Ed Westwick Shares the Original Plan for His Role on 'Gossip Girl'

By Tionah Lee‍ 2:06 PM PST, February 3, 2022

Justin Campbell/BuzzFoto/FilmMagic

Gossip Girl fans would find it hard to imagine a world without Ed Westwick as Chuck Bass. Sadly, that was almost the case. During a recent episode of the XOXO With Jessica Szohrpodcast, the British actor who became a fan favorite, revealed that things were supposed to play out differently when it came to his role.

“Chuck Bass was supposed to be a reoccurring role,” Westwick told his co-star, who played Vanessa Abrams. “He was only supposed to come in for a few episodes. So, lucky me."

Westwick’s role was truly in the stars for him, as he had a little hiccup with his visa, which could have caused him to miss out on the opportunity.

The Me You Madness actor, who was coming from London at the time, shared that a day prior to filming the pilot episode, he was rushing to complete the paperwork. Luckily for the star, who was 19 at the time, he met with a lawyer who handled the situation and got him into New York City with a few hours to spare before filming.

“Luckily it all went through,” he told Szohr. “This lawyer was one of those slick guys who knew everyone at the embassy. So, I got the visa and we started working.”

Westwick also spilled that he auditioned for Chace Crawford’s role, Nate Archibald, but the casting directors and crew agreed he was meant to bring Chuck to life.

“When I auditioned for Chace’s part as well, it was obvious that they liked me more for the Chuck role,” the 34-year-old actor shared.

“It was a much more interesting role. I was having more fun with it. That was the one that resonated," he added. "So they were like, just stick with the Chuck role.”

Westwick played Chuck Bass from 2007 until the series ended in 2012.