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Season Four ended with Chuck Bass's (Ed Westwick) heartbreaking decision to step aside and let Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) begin her new life as a Princess-to-be with her fiancé, Prince Louis (Hugo Becker). Meanwhile, Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively), in sunny Los Angeles, was offered a fantastic summer job working for an A-List Hollywood director just as we discovered that Serena's cousin, Charlie (Kaylee Defer), was the real actress in the family! Back in New York, a newly single Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford) convinced Chuck to go on a hedonistic summer trip around the globe while Dan Humphrey's (Penn Badgley) oldest friend went behind his back and found an editor to anonymously publish his autobiographical novel, "Inside." Season Five will open in the City of Angels when a reenergized Chuck and Nate decide to pay Serena a visit. Back home, Blair learns that planning a royal wedding can be a royal pain, and Dan discovers the ramifications of writing candidly about his closest friends. Finally, the surprise return of cousin Charlie will threaten to destroy the Van Der Woodsen family from within. Watch out Upper East Siders, this season nobody's safe, and everybody's going to be sorry….XOXO, Gossip Girl.

The series stars Blake Lively as Serena van der Woodsen, Leighton Meester as Blair Waldorf, Penn Badgley as Dan Humphrey, Chace Crawford as Nate Archibald, Taylor Momsen as Jenny Humphrey, Ed Westwick as Chuck Bass, Jessica Szohr as Vanessa Abrams, Kelly Rutherford as Lily van der Woodsen and Matthew Settle as Rufus Humphrey. Filmed in New York and based on the popular series of young-adult novels by Cecily von Ziegesar, GOSSIP GIRL is from Fake Empire and Alloy Entertainment in association with Warner Bros. Television and CBS Television Studios with executive producers Josh Schwartz ("Chuck," "The O.C."), Stephanie Savage ("The O.C."), Leslie Morgenstein ("The Vampire Diaries"), Bob Levy ("The Vampire Diaries"), and Joshua Safran.

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The proverbial fish-out-of-water at the prep school are Dan (Penn Badgley, "John Tucker Must Die," "The Bedford Diaries") and his sister Jenny (Taylor Momsen, "Paranoid Park," "How The Grinch Stole Christmas"), middle-class kids whose background keeps them on the fringes of this exclusive clique. Dan and Jenny are attending the school at the insistence of their father Rufus (Matthew Settle, "Into The West"), a former rocker turned art gallery owner, determined to give his kids a first-class education. Rufus has a history with Serena's mother Lily (Kelly Rutherford, "Melrose Place"), a socialite who hides her past as a dancer and rock groupie. When a chance encounter brings Dan to Serena's attention, he suddenly finds himself dating the girl of his dreams. The more Dan discovers about the real Serena, the more he's challenged to make sense of her world. Dan's sister Jenny is the youngest of the group and wants desperately to be accepted. The price she'll have to pay for popularity will take a toll, but at the moment, Jenny is just thrilled to have entry into this glamorous world.

Dan and Serena's relationship is further complicated by the arrival of Dan's friend Vanessa, a Brooklyn rebel and loner who doesn't approve of Serena's world of money, fashion shows and fundraisers. Vanessa's attempts to pull him back to his roots will cause friction between Dan and Serena.

Keeping track of the shifting friendships, jealousies and turmoil in this wealthy and complex world isn't easy, but it's what Gossip Girl does best.

Filmed in New York and based on the popular series of young-adult novels by Cecily von Ziegesar, "Gossip Girl" is from Alloy Entertainment in association with Warner Bros. Television and CBS Paramount Television Inc. with executive producers Josh Schwartz ("The O.C.") & Stephanie Savage ("The O.C."), Bob Levy, Leslie Morgenstein ("Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants") and Felicia Henderson ("The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air"), and co-executive producer K.J. Steinberg ("The Nine").