Blake Lively: ‘Gossip Girl’ Spin-Off ‘Great Idea!’

Fans will have to wait another few months before getting their first glimpse at the “Gossip Girl” spin-off, but the project already has Blake Lively’s full endorsement.

“I think it’s a great idea!” Blake told AccessHollywood.com at the DirecTV Celebrity Beach Bowl in Tampa, Florida, where Blake was on-hand to enjoy the pre-Super Bowl festivities last week.

As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, the spin-off will actually serve as a series prequel, focusing on a teenage Lily van der Woodsen (Kelly Rutherford’s character), growing up as Lily Rhodes in Los Angeles during the 1980s.

After a falling out with her parents, a teenage Lily is forced to move in with her sister – the “black sheep” of the Rhodes family.

But while Lily spent her childhood as a “have,” attending a high-priced boarding school in Montecito, Calif., she must now adjust to life as a “have not,” as she moves to the Valley and enrolls in public school.

And “Gossip Girl” fans will be introduced to the spin-off during the May 11 episode of “Gossip Girl.”

“They actually don’t tell us much,” Blake laughed about the new series’ details. “But our second-to-last episode is going to double as their pilot. So a lot of our show will be flashbacks of the young Lily and the young Rufus, which you’ll be seeing in the new series.”

However, the actress, who plays Serena van der Woodsen on the hit CW show, hinted that it’s not set in stone the spin-off will get its own series.

“If that episode gets a good response, then the new series will happen next year,” Blake added.

So while “Gossip Girl” in entrenched in the high-fashion glitz and glamour of New York’s Upper East Side, the spin-off could take a much different tone.

“It’s an ‘80s show!” Penn Badgley joked at the DirecTV event.