Gossip Girl is taking a week off from the drama, and won’t be returning with a new episode, “Carrnal Knowledge,” until February 2. But there are definitely enough rumors, spoilers, and future casting leaks to keep us busy until then. Not to mention lingering big questions that are driving us mad, such as: whatever happened between Blair and Jack?!

Read on to find out the newest casting scoops, plus who will be returning to the Upper East Side, and what’s in store for Blair, Serena, and Chuck when Gossip Girl returns!

First, the latest synopsis for the upcoming episode, 2.17 “Carrnal Knowledge,” from the CW:

In retaliation for not playing by the unspoken rules of Constance Billard, Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) hatches a plan to bring down her teacher, Rachel (guest star Laura Breckenridge), and it’s going to be good.

After Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick) wakes up in a hotel and only has a minor recollection of what happened the previous evening and who he spent the evening with, Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford) and Vanessa Abrams (Jessica Szohr) try to help him fill in the missing pieces of what is turning out to be an increasingly intriguing mystery.

Could Chuck be getting a taste of his own mischievous medicine, courtesy of dear old Uncle Jack? After all, last week we learned that Chuck planted coke in Jack’s gym bag, got his name on the sexual predators list, ambushed him with two transsexual hookers, organized an underage sleepover in his hotel room, and even considered crashing him in the Bass Industries Jet. (Brilliant, all. Gotta love Chuck’s perseverance!) There are two reasons I say that Jack could be behind Chuck’s mysterious black-out:

1. He get’s shipped off to Australia, with no charges for his attempted rape (which definitively proved that he’s psychotic) and that’s that? It’s just too easy.

2. It’s been two episodes since the teaser trailers promised a face-to-face confrontation between Chuck and Jack over Blair (“Blair would never touch you,” etc.), and we’ve yet to see anything about it! The New Year’s Eve mystery still hangs in the balance, and we’ll need to see Jack again if it’s ever going to be resolved. But, since Chuck’s still “as dead to Blair as his father is to him” (Ouch!) we may just need to wait a little bit longer.

As for guest stars new and old, here’s the latest:

1. Georgina Sparks (Michelle Trachtenberg) will definitely be back soon, and not in the way you’d expect! Executive producer Josh Schwartz recently teased with some details: “Certain times a situation is so dire that it requires the assistance of even your most sworn enemy. It just might come to pass that Serena and Blair find themselves in a situation where they have no recourse other than to recruit Georgina Sparks.”

2. The show is currently casting for an “unassumingly cute” 16-year-old male for a possibly recurring role. Could he be for Jenny… or Eric? Or could the new siblings be set for a cat fight over the same guy?

3. As we reported last week, we’ll soon be meeting one Kip Vanderbilt, the older, good-looking cousin of Nate. No word yet on which handsome actor will be jumping into Chace Crawford’s gene pool, but we’re assured that the Constance girls will not be diving in: Kip’s set to be a married man. But it sure will be nice for Nate to have some family ties again.

4. And, as if I needed to tell you, we’re going to see a lot more of Rachel Carr (Laura Breckenridge) in the future. She’s about to get the catfight of her life, after sinking her claws into Blair (Leighton Meester) and last week’s episode certainly foreshadowed that she might try to sink them into Dan (Penn Badgely)… in a very different way, of course.

And the latest from the Gossip Girl rumor boutique (“rumor mill” just sounds so… rural):

There is a confirmed pregnancy that will surface before the end of Season Two. It’s not Lily, Serena or Jenny—so cross them off your list. God forbid if it’s Blair. I’ll bet that it’s Eleanor, but part of me hopes that it’s Vanessa—she and Nate have been a big old yawn fest in the New Year, and a little out-of-wedlock Archibald would definitely spice up their relationship!

Finally, we all know the season couldn’t wrap without pushing the OMFG! envelope. There’s talk of a storyline in the near future that is so racy, even Jessica Szohr (Vanessa) was shocked to find it in her script. When asked about details, Szohr would only say that her first reaction to the plot was, “They can do that?!”

Can’t wait a week for more Gossip Girl? Check out:

‘Gossip Girl’Aftergasm: What Happens When a Teen Drama Goes to College?

‘Gossip Girl’ Recap: Episode 2.16 “You’ve Got Yale”

-Meghan Carlson, BuddyTV Staff Writer
Image courtesy of the CW

Meghan Carlson

Senior Writer, BuddyTV

Meghan hails from Walla Walla, WA, the proud home of the world’s best sweet onions and Adam West, the original Batman. An avid grammarian and over-analyzer, you can usually find her thinking too hard about plot devices in favorites like The OfficeIt’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and How I Met Your Mother. In her spare time, Meghan enjoys drawing, shopping, trying to be funny (and often failing), and not understanding the whole Twilight thing. She’s got a BA in English and Studio Art from Whitman College, which makes her a professional arguer, daydreamer, and doodler.