Deep breaths, Gossip Girl fans, deep breaths.

We just talked to executive producer Josh Safran about last night’s shocking scene between Chuck (Ed Westwick) and Blair (Leighton Meester), and as Safran puts it, “We feel it’s very important to know that she is not scared—if anything, she is scared for Chuck, and what he might do to himself—but she is never afraid of what he might do to her. Leighton and I were very clear about that.” Moreover, the Basshole is due for a “reckoning,” just as soon as he comes to his senses, which will take in the midst of the “thrilling” and “uplifting” two-part finale.

Will Blair get her fairy tale? And who is the prince in question? That guy from Europe or, as Serena (Blake Lively) pointed out, that guy who has his own Upper East Side Empire?

Q&A with Gossi Girl Executive Producer Josh Safran

I thought it was interesting that Chuck actually grabbed her and that the consequence of that fight was Blair had the most perfect, beautiful, dainty injury, which are two symbolically significant things. Did this moment verge on abuse? What was going on in this scene?
The way we viewed it, I think it’s very clear that Blair is not afraid in those moments, for herself. They have a volatile relationship, they always have, but I do not believe—or I should say we do not believe—that it is abuse when it’s the two of them. Chuck does not try to hurt Blair. He punches the glass because he has rage, but he has never, and will never, hurt Blair. He knows it and she knows it, and I feel it’s very important to know that she is not scared—if anything, she is scared for Chuck—and what he might do to himself, but she is never afraid of what he might do to her. Leighton and I were very clear about that.

Chuck is usually defined by his cold, emotional distance, but here he’s out of control and slobbering drunk. What is he doing?
This whole season has been a struggle for Chuck to understand who he is…He opens the season as Henry Prince, because he did not want to be Chuck Bass anymore. Even when he got surer footing, and he was like, “OK, I can be Chuck Bass again,” he was dealt another curve ball, the story with his father and the Thorpes, and looking at, “What am I born from?” The conflict for the year for Chuck has been “Who am I? What am I?” And you have to hit rock bottom before you can rise up again. That is our trajectory for Chuck, right now, and for this season.

Is this rock bottom, or is there further to go?
I would like to say “Wait and see,” but I would be hard-pressed to think that there is any more rock bottom than this. And by the way, it was a conscious decision to make the rock bottom episode 20 and not 22, so that there’s still room to go.

So at the moment Chuck is sort of a basket case?
He needed to go out of control—sometimes you have to go out of control to take stock and look at yourself and realize who you are.

I have to imagine that the morning after he’s also going to look at Blair and see that he caused the world’s most picturesque wound and react to that accordingly. Where do you go in the next two episodes in terms of Chuck’s emotional arc?
There is definitely a reckoning.

“Reckoning” could mean a lot of things. Is Chuck going to be in a gunfight?
I can’t say, but you saw who Raina (Tika Sumpter) called at the end of the episode. There’s two things that we’ve shown that can touch Chuck’s Achilles’ heel, and they are Blair and Jack Bass (Desmond Harrington). And to have both of them in the same episode, what’s that gonna be?

Ah, Chuck…He’s such a classic romantic hero, like Rhett Butler, sort of strong enough that you can stretch him pretty far.
Sure, we talk about these classic movies all the time, and sometimes the audience just likes it better when it’s The Philadelphia Story, or Breakfast at Tiffany’s, but you have to talk about these other movies as well. Each character can’t just be in romantic comedies all the time.

He’s always had that Gothic thing, and those guys are always imbued with a dark side in addition to their vulnerability about their girlfriends. Would you say that the next two episodes are a time of strength for Chuck or a time of weakness?
All I will say is that I’m sure you’ve seen the picture of Chair on chairs. That’s not a dream sequence; they’re smiling, and you know…How about that?

Where’s Blair, emotionally, at this point? She’s with her prince, but Chuck said to her face that we all knew she wasn’t going to get with him—plus, he’s just a guest star. What is she telling herself at the end of this episode?
Blair’s always believed in fairy tales, and she even opens this season talking about fairy tales. It was always our intention to let Blair have a fairy tale, but the rose in a fairy tale still has thorns on it. Chuck may be—in last night’s episode—the thorns for that rose; but Blair is moving towards accepting that she can have a fairy tale.

I’m hearing a lot of, “If you go back to the beginning of the season, you’ll see that we did some stuff here.” Can we assume that as fans that if we went back to the first part of the season, we’d see the seeds planted that are going to come to fruition in the finale?
Absolutely, it is very, very much of a piece, this season. We just made that choice and stuck with it.

As for the finale, do you like to end things on cliffhangers? Do you like to tie things up in bows?
The next episode is actually a two-parter, episodes 21 and 22 [are one story and] take place in a little more than one night. And then there’s little bit more jumping ahead like we have in the past. There are definitely cliffhangers. I’m trying to think, do we tie stuff up in bows? Well, every bow has a string that someone can pull, some I’m not entirely sure if we tied up anything, but I feel like this year, more than ever before, the map of the next season will become very clear in the finale. So even when there are cliffhangers in this finale, they very much tell a story of where we are going, as opposed to shooting Chuck and not knowing if he’s alive.

