GOSSIP GIRL’s Josh Safran and Stephanie Savage Dish on Blair’s Wedding, The Love Square and the Huge Gossip Girl Reveal

[Spoiler alert: Do not read this post until you’ve watched the 100th episode of GOSSIP GIRL! Seriously, you do not want to ruin what happened for yourself, so turn around, watch the episode and then come back here to read all about what went down!]

Holy GOSSIP GIRL episode 100!

Not only was there a pretty crazy wedding, but who would have thought that was only the start of the romantic drama?! Oh, yeah, and there was a potential Gossip Girl reveal which has been 100 episodes in the making.

So what’s next? GOSSIP GIRL executive producers Josh Safran and Stephanie Savage sat down with reporters last week to talk about where the show goes from here…

Blair’s a runaway bride!

Blair may have said “I do” to Louis, but the second she realized he only went through with the wedding as a business arrangement (after he was humiliated to find out — at the altar! — that there was a tape of Blair confessing her love for Chuck), she had her good friend Dan help her escape from her wedding reception.

“We knew that she was going to test [Louis],” Safran explained. “Just being Blair would test anyone.”

“And just being in our Upper East Side world would test him,” added Savage.

“So we definitely knew it was going to be him getting darker, because the closer you’re around all this scheming and these people, the more it starts to affect you,” Safran noted. “But what we liked is that they were ultimately able to pull back and look at each other from a good place and yet this was the final straw. I think he thinks after everything they’ve gone through with the baby, we’re both finally on the same page, we’re both back to square one, we’ve weathered the toughest storms we could, and we’re not a unit. So for her to go to this place on their wedding day was too much. Especially after his mother was like, ‘Be practical.'”

And if you’re still chafing over the Dan/Blair quasi-relationship, the producers maintained that they feel it is an authentic direction for these characters to take.

“I don’t think we view it as caving to fans,” Safran said. “That story is going to go in an interesting direction.”

“I think from the beginning, we always felt that there was a really strong connection between the two of them,” Savage added. “Actually the first episode that Josh ever wrote for us had one of my favorite scenes of the series, and it was a Dan/Blair scene — where she was confiding in Dan about her feelings about her mother. And the idea that these two people, one is the queen bee and one is the lonely boy, but they actually have a lot in common. Compared to their other friends, the sense that intellectual curiosity and interest in things outside their own world, I mean, they’ve always had a strong connection with each other. It was just a question of was it ever going to become — we always knew they would become friends, but it was a question of whether it would be more than that.”

“And I think the question still remains, but we definitely are going with that story,” Safran said. “And we knew last year when they connected in a new way that we were going to plan to come back to that connection. It wasn’t a ‘oh, let’s see how it goes and then pull back.’ It was a weird thing to do…to go to that place that you thought you’d never go with kind of your sworn enemy in a way. So that’s why the pulled back, but they still have been thinking about it ever since and we’ll see where they go from here.

So where do Dan and Blair go from here?

“What I will say is the next episode actually is a direct pickup and is the same night,” Safran teased. “So the reactions are very much immediate…You’re going to be following with [Chuck and Serena] as they learn [Blair ran off with Dan]. You’re going to see them learn, you’re going to see what they do about it, how it impacts them. And definitely the story of the next episode is Chuck and Serena together dealing with Dan and Blair together.”

As to where Dan and Blair physically go, the producers declined to say where it was, but said it would be an unexpected location.

“You will learn that in the top of the next episode,” Safran said. “It’s better than just going to Brooklyn. They go someplace we’ve never shot before that we’ve always wanted to shoot. It was a really complicated, but super fun, big, great set piece. And it also has in my mind, some of the best comedy we’ve ever done. That next episode is really funny.”

But don’t think for one second that Blair will be able to get away with this with no complications.

“[She’ll have] all sorts of consequences,” Safran said. “A lot. This is not taken lightly what she does at the end of the episode.”

Good thing Blair will have her parents to lean on in the coming weeks.

“They are very much involved in her story from this point forward,” Safran said. “They’re dealing also with happened and in future episodes as well, Blair seeks the council of her parents.”

