More than ten years after ‘Gossip Girl’ first hit TV screens, Leighton Meester and Penn Badgley finally sat down to talk about whether their characters actually ended up with the right people. On a recent episode of Badgley’s podcast, ‘Podcrushed’, they got real about the show’s wild relationships and those infamous finale couples. If you’ve ever wondered what they really thought about Blair and Chuck or Dan and Serena, here’s the inside scoop. But before that, a quick recap of ‘Gossip Girl’ and who ended up with whom.
‘Gossip Girl’: A quick recap
‘Gossip Girl’ is one of the most wildly popular TV series that ran from 2007 to 2012 and became a massive pop culture moment. It followed the lives of privileged Manhattan teens — think designer clothes, juicy secrets, and all kinds of drama — while a mysterious blogger (voiced by Kristen Bell) spilled everyone’s secrets online. At the center were Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), the ultimate ‘Queen Bee’, and Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), the brooding rich kid. Then there was Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley), the artsy outsider from Brooklyn, and his on-again, off-again romance with Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively). The show was all about tangled love stories, betrayals, and those “did that really just happen?” twists.For Blair and Chuck — as fans named them “Chair” — they fueled so much of Gossip Girl’s drama — scheming against each other one minute, completely inseparable the next. Their ups and downs pretty much became the heart of the show.On the other hand, there was Dan and Serena — ‘Dair’ — their relationship was all over the place, breaking up, getting back together, but always drawn back to each other.By the time the finale rolled around (‘New York, I Love You XOXO’), Blair and Chuck had gotten married after years of drama and heartbreak. And in a flash-forward, Dan and Serena tied the knot, too, and settled into something quieter, far from the Gossip Girl madness. On paper, and on screen, everyone got their happy ending.
Leighton Meester and Penn Badgley’s take
Some fans were overjoyed with how ‘Gossip Girl’ ended, some — not so much. But what did Leighton and Penn actually think? On the latest episode of ‘Podcrushed’ (February 18, 2026), Meester and Badgley finally weighed in.Penn kept it simple: “I think he ended up with who he meant to end up with.” He pointed to all the years of friendship and chaos between Dan and Serena, and said it made sense in the end. Leighton agreed as well, backing Blair and Chuck’s story: “I think you’re right.” She said that, in the world of Gossip Girl, Blair and Chuck belonged together, no matter how messy things got.Their whole chat really captured how the finale gave everyone closure, but didn’t shy away from how unpredictable relationships can be. After six seasons of growth, both actors felt the endings fit their characters.Of course, Blair and Dan had their own thing in season five, as Blair almost became a princess, and Dan went from outsider to insider. But in the end, Blair’s heart was always with Chuck. Some things never change.In fact, there was one twist Penn wasn’t thrilled about: Dan turning out to be Gossip Girl. He found out about it in the hair and makeup trailer and, honestly, couldn’t quite believe it. “What the f***? Huh? I’m trying to math it. It’s tough. Alright,” he remembered saying on the ‘Call Her Daddy’ podcast. Turns out, the whole cast was rooting for Blair’s housekeeper, Dorota, to be the real Gossip Girl. However, as Penn put it, “They needed it to be a series regular, sorry. They needed it to be one of the core six, nobody cares.”For the unversed, originally, the writers wanted Serena’s brother, Eric van der Woodsen, to be Gossip Girl. But once the New York Post leaked that twist, they had to toss the idea.