In that two-part, what one scene or moment are you most excited for people to see?
There’s never one moment. You’re asking the wrong person, because I’m proud of and stand by every storylines, even the ones that people don’t love and the ones that don’t get accepted the way we hope they will. I have to stand by both “the good and the bad.” I really love both episode 21 and 22. Coming to the end of the season is always really fun for us, because we really do get to look back and tie things together…the only thing I’m sad about is that I wish they were airing on the same night, because I do think that 21 and 22—because they’re the first time we’ve ever done a two-parter—are really complementary. At the same time, I would love to just be an audience member watching, because 21 ends on a cliffhanger. Watching and waiting a whole week could be superfun; we don’t get that luxury because we know what’s going to happen. There’s lovely moments and thrilling moments in both parts, and I think it’s really going to feel like a ride. Last year’s finale felt like a descent into despair, because that’s what was happening with Chuck and Jenny (Taylor Momsen); this one feels more like a thrill ride with happy uplifting moments and happy scary moments, but not necessarily despair.

Source: E Online

I have uploaded new screen captures of Leighton Meester in “Gossip Girl” 4×20′ The Princess And The Frog‘.

I’ve added new promotional stills of Leighton Meester featured in the upcoming episode of “Gossip Girl” Season 4×21, Shattered Bass.

GALLERY LINK:

• (x003) Gossip Girl: Season 4: Stills > 4×21 Shattered Bass

I have uploaded new screen captures of Leighton Meester in “Gossip Girl” 4×19, Petty In Pink to the gallery.

GALLERY LINK:

• (x386) Gossip Girl: Season 4: Screen Captures > 4×19 Petty In Pink

Watch the preview clip of Leighton Meester on the upcoming episode of  ’4×20: The Princesses & The Frog’.

Are Dan and Blair over already? Blair’s blunt brush-off last week certainly made it seem that way, but this is Gossip Girl and there’s just no way fans would be rewarded with so little pay-off.

That said, we’ve got some unresolved issues. Why do we care about Raina, again? Will Vanessa stop pining for Dan? And haven’t all the lead actors said recently that they want to move on from the show?

Gossip Girl’s Billy Baldwin: William will once again rock the apple card

With these questions burning a hole in our gut, and just four episodes left this season, we turn to executive producer Joshua Safran, who gives TVGuide.com the dirt on that, as well as what to expect for Blair and her trio of suitors, whether or not Ben is really out of Serena’s life, and where new girl Charlie fits in.

Are Dan and Blair (Penn Badgley and Leighton Meester) over already? We refuse to believe it.
Joshua Safran: No, keep watching. Of course that story is not over.

Go on…
Safran: What I will say is Dan and Blair were four seasons in the making. To come to the place where they were able to admit they were friends was four seasons in the making, so hopefully it will not take another four seasons to find another level in their friendship. The story between them is not over.

So is Chuck (Ed Westwick) in trouble? And we also have Prince Louis (Hugo Becker) back on the scene. It seems like Blair is the new Serena (Blake Lively).
Safran: Maybe! There are people who we’re in love with when we’re 16, and they’re not the people you end up with — unless they are the people you end up with. The writers are on the same journey with Blair as she takes it. Who knows where it will end up? Obviously, Chuck and Blair have a bond and connection that will never truly be severed, but does that mean they end up together in a conventional sense? We’ll see.

But have you mapped it out in your own mind?
Safran: No. That’s one of the things I love so much about television. You get to continue and grow with the characters. The only time I would ever say we had an endgame is if we knew the show was ending. The show is not ending and we look forward to going down the road with these characters. Hopefully that’s many years off…

In the past several months, a lot of your actors have expressed that maybe they’re ready to move on from Gossip Girl. What do you make of that? Are you anticipating it?
Safran: At this point, we’re waiting for our Season 5 pickup and our actors are all contracted through the end of Season 6, so we look very much forward to working with them for at least the next two years.

Taylor Momsen is included in that?
Safran: Jenny remains very much a part of the show. As for whether she returns this season, I have to say wait and see — I don’t want to spoil it! As for the future, we’re still waiting on a Season 5 pickup before we decide anything.

OK, moving on. Is Ben (David Call) gone for good? It seemed like he and Serena were just getting started?
Safran: There are no plans in the next five episodes for him to return, but the story continues.

Did you feel like the Ben storyline was working?
Safran: We had planned well ahead of time that this was going to be the number of episodes for that story because it was part of a larger arc. It had to lead to Lilly’s arrest. So, it wasn’t a question of working or not working — it was always our intention to leave it where we did. We’re happy with the way it played out. But it’s Gossip Girl, and there’s always a chance for people to return, whether it’s bearing new secrets or just coming back. In our minds, the doors are never closed to anyone.

