Nina Dobrev almost became part of 'Gossip Girl', casting director David Rapaport confirms

As the fans eagerly await the release of the second season of Gossip Girl reboot after the makers announced the renewal last year in September, an interesting piece of information just arrived their way revealing how The Vampire Diaries star Nina Dobrev was earlier planned to rope in for the role one of the main cast members of the 2012 Gossip Girl. 

Nina Dobrev was almost cast in Gossip Girl

According to a recent episode of the XOXO podcast, the show's casting director David Rapaport spilt the beans about how Nina Dobrev was passed over for the role of a teenage Lily Rhodes in a potential spin-off entitled Valley Girls. He further revealed the reason behind it and stated that the only reason was she didn't look like little Lily van der Woodsen aka Kelly Rutherford. 

Stating further, Rapaport further revealed that though they couldn't finalise Nina Dobrev for the role of young Lily, she gave one of the best auditions he'd ever seen. He said, "You know who did the best read for that? I'll tell you, because I think you're friends with Nina Dobrev. That was one of the best auditions I had ever seen, and for that role specifically."

Furthermore, he mentioned that he even saw Dakota Johnson and Rooney Mara for the part, but he vouched for Dobrev and told the network that though Nina doesn't look like Kelly Rutherford, they should still keep her on the radar and find something for her. "She is a superstar, [but] she does not look like Kelly Rutherford...' because she was supposed to be a young Kelly Rutherford. 'So I don't know how we would cast her, but she needs to be on your radar and you guys need to find something for her,' " he added. 

The casting director even expressed his regret on not being able to choose Nina Dobrev for the role while stating how incredible she was and mentioned, "I just remember thinking, 'I am going to think about this girl in a couple of years and be like, 'Oh god, I missed that opportunity.' She was so incredible!"

When will Gossip Girl Season 2 release?

Gossip Girl Season 2 was announced by HBO Max on Thursday. However, there have been no updates about the release yet. On the other hand, as per Variety, the showrunner recently stated the reason he wanted to make a second season of the show was to explore the show's influence on teachers. 

Gossip Girl season 2 cast

The popular cast members who will be continuing as the Gossip Girl reboot cast include Jordan Alexander, Eli Brown, Thomas Doherty, Zion Moreno, Evan Mock,  Adam Chanler-Berat, Whitney Peak, Tavi Gevinson, Emily Alyn Lind, Johnathan Fernandez, Savannah Lee Smith, Todd Almond, and Jason Gouty.

Image: Instagram/@nina