“We thought, what better way to get to create a genuine mystery with Whistledown than to have someone new take it over?” Jess shared with Entertainment Weekly in an interview published Feb. 26. “So Shonda and I have an idea about who Whistledown is and that’s what we’re writing toward.”
But if you’re hoping to find out who is taking up the quill, the Netflix series won’t be revealing the identity anytime soon. Although it will be planting a few clues over the next few seasons.
“I’ll say it won’t be revealed in season five,” Jess added. “I can say that we’ve already finished writing season five, so beyond that, I can’t say for sure, but we will play with the mystery for a little while.”
And as shown in the final episode of season four, Julie Andrews will stay on as the voice of Whistledown, although as Jess explained, the Mary Poppins alum has “as slightly different tone” this time around.
“Julie gave us a great performance with just altering her voice just a little bit,” she said. “And that’s a little bit of a hint of the way the new Whistledown is gonna be a little bit different from Penelope’s version of Whistledown.”