Tell us about The Thorpes giving Chuck and Lily (Kelly Rutherford) so much trouble. Now that Lily is under house arrest, what role does Raina (Tika Sumpter), still serve, other than to make things weird between Chuck and Nate?
Safran: Well, the Thorpes are all part of the same spine, which is sort of ‘the sins of the father,’ or parents rather, that we’ve created this year. You’ll see in the last episodes what exactly transpired between Bart and Raina’s father Russell (Michael Boatman)and Raina’s mother — that story is of a piece with the Lilly story.

As for Raina, she is like most of our kids — the child of this parent who didn’t necessarily go about things the right way, and now the child is paying the price for it. She has that in common with Chuck, and also Nate. It’s very much a running theme with our leads, and we thought she folded in nicely.

What’s the deal with Charlie (Kaylee DeFer)? Our initial thought was Single White Female—
Safran: Sweet Charlie? No!

OK, that’s just the way our minds work then. We’ll revise: What is Sweet Charlie’s deal coming in this late in the game? She’s like a have, raised as a have-not.
Safran: Right. She hasn’t been allowed to be a part of it, so she’s coming to grips with just what she has missed her entire life. Whether it’s the family she didn’t know or the money she never experienced the luxury of. It’s about what getting all that does to her. Also, it’s about her maybe having feelings for somebody…

Somebody named Dan. Gotcha! Speaking of Dan, Vanessa (Jessica Szohr) always seem to get a raw deal. Everyone’s always rooting for Dan and Serena, and this season she really stepped in it teaming up with Juliet (Katie Cassidy) and Little J. Are we supposed to dislike her? Or is she just making bad decisions?
Safran: Vanessa, in my mind, always serves an important purpose. She’s Dan’s childhood best friend, and she’s watched him slowly become more and more consumed by the Upper East Side — or pulled into it, as it were. His father married into it. She’s sort of that voice of reason for Dan.

Now, whether or not that’s true reason or what she thinks is true reason, because Dan is going to a place she didn’t want him to, that’s what we deal with in terms of Vanessa. That’s what we play with. In these last five episodes, she’s very much trying to help get Dan back to his roots. There are fans that don’t like her and fans that do. But as writers, she serves a very specific purpose and without her there wouldn’t be a balance.

Source: TV Guide

I have uploaded new promotional stills of Leighton Meester in “Gossip Girl” 4×20, The Princess And The Frog to the gallery.

GALLERY LINK:

• (x003) Gossip Girl: Season 4: Stills > 4×20 The Princess And The Frog

Watch out, Serena (Blake Lively). There’s a new blond coming to the Upper East Side and something tells us she’s about to stir things up in a big way.

Kaylee DeFer makes her “Gossip Girl” debut on tonight’s (Apr. 18) episode, “The Kids Stay in the Picture,” as Serena’s cousin from Florida, Charlie. After watching the first two episodes back, Zap2it couldn’t miss the opportunity to hang out with DeFer backstage at the KTLA Morning Show.

“Charlie has a very difficult relationship with her mother, whose played by Sheila Kelley, and my whole life my mom told me that the Van Der Woodsens are these horrible people,” DeFer says of Charlie’s first appearance on the UES. “When I find out that my mom gets asked to come and be a part of this family photo shoot, I decide I want to come and find out for myself what it’s all about.”

The arrival of any UES newcomer begs the question: Are they good or bad? If we’ve learned anything from “GG,” it’s that newcomers usually can’t be trusted. (See: Juliet Sharpe, Jack Bass, Russell Thorpe, etc.) DeFer wouldn’t reveal too much, but tells us, “She’s different from everyone. She has her layers. She’s not just one or the other. I think that people are really going to relate to her, but things get twisted.”

Fans can expect Charlie to get caught in the show’s love… hexagon as it seems she’s going to form a connection with Dan (Penn Badgley). DeFer teases,”Well, It’s ‘Gossip Girl.’ There might be a few opportunities for that to happen.”

This wouldn’t be the first time Kaylee has played Badgley’s love interest. The two starred together on the short-lived WB series “The Mountain.” “Penn’s super easy to work with. He’s really fun. He’s such a down-to-earth real guy,” DeFer tells us of working with Badgley again. “We just kind of goofed off the whole time.”

When we asked DeFer for a finale tease, she would only say, “Charlie does end up finally coming in contact with everyone.” In the second episode back, “Petty in Pink,” airing on Apr. 25, we kind of got the vibe that Charlie may have been purposefully avoiding Dan’s ex-BFF Vanessa (Jessica Szohr). Hm… could Charlie have a secret connection to Vanessa?

Finally, DeFer tells us how she landed the part of Charlie… and which role she originally auditioned for on the CW show.

“I originally auditioned for the role that Tika Sumpter has [Raina]. The producers, Stephanie Savage and Joe Lazarov, saw my tape and they were like, ‘Oh my gosh, Kaylee! We haven’t seen her in so long,’ and I got a phone call from Stephanie saying they were writing this character and they saw my audition and thought of me,” DeFer explains. “It was a really interesting, cool, unique process where they had me in mind, wrote this character and I kind of just jumped into it. It was a huge honor. That never happens in Hollywood. It’s never happened to me at least! It was a very easy auditioning process.”

Source: Zip 2 It