(Photo: Giovanni Riano/The CW)

Gossip Girl has a new villain: Aaron Rose, a passive-aggressive, poly-dating trust-funded artist and the latest love interest of Serena van der Woodsen. Played by John Patrick Amedori, Rose is the ultimate regrettable ex. Cecily von Ziegesar, who wrote the Gossip Girl books, finds him too much: “I do not believe that Serena would go for icky Aaron as he is portrayed on the show,” she says. “He’s so slimy! He’s just … ick.” In the books, she insists, Aaron Rose isn’t so bad. “He smokes herbal cigarettes and eats vegan and has cute mini-dreadlocks,” she says. “He is not an artist. He’s more like a happy suburban hippie. He gets in early to Harvard, infuriating Blair. He and Serena fall in love, but it only lasts for about one book.”

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• Archive: “Intelligencer”
• Articles by Jessica Pressler
• Table of Contents: Dec 22, 2008 issue of New York | Subscribe!