How the Cast of Gossip Girl Aged from the First to Last Season

Gossip Girl ran on the CW for six seasons from 20117 to 2012. It let all of us in on the scandals, romance, bitter rivalries, and family secrets of Manhattan's high-class socialites. During the show's 121 episodes, we watched frenemies BFFs Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) and Serena Van Der Woodsen go through romances, schools, jobs, champagne, and some of the best fashion to hit the small screen.

From the steps of the Met, we also watched as this young cast of characters aged from (supposedly) high school students to young adults with careers as writers (Dan Humphrey), designers (Blair Waldrof), and potentially mayors (Nate Archibald). 

So how did the cast of Gossip Girl age from the first season to last season? Take a look at these photos of the cast of Gossip Girl young and then old(er) and read on as we reveal everything right here! XOXO

Blake Lively was 20 when she took on the role of Gossip Girl's "It Girl," Serena van der Woodsen. During the course of the show, we watched Serena's moral compass sway from "good girl," to "not-so-good-girl." As Gossip Girl costume designer Eric Daman said during season three, “from a fashion stand-point, Serena’s in a little bit of an identity crisis.” As Lively has said, Gossip Girl felt “personally compromising,” and playing Serena stopped being fun after awhile.

Lively actually took a break from acting following the show. She went on to marry Ryan Reynolds, and the two had two children. “I wanted to reset,” she said. “[acting] taps into so many of my own passions, but it also is a business that I can control. If I can be successful at this, I have security for my family and my babies.” 

Chace Crawford was 22 when Nate Archibald's long and semi-slicked-back hair first transfixed us on Gossip Girl. As the series evolved, we watched Nate's hair get shorter and shorter, just in time for him to take on the responsibility of leading a large news publishing company (and possible role as mayor). "I'm gonna look for my dignity," Crawford has said of his time spent filming the show. "My dignity is somewhere on set. I think it happened around season two. Leading into season three, it was all out the window."

Ed Westwick was 20 when he first stole our hearts as drug-loving, promiscuous, bad boy Chuck Bass. From shaggy, just-out-of-bed-head to an emo comb over, and then to a slicked back, debonair man-about-town look, we loved every version of Chuck (even when he was disappointing us).

As Westwick has said of his time on the show, “I tried to enjoy that part of instant fame but there were aspects of it, like coming out of your apartment in the morning and being photographed, that were annoying. I know that it goes with the territory but I’d never had an experience like it. I geeked out a bit. It was a crazy time. And of course your life changes when stuff like that happens."

Leighton Meester was 21 when she first started her role as head-banded, school-uniform wearing, queen bee, Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl. Throughout the series, Blair's style remains quintessential Upper East-sider with a little bit of quirk.

While we watch Blair go from scheming high-school student to making a pact with God to save Chuck’s life to the perfect bride, it seems that Meester barely ages. "Any fear of aging, I think, is simply vanity," Meester has said. "Because what comes with age is so many wonderful things: wisdom, understanding. . . Every year, I'm always happy to be done with the previous age."

Rufus Humphrey is "the cool dad," when we first meet him in season one. As the series goes on, Rufus exchanges his alt-rock Brooklyn lifestyle for a life of wining and dining on the Upper East Side. As Settle said of his character's evolution, "I think he was a bit of an outsider in the beginning, and now he’s more a part of the Upper East Side. I think he’s grown and understands a bit more about what it’s like to be up there, to have that position in life. I feel like he judges it a little less."

Michelle Trachtenberg, who was 22 when she joined the series, played the bad girl everyone loved to hate on Gossip Girl. Every time Georgina Sparks appeared it was with a slight new twist - like the time she showed up with "Dan's baby." From the first time she appeared at the end of the first season to the last episode, Georgina had a style all her own - a designer style, of course.

"I think with every evil character, there's some moments of deception, but there has to be some redeemable qualities there," Trachtenberg has said about her character."You're going to have to decide, as an audience, if those redeemable qualities are just a big trick to get everyone to love her. Then you've got to tune in to see if she pulls the wool over everyone's eyes!"

Penn Badgley was 21 when he first showed up on Gossip Girl as "Lonely Boy." While Dan retained that deer in headlights look throughout the seasons, his hair noticeably changed from season to season. From buzzed to sideburned, to long and unruly, to short and curly, we never knew just what version of Dan we were going to get. 

As Badgley has said about his character, "You're known as somebody that you're just not, and this is somebody who I so am not. He's not real. He's a tool on a show with soap-operatic arcs and he needs to be a judgmental douchebag sometimes. I get that. I don't hate anybody for that. But it sucks when people call me 'Dan' and think that I'm him."

Taylor Momsen was 14 when she appeared in the first season of Gossip Girl. In 2010, the actress went on an "indefinite hiatus" from the CW series, and then six months later it was confirmed that she would no longer be playing Jenny Humphrey. It turns out that Momsen wanted to focus on her band, The Pretty Reckless, and had decided to quit acting altogether. She did, however, return for the final episode of Gossip Girl, looking much more grown up and blonde than when she left the show. 

Jessica Szohr played Vanessa Abrams for four seasons of Gossip Girl before deciding to move on. "When I started the fourth season, I kind of had a talk with the producers," she said at the time. "We didn't know what we were going to do with the characters. After playing someone for four years, it can be a little repetitive. So I was ready for a change." She came back for a quick cameo in the last episode - although if you blink, you'll miss her. 

Blair's devoted maid, Dorota (played by Zuzanna Szadkowski) was more of a background character at the beginning of the series. By the time the series ended, Dorota had become one of the most well-loved characters on the show.

During the series we watched Dorota not only fall in love and get married but also have a baby. As Szadkowski explained of her character's evolution on the show,  "Oh yeah! It was like a crazy dream come true, I had to pinch myself the whole time when I had the wedding and the baby. I never expected any of that for Dorota, and to have that huge storyline was really, really exciting for me."