This article contains a discussion of addiction.

Based (very loosely) on Cecily von Ziegesar’s book series, “Gossip Girl” started its run on The CW in 2007 and, in the hands of Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, let us into the exclusive world of a bunch of uber-wealthy Manhattan teenagers, all of whom were played by beautiful twenty-somethings. The whole story begins with the return of the troubled but beautiful socialite Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively), who ran away to boarding school in Connecticut after some sort of traumatizing life experience before the show’s narrative began — and when she does come back to New York, she tries to start fresh. Unfortunately for her, that’s not an option thanks to one conniving, unhinged troublemaker: Georgina Sparks, played to perfection by Michelle Trachtenberg.

When news broke that Trachtenberg passed away on February 26 at the age of 39, I thought of her starring role in “Harriet the Spy” — and then, just as quickly, I thought about Georgina Sparks. I don’t love “Gossip Girl” because it’s a good or well-made show; by any critical metric, it is neither of those things. What it is, though, is fun, stupid, and over-the-top, and frankly, that sort of thing has merit of its own. Trachtenberg’s Georgina wasn’t part of the main cast — meaning the group comprised of Serena, Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford), and Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley) — but her role on “Gossip Girl” was to create utter disaster, which kept the entire enterprise running. Whenever the show needed to steer into an absolutely batsh** crazy skid, Georgina was there to smirk, grab a glass of champagne, and cause some sort of dramatic wreck, which is why she was always the beating heart of “Gossip Girl,” the best worst show to ever air on television.

In case you’re unfamiliar with Michelle Trachtenberg’s multiple-season arc on “Gossip Girl” as Georgina Sparks (and if you are, please go fix that!) or just need a refresher, here’s all of the mess this character causes on “Gossip Girl.” In the show’s first season, Georgina taunts Serena by sending her cases of champagne and more … inappropriate gifts (drugs) in a deranged attempt to rekindle their friendship, only to force Serena into confessing that the two of them were present when their friend and high school classmate Pete Fairman (played by Elan Moss-Bachrach, brother to “The Bear” star Ebon) overdosed and died in front of them in a hotel room. Blair ultimately runs Georgina out of town on Serena’s behalf, but she resurfaces at the end of the show’s second season having recently converted to Christianity to atone for her sins; because this is “Gossip Girl,” Blair immediately ruins Georgina’s rehabilitation by getting her involved in an enormous scheme, giving us one of Trachtenberg’s all-time best line readings when she tells Blair, “you can tell Jesus that the b**** is back.”

The third season of “Gossip Girl” finds Georgina attending New York University with Blair and Dan, secretly requesting to be roommates with the former (to Blair’s utter horror) and emotionally tormenting her. During all of that, she somehow finds the time to crash the wedding of Dan’s father Rufus (Matthew Settle) and Serena’s mother Lily (Kelly Rutherford) and tell everyone about the love child they once abandoned. In that season’s finale, Georgina shows up to tell Dan she’s pregnant with his child, and throughout the first part of season 4, she basically uses him as a patsy to get him to take care of a child that is, notably, not his. 

Season 5 sees Georgina married to a wealthy but boring guy and anxious to wreak havoc, so she does everything in her power to screw up Blair’s fairytale wedding to Prince Louis Grimaldi of Monaco (Hugo Becker). She also, at this point, is temporarily the mysterious and titular Gossip Girl. By the show’s final season, Georgina is using her evil powers for good (kind of) by helping Blair and Chuck evade the law after Chuck maybe accidentally kills his father. Oh, also, she’s been working as Dan’s informal book agent for a while at this point while he sells “Inside,” a scandalous tome based on his friends. (I told you this show was nuts.)

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Out of all the original cast members from “Gossip Girl,” only one appeared in the (admittedly dreadful) reboot that aired on Max from 2021 to 2023 … and that would be Georgina Sparks. (Technically, Kristen Bell returns as the voice of the title blogger Gossip Girl, but I’m not really counting that.) The baby Georgina once passed off as Dan’s love child, Milo, is all grown up in the reboot (played by Azhy Robertson), and in the show’s fourth-ever episode, “Fire Walk With Z,” Milo approaches the series’ resident doe-eyed, naïve newcomer Zoya Lott, played by Whitney Peak. When he invites Zoya to his house, we immediately see pictures of Georgina, giving fans a little Easter egg about her fate after the original show’s series finale. We eventually catch up with Georgina in person in the season 2 episode “How to Bury a Millionaire,” and she hasn’t changed at all, thankfully.

Once Georgina realizes that a teacher — specifically, Tavi Gevinson’s Kate Keller — at the exclusive Constance Billard prep school is the one running the modern Gossip Girl account, she springs into action, blackmailing Kate so that they have to work together to torture the school’s devious students. Her role in the reboot doesn’t last for long — and the show was canceled after two seasons anyway — but Georgina’s mere presence made the entire enterprise much more bearable than usual.

All of this context is to say that Georgina Sparks, despite not being on every episode of the show, represents everything it’s about in a way that basically no other character can (though, to be fair, Blair Waldorf routinely gives her a run for her money). Georgina exemplifies the strangest and most bonkers instincts of “Gossip Girl,” a show that’s always at its best when it takes absolutely nothing seriously. Remember when I mentioned that, in the show’s fifth and penultimate season, Blair marries a prince? I didn’t mention that he later turns out to be evil or that Georgina dresses up like a priest at the wedding in order to ruin all of it, but that’s exactly how silly this show becomes as it draws to a close. 

Every time Georgina shows up, a love child is revealed, a wedding is halted, a giant secret is revealed — or all three of those things happen, which is just an absolutely joy to behold. Again, “Gossip Girl” is not supposed to be “good,” per se. (Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage might disagree with my assessment, but they can come talk to me about it if they so please.) “Gossip Girl” is a show where beautiful, wealthy people enroll in college but never attend it, get impulsively married in Spain (to Armie Hammer, no less), buy hotels before they turn 21, get into car accidents and find God, and uncover scammers who infiltrate their ranks in order to bring them down. 

Amidst everyone that Blair, Serena, Nate, Chuck, and Dan destroy for petty crimes, Georgina is the only one who persists to create chaos all over again given the next available opportunity. As a character driven only by an insatiable thirst for disaster and drama, Michelle Trachtenberg’s performance as Georgina is the distillation of what makes “Gossip Girl” great: She’s always ridiculous, cocking an eyebrow, clutching a champagne glass, and waiting for the sh** to hit the fan. Georgina is the best thing about “Gossip Girl,” and if you want to watch all of her pitch-perfect appearances on the show, it’s streaming on Max now.