'Gossip Girl' Brought Back a Controversial Character From the Original Series
Published July 29 2021, 10:06 p.m. ET
Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for Episode 4 of HBO Max's Gossip Girl reboot.
Fans of the original Gossip Girl were excited but nervous when it was announced there would be a new HBO reboot. Reboots can be hit and miss, but so far, the new show has been received well.
And the reboot is keeping fans of the original show in mind, too. They just brought back one of its controversial characters: Milo Sparks. Get ready, Upper East Siders...
Milo Sparks is an Easter egg in the 'Gossip Girl' reboot.
If you're a fan of the original show, having watched every episode, you probably perked up during the reboot on Episode 4 after hearing a familiar name. In the episode, Zoya (Whitney Peak) meets someone new, a 10-year-old boy in the eighth grade who seems far wiser than he should at his age.
Zoya was looking for backup, someone to help her take out Julien (Jordan Alexander), who she believes is set to destroy her life. So Zoya turned to the eccentric 10-year-old she met on the steps.
"Clearly, you don't know who I am," he told Zoya. "My last name is Sparks. Really Ivanov, but in this day and age, it's best to leave that out. Google is your friend. Once you use it, I will be, too."
If the name sounds familiar, you know that Zoya probably went to the best person to help her. If he's anything like his mom, that is.
Milo Sparks is the son of Georgina Sparks (Michelle Trachtenberg). Yes, that Georgina that was always plotting in the original series. She was one of the most controversial characters, always scheming and bringing all the drama with her. And if you remember watching the fourth season of the original series, you'll know Georgina had a son.
That son is Milo! While he was just a baby when he first appeared in Gossip Girl, he was a controversial character, too. And Milo's appearance in the reboot marks one of the first (and hopefully not the last) connections in the new reboot to the old series.
After Zoya met Milo for the first time, she headed over to his house. And fans who couldn't make the connection just from Milo's name surely connected the dots as Zoya walked through the photo-filled hallways in Milo's house where we saw photographs of Georgina — and Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), too.
But wait — isn't Dan Milo's father?
The identity of Milo's dad is more complicated than it might be for any other child. At the beginning of Season 4 of the original show, Milo was just a baby when Georgina reappeared at an event Lily (Kelly Rutherford) was hosting, carrying a baby in her arms that she said was Dan Humphrey's (Penn Badgley) baby.
Dan's dad, Rufus (Matthew Settle), insisted that Dan get a paternity test since Georgina is sneaky like that. But, Georgina convinced Dan she had already done that. It showed Dan was the dad — and he signed the birth certificate.
So, technically Dan is listed as the dad to Milo. But it was later revealed Milo's dad was a Russian man named Serge Ivanov that Georgina had a brief affair with before her life was being threatened. And Milo hinted at this in the reboot while talking with Zoya.
We're not sure if Milo is going to be a recurring character in the reboot. But if he's anything like his mom, things are going to get interesting.
New episodes of Gossip Girl on HBO Max are released Thursdays.