All of us know, that our favourite Gossip Girl TV-Series is based on a book-series. Probably everyone of us read comments from other Gossip Girl fans saying: “That’s _so not what happened in the book!” – But what exactly are the differences?

I gathered some rather weird differences – and since I never read the books, they where quite surprising!

Here you go:

  • In the books, Serenas sibling Erik (spelled Eric in TV series) is three years older, heterosexual,
    and attends Brown University; in the TV series, he’s younger (two years), a high school student, and gay.
  • In the books, Serena’s parents are still married and her mother, Lilian, never spoke to Dan Humphrey’s father, let alone dated him; In the TV series, Serena’s mom dated Dan’s father, Rufus.
  • In the books, when Serena returns, she still wants to party and have things return to normal. In the TV series, Serena is focused on changing and becoming a better person.
  • In the books, Serena left because her parents wanted her to and because she had sex with Nate and because she realized that what she had done could really hurt both Blair and Nate, and even herself. In the TV show, she left because on the night she slept with Nate, she offered cocaine to a guy that she was fooling around with, and he died. The death was caught on tape by Georgina, who had secretly set up a camera so as to film Serena having sex.
  • In the books, Serena and Nate were in love before he and Blair ever hooked up, and before they had sex. In the series, it is suggested that Serena and Nate only had Sex because they were drunk at the wedding.
  • In the books, Blair and Serena have romantic and sexual exchanges. In the TV show, no such relationship is portrayed.
  • Serena’s relationship with Dan is very brief in the book series; in the TV series, it is longer and more serious.
  • In the books, Serena and Nate have sex after Serena returns to the city from her holidays because Nate asked her to, with the intention of them hooking up. They had sex in Nate’s parents’ bed, in the Archibald residence, in private. In the series, after the two got drunk at a wedding, had sex in a deserted bar. Chuck also witnessed this from a balcony.
  • In the books, Chuck is bisexual whereas in the TV series he is thus far heterosexual.
  • In the books, Chuck attends Riverside Prep on the Upper West Side with Dan Humphrey, while Nate attends St. Jude’s; on the show, all three attend St. Jude’s.
  • In the books, Chuck never actually keeps a girlfriend, and only sleeps around; on the show he develops serious feelings for Blair, and by the end of season one has fallen in love with her.
  • In the books, Nate despises Chuck; on the show they are best friends. In “Seventeen Candles” Chuck tells Nate that “[he cares] about three things… Money, the pleasures money brings [him], and you [Nate].”
  • In the books, he has a brother named Donald Bass and a cousin named Harold aka Harry Bass; he has no siblings on the show.
  • In the books, Chuck’s parents are Bart and Misty Bass; while Chuck mentions his dead mother only during the pilot episode,’The Serena Also Rises’,and ‘Bonfire Of Vanity’.
  • In the books, Chuck is simply tolerated by the other main characters; on the show he has three best friends – Nate, Blair (who he eventually falls for), and Serena (who eventually becomes his stepsister). He also becomes good friends with his stepbrother, Eric.
  • In the book series, Vanessa has a shaved head, wears all black attire, and is slightly overweight; in the TV series she is curly-haired and slender, and is mostly styled in boho chic.
  • In the book series, Vanessa loses her virginity to a guy who works at the club her sister Ruby plays at; they also dated briefly. In the TV series she has yet to lose her virginity.
  • In the book series, Vanessa’s sister Ruby is a prominent character; in the TV series Ruby is only briefly mentioned as being in a lesbian punk band.
  • In the book series, Vanessa attends Constance Billard on scholarship. In the TV series, she is home-schooled.
  • Nate’s two best friends in the books are Serena and Blair, while also hanging out with boys named Anthony, Charlie and Jeremy. He also couldn’t stand Chuck. In the TV series, Chuck is Nate’s best friend.
  • Nate struggles with drugs in the book, even being sent to rehab, but in the show Nate’s father has the addiction. Although, Nate’s drug of choice is marijuana while his father’s is cocaine.
  • Nate met Georgina at rehab and they both dated, whereas in the series they knew each other through mutual aquaintances.
  • The books revolve around the love of Blair and Nate, whereas the series portrays the two as dating several other people as well.
  • In the books Nate doesn’t date Vanessa, while in the TV series the two have deep feelings for each other.
  • In the book series, Dan is described as shaggy, unshaven most of the time, and kind of “nerdy”. In the TV series, he has very short hair and is clean shaven.
  • In the book series, Dan loses his virginity to Vanessa; in the TV series he loses it to Serena.
  • In the book series Dan was a heavy smoker; in the TV series he doesn’t smoke at all.
  • In the book series, he wasn’t long time best friends with Vanessa Abrams, since in the books she just moved to NYC from Vermont when she was 15, he is disinterested in her in the first book, because he’s always eyed socialite Serena van der Woodsen.
  • In the book series, Dan briefly experimented with his sexuality by dating a man. In season one of the television series, he only dates Serena van der Woodsen and sees Georgina Sparks.
  • In the book Jenny has a large chest, which draws the attention of many boys and is the bane of Jenny’s existence, particularly when she is sexually assaulted by Chuck Bass. Jenny is described as having curly brown hair and brown eyes. She is just under 5 feet.
  • In the books, Blair Waldorf is the main character, on the TV-Show it seems as if Serena helds this position.
  • She loses her virginity to Nate in the book, while in the series she loses it to Chuck.
  • In the books, Blair has a younger brother named Tyler, whereas, in the TV series, she is an only child.
  • Blair lived at The Plaza Hotel, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with Vanessa Abrams, and in the original apartment where Breakfast at Tiffany’s was shot with BFF Serena, in designer Bailey Winter’s East Hampton summer home, and the Yale Club of New York City. – In the TV-Series Blair would never move in with Vanessa.
      • Most differences found @ wikipedia

    Did you guys notice any other differences?
    What do you think about the differences? Would you’ve preferred it if they had stick to the facts from the book?

    I’m glad they didn’t stick to them as tightly. I wouldn’t want another TV-Series like “Queer as folk”. But I would love to see Vanessa with a shaved head & Dan as a smoker (not that that’s a good thing, it’s just that it’d fit his character. imo.)

    xoxo
    Leena


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