Chace Crawford Details His Struggle to Find Work After Huge Success on ‘Gossip Girl’

Chace Crawford felt trapped in a “box” following his success as Nate on Gossip Girl.

The actor, 39, reflected on the lull in his career following the success of the CW teen drama, which ran from 2007 to 2012, before landing his role as The Deep in Prime Video’s The Boys.

“First of all, [people] think actors make a ton more money and have way more agency than we actually do, depending on where you are [in your career]. I felt like I was in the wilderness for years after Gossip Girl,” Crawford shared on Thursday’s episode of Josh Peck and Ben Soffer’s Good Guys podcast.

“As big of a show as it was, coming off [it] as a still young guy, it’s like, ‘That’s not cool anymore,’ and I’m in this box,” he continued. “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.”

Before landing his role on The Boys in 2019, Crawford appeared in ABC’s single-season drama Blood & Oil in 2015, as well as three episodes of Hulu’s Casual from 2017 to 2018.

“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,” Crawford said of that stage of his career.

Luckily, he would soon find another hit with The Boys. “I just remember that audition hitting my inbox and reading the synopsis, I was like, ‘That sounds wild!’ And then reading the pilot, I was like, ‘Oh, this is great. This is so out-there and original and weird,” he recalled. “And 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 continued, “I was really, really appreciative when this happened.”

The Boys, which has aired for four seasons on Prime Video, is set to air its fifth and final season in 2026. The satirical superhero show’s spinoff, Gen V, has aired two seasons so far after making its debut in 2023.