And what about Dan? So far, Blair has leaned on him more than anyone else, but given his feelings for her — and her awareness that he wrote her vows — is he going to start questioning her about why she always turns to him?

“I think Dan feels the same way,” Safran answered. “I think at a certain point, he probably won’t be able to stand feeling that anymore and will force Blair to not treat him that way. Or not treat him at all.”

Hm.

And if you were wondering whether Blair can get an annulment and the latest on her pact with God, the producers hinted both issues would be dealt with in the next episode.

Chuck and Blair are as star-crossed as ever.

Blair may love Chuck, but that wasn’t enough to keep her from marrying Louis. So are the twosome over?

“Chuck and Blair are never over,” assured Safran. “I think it’s just — there’s always been a thorn in the side of Chuck somewhere and I think maybe it’ll be Dan. Maybe it will be someone else…With the two of them, it’s a very tortured relationship for both of them. And I think in a weird way, I think sometimes people love that torture and sometimes people can’t stand that torture. And I think that’s going to be some of the balance for what happens for a little while.”

And while their dance has been going on for seasons, Savage noted it’s really been a small portion of these characters’ lives.

“They’re young!” she laughed. “It seems like a long time in the course of the life of the show, but in the course of their actual lives…who hasn’t had four or five years of torture? ”

As for Chuck’s newfound serenity and peace, it certainly appears Chuck 2.0 will stick around for a bit.

“It will always be tested,” Safran said. “We were very conscious to make sure he did not slide back after 12, because we do believe that Chuck has learned and that evolution is real. It’s not so easily lost or so easily gained. Although he will continue to be tested, I think he approaches these tests as, ‘I really don’t want to slide back’ as opposed to ‘It’s so easy to slide back, I’m just going to do it.'”

Serena is the odd woman out.

Poor Serena. Just when she confesses her love (again) for Dan, he takes off with her BFF.

“Obviously it’s going to rankle Serena when she discovers what’s happening between Blair and Dan,” Safran said. “But I think it’s key that these characters are growing up and you don’t go to Defcon 4 when you find these things out. You try and deal with them in a more rational, direct, honest manner. But that doesn’t mean you can’t go to Defcon 4.”

Gossip Girl is…Georgina?!

Not surprisingly, the fastest way to drive the GOSSIP GIRL executive producers to silence is to try and get some additional information on the identity of Gossip Girl.

When I asked whether the original Gossip Girl might take some issue with Georgina’s website, Safran was coy.

“Is it a new Gossip Girl site?” he teased. When I asked him if he could clarify whether Georgina was the original Gossip Girl we’ve known for 100 episodes, he would only say “we will not answer that question.”

Whether it’s a new Gossip Girl or not, the producers said that this reveal will allow the audience a backstage look at what it takes to run the infamous website.

“You’re going to see Georgina try to get even more dirt and gossip and stick around and cause so much trouble,” Safran said. “She has this role. And now that you see she has this role, you’re now invited into a process that for years you haven’t seen. So I think seeing that process of just how Gossip Girl gets her tips and what she does to get her tips is really fun and a new thing.”

“You get to really go behind the curtain of the Wizard and see [what’s going on],” Savage added.

And Blair might have been her first victim, but that doesn’t mean anyone else should feel safe.

“Yeah, Georgina will set her sights on everybody, always,” Safran laughed. “Georgina would take herself down if it got the biggest explosion…Maximum damage just makes her laugh. The more she can laugh, the better.”

But look out Gossip Girl — Nate and Serena still have it out for you.

“The [taking down] Gossip Girl storyline continues the whole year,” Safran said. “Whether this arc with Gossip Girl concludes or not [at the end of the season], I’m not saying.”

But was Georgina the one who sent the video of Blair’s confession of love for Chuck or the one who was texting with Nate about the crash? The EPs declined to answer.

But Kristen Bell fans shouldn’t fear, because even with Georgina taking control, you will still hear the Bell voice-overs we’ve grown used to.

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What do you think GOSSIP GIRL fans? Did you like “G.G.”?

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