Chace Crawford is getting real about the tough road he faced after Gossip Girl ended.
The 39-year-old actor rose to fame playing Nate Archibald on the CW hit series from 2007 to 2012, but once the show wrapped, things didn’t go as smoothly as people might assume.
On the Good Guys podcast with Josh Peck and Ben Soffer, Crawford revealed he felt like he was stuck in what he called “pretty boy jail.” According to him, despite the show’s success, he found himself boxed in by the typecasting that came with his CW heartthrob image.
“As big of a show as it was, coming off it as a still young guy, it’s like, ‘That’s not cool anymore,’” he explained. “I’m in this jail of the CW pretty boy who has no range. I felt that, and I was probably harder on myself than I needed to be.”
After Gossip Girl, Crawford tried to keep the momentum going with a role in ABC’s Blood + Oil, but the series was canceled after just one season in 2015. He also had a small part in Hulu’s Casual, but nothing really stuck. He admitted those post-Gossip Girl years felt like wandering through a “wilderness.”
“It was not lost on me how difficult after those four years of false starts on some TV shows… like, it could be difficult to find another thing,” he said. “People think actors make a ton more money and have way more agency than we actually do, depending on where you are.”
But everything changed when The Boys came along in 2019. Landing the role of The Deep marked a turning point. Crawford said the part immediately clicked with him: “I just remember that audition hitting my inbox and reading the synopsis, I was like, ‘That sounds wild!’”
He connected right away with the offbeat character. “The specific role of The Deep, I’m like, ‘I know that guy. I know a hundred of those guys.’ I instantly felt confident and excited about my take on the character,” he shared. “I was really, really appreciative when this happened.”
One of the show’s most talked-about moments involved The Deep and a surreal sex scene with an octopus, voiced by Tilda Swinton. Crawford admitted to Rolling Stone that he “almost had a panic attack” before filming it.
“I was in total denial about it… And then it got 24 hours out from the first day I had to shoot it,” he said. “I called Eric Kripke he’s so great. I was worried about the scene. I’m like, ‘How are we gonna do this? What are the angles gonna be? How naked do I have to be?’ He changed one shot for me. And it was great.”
With The Boys set to end after its fifth season in 2026, Crawford has firmly broken out of his “pretty boy” box and carved a more diverse, interesting path forward.
Jamie Wells has a knack for getting the inside scoop on Hollywood’s biggest stars and up-and-coming talent. With a sharp eye for industry trends and an ear for viral moments, Jamie covers everything from red-carpet events to behind-the-scenes drama in movies, TV, and celebrity culture.
