Giovanni Rufino/THE CWGossip Girl fans, you might want to sit down for this. The show returns after its winter break tonight, and if things are as they seem, there just might be a new romantic power duo on the scene. (*Ahem!*BlairAndDan!*Ahem!*) What's more, GG boss Stephanie Savage just told me "We absolutely have an endgame in mind for certain couples" and weighed in about Leighton Meester saying the show might end in two years …
When Gossip comes back tonight to the CW, Stephanie reveals that "a little bit of time has passed and you'll find out what's happened over the holidays." You may recall, Dan and Blair were the only two left in Manhattan for the winter break, so chances are pretty darn good they ended up running into each other—further firing up speculation that Dan and Blair are becoming something of a thing.
So where do Stephanie and fellow executive producer Josh Safran stand on the great Chuck and Blair vs. Dan and Blair debate that has been raging among fans? For now, Josh can tell you that writing for the new Blair and Dan dynamic has been "very fun actually" and fans might be surprised at how much Dan and Blair click.
"We always say that Dan and Blair are probably the most academic of the characters," Josh explains, "so they probably have more in common than people would expect…Chuck and Blair are sort of scheming. They're devious. And the sex and all that stuff comes out of that. And Dan and Serena have a sweet, kind, good, supportive and nurturing relationship. So I think Dan brings out in Blair a side of her that maybe Chuck doesn't. And Blair might bring out a side of Dan that Serena didn't."
"When you're writing two characters that don't like each other," Stephanie adds, "that's always definitely more fun than writing two characters that do like each other."
Leighton herself tells us she's still rooting for Chuck and Blair. "I think it's on hold right now, but I like them together," she just told our Cristina Gibson. "I'm a fan! I really think it's true love and they're really cute together but at the same time, maybe they've hurt each other a little bit too much and they need some separation."
Given Gossip Girl's ever more intricate web of romantic entanglements, you fans often ask, do the producers know how things will end up? Stephanie tells me: "There are certain couples that we absolutely have an endgame in mind for. And others, it feels like their journeys are more about exploring possibilities, and their paths are less set in stone."
Speaking of that endgame, when will Gossip Girl end? When asked about Leighton's recent comments that the show might not go beyond the actors' contracted two more seasons, Stephanie says: "Right now we're very much focused on finishing up season four, and we're hopeful we'll get a season-five pickup, and honestly that's where our focus is. It feels great to know fans are panicked about the possibility of not having season seven or beyond. But for us, we're very much focused on the here and the now and keeping the show healthy so that we could be so lucky to have that problem." Smart cookie.
Also on tap when Gossip Girl returns tonight: A new revenge-inspired partnership between step-sibs Serena and Chuck. "They sort of team up and realize they are after the same thing in different ways," says Josh. And Stephanie adds: "Yeah if you remember from the end of the last episode, Serena and Chuck were both really mad at Lily for separate reasons. And in the first episode when we get back, they discover there's a way they can work together to get Lily with one stone."
See what Dan, Blair, Serena and Chuck and the rest of the Upper East Side posse have been up to all these weeks we haven't had Kristen Bell's awesome voice to fill us in. And if you have anything to say about the Chuck and Blair versus Dan and Blair debate, our comments section is yours for the taking!