'Gossip Girl' gets busy again with Chuck-Blair, Blair-Nate, Nate-Jenny, Blair-Dan?!

"Gossip Girl" is back tonight after yet another strangely-timed hiatus. Thought I'd remind you of its return with a little "GG" Q&A, answers courtesy of exec producer Stephanie Savage...

Have the "Gossip Girl" producers read all the "Gossip Girl" books? I'm curious to know how familiar they are with them. -Kris
Savage told me they read most of the books. And they got familiar with the stories in the ones they skipped by studying summaries. As fans of both the books and the show already know though, the producers are on their own path: "A lot of the stories we're telling are not in the books whatsoever -- the whole Chuck and Blair romance [for example] -- so there's not a lot of material we can draw on. [The show] has to grow and expand and be its own thing."

Everyone's all about Chuck-Blair/Blair-Nate blah blah blah. What about Jenny and Nate? I thought they were great together. Will we ever see them reunited? -Christina
Sounds like it. Just not anytime soon. Said Savage, "Nate and Jenny is actually a really big story in the books and we sort of dipped our toe into that pool a few times. As the characters get older and start to feel the same age, that is definitely material I think we can revisit."

There's no way all the "Gossip Girl" kids would end up staying in NYC after high school graduation. Please tell me that's not going to happen. -Deborah
I read this question to Stephanie and she responded by saying, "Well, New York is a pretty big city." Personally, I think they should let Dan go off to Yale. We can see him every now and then when he comes home to visit or when Jenny goes down to Connecticut for college debauchery weekends with big brother... but somehow I doubt that'll happen. Still, Savage ensures there will for sure be changes: "It really is kind of a major -- and I think very exciting -- reconfiguration of the show, to leave high school behind and to allow all of our characters to reinvent themselves outside of that construct. They'll [discover] what it means to kind of be a part of the bigger world, so you can expect to see new couples, new family configurations, people living in different places than you last saw them. We're having a lot of fun thinking about that... keep everything that everyone loves [about "Gossip Girl"], but also really kind of move everyone forward as well."

Is Vanessa going to school next year? Will she continue her education? -Cat
Savage said we'll have to wait and see, but she also said, don't forget, Vanessa took her SATs.

Any more major "Gossip Girl" deaths I should expect? -Jesse
Nah. Stephanie doesn't see that happening. "I think we have a pretty tight cast and I think we would only be interested in adding, not subtracting."

More Dorota please. -Jennifer
Not to worry, Savage said they knew Dorota was a super star straight away and will continue writing for her. Were you aware that the actress who plays her, Zuzanna Szadkowski, actually speaks Polish, so the producers decide what they want Dorota to say and then rely on Zuzanna to translate it for her character's lines?

On "Gossip Girl" I need to know, will Dan and Blair ever be romantically involved? -Petra
The producers aren't opposed to it. When I questioned Stephanie about a Dan-Blair pairing, she said, "There are only so many characters on our show, so everyone needs to be open to being with everyone at some point."

Thoughts?