Homages to Breakfast at Tiffany's, Sunday brunches, lost weekends and lots of brightly-dressed beautiful people with biting wit and a penchant for drama. This is the world of Gossip Girl, and you know you love it, don't lie.

The first-year series returned for five post-strike episodes a couple weeks back, and has been building up to expose a shocking secret from Serena van der Woodsen's past. Turns out 'S' didn't leave town just because she did the nasty with Nate. No, there's more to this story.

I scored some one-on-one time with executive producer, Stephanie Savage (photo, left, along with Blake Lively, Taylor Momsen and Leighton Meester), who was kind enough to chat on the subject, and share a few details on what we can expect from the show's other major players …

So … Serena's secret. Tell me that all will be revealed tonight.
You will get significantly more information [tonight] and then the final pieces will be revealed [next week] in our second-to-last episode. There are going to be some big flashbacks to the night of the Shepherd wedding where we'll see what happened to Serena the night she left Nate.

How far-reaching will the impact of this big reveal be? I hear Dan's reaction to the situation will put his relationship with Serena in serious jeopardy.
Well, Dan and Serena's relationship has already been strained by the reappearance of Georgina, but this will definitely take things further. 

Word is Serena's going to spiral downward and it will be Nate, Chuck and Blair who come together to bring her back. Obviously, there's bad blood between Blair and both Nate and Chuck right now. Will this turn of events change their dynamic?
Not so much in [tonight's] episode, but in the following episode, when Serena's put in jeopardy, you will see Blair, Nate and Chuck put their differences aside to help Serena.

Any chance you'll go back to exploring a pairing between Nate and Serena sometime soon?
Um … not immediately.

How about Blair and Chuck? They are kindred spirits of the devil incarnate, no? Self-centered, rude, skilled at scheming and excluding those they deem unworthy—yet still sort of likeable. Was their blossoming relationship something you planned all along, or a result of Leighton Meester and Ed Westwick's chemistry?
Well, at the end of the pilot, there is the scene where you see Chuck and Blair together. Chuck has just been punched in the face by Dan and Blair has just been socially humiliated by Serena, and you see the two of them sort of looking at each other like, this isn't going to happen on our watch, something must be done about this. They don't really have any scenes alone together until this point at the very end, and that was definitely intentional. [Executive Producer] Josh [Schwartz] and I wanted to keep them in their own worlds during the pilot and then put them together like, oh what would happen if these two evil geniuses [combined] their superpowers? And when we got into telling those stories, we loved Chuck and Blair together. The characters' energy, and also Leighton and Ed's energy, was so good that we just started writing more and more to that.

So we can safely say there will be more fireworks on the Chuck/Blair front?
Yes.

Despite the fact that Blair seems to still have residual feelings for Nate? The look on her face last week when she saw him get into the car with Vanessa was priceless. Is this pairing going to last?
Yeah. You'll see the build up of that, and I can tell you that Nate brings Vanessa as his date to Lily and Bart's wedding.

So that is definitely going down, huh?
It is. I won't tell you if the marriage goes off without a hitch, but there is a wedding that people do attend.

Will Rufus nab an invite?
Rufus is not invited to the wedding. But that doesn't mean he won't make an appearance.

Looking forward to tonight, one of your young characters will come out of the closet and add a whole new element to the series, no?
Yes, and that was something that the network was very sensitive to. I feel very proud of how we've handled this story. It's a beautifully written and acted episode and I think people will respond to it.

• Check Out Zap2it's Guide to 'Gossip Girl'

Comments

whoah what a cool interview! loves. it!

nana | May 5, 2008 6:15:51 AM | #

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Great interview, Korbi! Thanks for the scoop. I am hopelessly addicted to this show. :)

Ali | May 5, 2008 7:58:05 AM | #

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I heard from Perez Hilton that part of this secret has to do with the fact Serena might have had a fling with Georgina. Hmm....

Alicia | May 5, 2008 8:33:15 AM | #

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Thanks for the interview, Korbi!! Good scoop, I can't wait for tonight's episode of GOSSIP GIRL.

bella | May 5, 2008 8:42:21 AM | #

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great interview! Thanks for all those delicious spoilers.

CB for the win. I knew they were planned from the beginning!

soholove | May 5, 2008 9:25:11 AM | #

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Holler! Congrats on the launch! =)

Nat | May 5, 2008 9:26:04 AM | #

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okay, i have not been watching but now i am might actually give it a go. if korbi thinks it's worth it, so do i!

monkey par | May 5, 2008 9:40:00 AM | #

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OMG ...the Chuck/Blair info just made my day!! WOHOO!!!

I liked Gossip Girl before CB happened but I fell in LOVE with Gossip Girl because of CB

CB have the largest fanbase on Gossip Girl for a reason!!!

Sonia | May 5, 2008 9:41:05 AM | #

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Great, great interview Korbi. CB info made my day as well.

Nikole | May 5, 2008 10:18:13 AM | #

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Chuck and Blair FOREVER!!!

katdee | May 5, 2008 2:22:10 PM | #

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Wow, Korbi - you defected!!!! I was so bummed you left E!.... but yay that I spotted your blog shout out in tv gal amy's column!!

Angelfied | May 5, 2008 3:10:19 PM | #

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Way to score a nice interview, chica!

Dee | May 5, 2008 6:29:01 PM | #

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awesome, thanks for the scoop, please keep more Gossip Girl news coming! :)

MJ | May 5, 2008 7:20:17 PM | #

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got a feeling i am going to love this blog....you and tvgal put together....equals great tv news!

MEEKS | May 5, 2008 8:12:35 PM | #

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Wow Korbi, great interview! I always read you over on WWK and it's great to see you have your own place :-)

Josh C. | May 5, 2008 9:08:55 PM | #

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that was a good interview :D
I cant wait until tonight's episode!
last week was the best. it gave me chills at least five times and I cried for some reason&&sat there in front of the tv for a while thinking lol

Emilyy :] | May 19, 2008 3:09:57 PM | #

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