It could easily be argued that the emphasis on Max's promiscuity is problematic, contributing to the general hypersexualization of bisexual people. But, for all the show's great many other storytelling flaws and blunders, the casual acceptance and welcoming of Max's sexual identity is refreshing. No one seems even vaguely uncomfortable or put off by Max's lifestyle, which isn't to say everyone in their obscenely privileged circle is a good person. Within the first half hour of the show's pilot, Max is in the middle of a threesome with male and female classmates, and appears to have palpable sexual tension with two others in his squad, the elegant Audrey (Emily Alyn Lind ) and her diplomatic boyfriend Aki (Evan Mock). Max is certainly as promiscuous, darkly charismatic, arrogant, and reckless as Chuck, but his myriad sexual conquests include both girls and boys. Among the tightly knit group of troubled rich kids is Max (Thoams Doherty), who appears to be the roguish "Chuck Bass" of this iteration.
The updated series takes place nine years later at the same elite private school and the same Upper East Side stomping grounds as its predecessor - with the caveat of social media, influencers, and this time, exorbitantly wealthy teens who appear to show some level of guilt and forced, scripted flickers of social consciousness.
But in HBO Max's "Gossip Girl" reboot, we see our most unapologetic representation of a male, bisexual character yet. Recent shows and movies, from Loki (Tom Hiddleston) in "Loki" to Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) in "The Good Place," have offered light representation of bisexual characters living their best, most chaotic lives. "Obviously, I don't know what it's like to walk in anyone's shoes but my own, but it gives you a perspective that allows you to hold space for other people's points of view.Bisexuality remains widely stigmatized and erased, either exoticized and hypersexualized, or denied and erased altogether, pending the gender of someone's current partner. "I can write about myriad different things because of understanding what it's like to hide something, or to walk into a room feeling like somebody there doesn't think you're equal," he explains. He credits his homosexuality for helping him understand and write varied characters on all of those series. Over the next few decades, Safran, now 47, worked as a writer and executive producer on the original Gossip Girl and was showrunner for Smash, Quantico, and Soundtrack.
Indeed, the ABC show's sponsor-pulling sex scene between David Marshall Grant and Peter Frechette greatly impacted Safran "as both a writer and a gay man." "It was the first time I'd ever seen a gay relationship on screen," recalls the writer and producer, who came out as gay at 19. From that day on, Safran worked as a script reader at TriStar, Paramount, and Fox throughout his teen years.īy 12, he was "obsessed" with the '80s drama thirtysomething. "When she came in - I don't know what possessed me- but I told her what I thought could be fixed," he says. So along Safran went and while he was waiting for his mom's friend, he picked up a script from her office coffee table and started reading it. You should come take a tour,'" Safran tells EW. "I was talking so much about movies while my mom was getting her hair done that the woman next to her said, 'Actually, I work at a studio. At age 11, screenwriter Joshua Safran ( Gossip Girl, Quantico) was already working in the entertainment industry as a script reader after a precocious visit to a production studio landed him a job.