Chace Crawford became a fan-favorite as Nate Archibald in the hit CW series Gossip Girl. While the original series has been over since 2012, the cast has continued to shine in other television shows and movies. Even though time may make the heart grow fonder, Crawford isn’t ready to rewatch the series, and he made it seem as if he was never going to. Talking with PEOPLE about his own fashion line, Crawford opened up about the show.
Starting in 2007, Gossip Girl told the story of a group of students at an elite private school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Their lives as socialites were a mess of relationship drama, lies, and a tricky little blog that tracked their every move and told the entire school what the popular kids were doing. Among them was Nate Archibald, whose relationship with Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) was tested when Nate slept with Blair’s best friend, Serena Van Der Woodsen (Blake Lively). All of this is within the first episode of the show and, as Crawford told PEOPLE, it makes it feel a little “campy” now.
“It really was of its time, though,” Crawford said to the outlet. “It was just before social media, a little bit ahead of its time in that regard. But in watching, it’s very campy. I forget how kind of campy it was. It’s kind of fun in that way.” This is all coming from Crawford’s memory of it as, he admits, he hasn’t really “rewatched any of it.” Crawford went on, saying, “I’d be terrified. It’s a bit embarrassing.”
Chace Crawford Breaks Down the Instant Fame of ‘Gossip Girl’
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Gossip Girl, like many shows of the time, threw its young cast into instant stardom. And Crawford admitted that it was a lot to take in as a young 22-year-old. “As a young man, you take yourself too seriously,” he said. “I think everything’s so precious, and you want to be this Marlon Brando. And I think there gets a point too in a show that’s popular where you get your sense of identity and who you are kind of becomes wrapped up in not just that character or the character’s popularity, but the show.”
He went on to talk about a quote he heard about when an actor gets famous. “Some actor quoted like, ‘Anyone who gets famous is an a–hole for two years in their own way,'” Crawford said. “It can affect people in a really weird way. And it probably made me a bit more paranoid at the time.” It wasn’t easy for Crawford; he admitted that he was that he was in “pretty boy jail” when he left the show. So, it kind of makes sense why a rewatch might not be a relaxing experience for Crawford.
You can see Crawford in all seasons of Gossip Girl.
Source: PEOPLE