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Gossip Girl Spinoff Set for May

New show will flash back to the '80s

By Evann Gastaldo, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 15, 2009 11:00 AM CST

(Newser) – Gossip Girl fans, rejoice. After denying the rumors for months, the show’s producers now tell the Hollywood Reporter a spinoff is in the works. The new show will be set in the 1980s and tell the story Lily van der Woodsen—mom of Serena—and how fast times in Hollywood introduce Rufus Humphrey, and a secret pregnancy, as plot twists.

The new show will open with Lily being forced to leave her posh Montecito boarding school to move in with her sister in the—gasp!—Valley and go to—horrors!—public school. From there, she discovers the glitzy, fast-paced world of Hollywood and the Sunset Strip ... and, eventually, Rufus. The pilot will air as a regular Gossip Girl episode May 11.

[Images (5)]

[Videos (1)]

[Quotes (3)]

This undated photo supplied by the CW shows the cast of "Gossip Girl," Blake Lively, foreground; Leighton Meester and Chace Crawford, second row; Penn Badgley, Ed Westwick and Taylor Momsen, back row. (AP Photo/CW, Timothy White)

Kelly Rutherford plays Lily van der Woodsen on "Gossip Girl." The character will soon get her own spinoff, the Hollywood Reporter reports. (AP Photo/Stuart Ramson)

Matthew Settle plays Rufus Humphrey on "Gossip Girl." The character will feature prominently in the story of teenage love Lily van der Woodsen in the show's spinoff, the Hollywood Reporter reports. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)

In this image released by The CW, a print advertisement for "Gossip Girl" is shown. (AP Photo/The CW)

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Clips of Lily van der Woodsen and Rufus Humphrey from "Gossip Girl." The pair's story will be told in an upcoming spinoff show, the Hollywood Reporter reports. (cicitvshowfreak)

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We love exploring fashion, pop culture, music and a heightened world that's just a little more fun than the one we actually live in. LA in the '80s totally fits the bill. - Gossip Girl creator and executive producer Josh Schwartz

We can introduce characters in the past and see them again in the present or vice versa. Each show can inform and enrich the other, deepen the universe. - Gossip Girl creator and executive producer Josh Schwartz

Teenagers would be fascinated by the '80s, and their parents would want to relive it. - Gossip Girl creator and executive producer Josh Schwartz, on how the spinoff might bring a wider audience

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Gossip Girl Spinoff Set for May