walker), Penelope (Amanda Setton), while Nan Zhang left the show. Blair sabotages her over-achieving academic rival, Nelly Yuki (Yin Chang), and quickly becomes the mean queen again after using her minions to enforce the plot against Nelly Yuki. Later on, Nelly Yuki joins the clan without realizing what Blair did to her. Other important recurring characters in the series are Eleanor Waldorf (played by Florencia Lozano in the pilot episode, then by Margaret Colin afterward), Blair’s fashion designer mother; Howie "The Captain" Archibald (Sam Robards), Nate’s strict father (who also has a cocaine addiction); Serena’s troubled younger brother, Eric van der Woodsen (Connor Paolo), whose problems finally incite her to come home; and Bart Bass (Robert John Burke), Chuck’s father. During the second part of the first season, former Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Michelle Trachtenberg was cast as Georgina Sparks, a ghost from Serena’s troubled party past.
From Wikipedia
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