Schwartz discusses 'Gossip Girl' spinoff

Josh Schwartz has revealed that the audience's fascination with the '80s spawned the idea for the Gossip Girl spinoff.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the show's creator said that the show would be "fashion-driven".

"If you never lived through that era - like most of our Gossip Girl audience didn’t - there is a fascination, like we were fascinated by the ’70s.

"My sense... is that their connection to that era is via Michael Jackson, Madonna - those broader pop culture references," he said. "[It's] fashion-driven, especially. So there’s an appetite there - they want to go deeper into that era."

Schwartz also said that the '80s would merely be a backdrop to the storylines on the show, which stars Brittany Snow as a young Lily Van Der Woodsen.

He added: "In the same way New York is a character on Gossip Girl, the ’80s will be a character on Lily."