CW, INFphoto.comWho is Gossip Girl? Will Dan and Serena get together? Will Chuck and Blair get married and have tons of beautiful and conniving babies together? And can returning guest star Jenny Humphrey (Taylor Momsen) still open her eyelids after so many years of heavy eye-makeup layering?
These are the burning questions that will be answered tonight as the CW's first-ever hit, Gossip Girl, signs off after six "OMG"-worthy seasons.
To celebrate (and prepare!), we chatted with executive producer Stephanie Savage about what fans can expect from tonight's final two-hour episode. And here are five things you need to know:
1. The Gossip Girl Reveal Wasn't Planned All Along—but It Was a Possibility: Savage explains why she and the writers felt it important to reveal Gossip Girl's true identity in this last episode: "When you're thinking about a finale, you go back to the pilot, you think about everybody's series arcs and think what is the premise of the show? In this case, 'Who is Gossip Girl?' is a big part of the show. We had a thought in the back of our minds who Gossip Girl was, but we were never sure if we were going to reveal that. Was it something the audience wanted to know, or would they rather not know? We kept it very open. Then last year, we did a lot of storytelling with Gossip Girl and it felt right that this year, she would be revealed." She? Hmmm!
2. The Cast Was "Surprised" by Who Gossip Girl Turned Out to Be: "The actors were really excited and surprised," Savage tells me. "Everyone has had many theories over the years. I think they liked it."
3. The Writers Were "United" on How the Show's Core Couples Should End Up: "When you create a series," Savage explains, "you have an idea in the back of your mind where you think everybody is going to end up. But you have to be very open to the road the actors and characters take, which I think we really tried to be on Gossip Girl. In the end, I think I always felt I knew who I wanted to be together. By the time we were at the end of season five, the writers were all united about how we felt everything should end."
4. No Regrets: When asked if there are any storylines she would go back and change over the course of the series, Savage replies: "There are too many things to think about what you would do differently. That's one of the good and bad things about television, you have to keep going and you can't second guess yourself."
5. Don't Rule Out a Gossip Girl Movie. "It's funny we've never talked about [a movie] seriously until the show was actually ending," Savage says. "We've never had any legitimate conversations about doing a movie until we were saying goodbye. Then we said, 'We'll do a movie, Broadway show or reunion show, right?' Even though we are likely to see each other again it's not like we'll all be working together again, so that's where the fantasy starts."
Say so long to Gossip Girl tonight with two hours of Upper Eastside goodness on the CW—including a one-hour retrospective. Then come back to E! Online tonight for our take on what went down, and more scoop from showrunner Stephanie Savage tomorrow morning! After you watch the finale, tweet any questions you have to @kristindsantos and we'll ask her as many as we can.
Enjoy. XOXO