Brittany Snow to star in 'Gossip Girl' spinoff

Actress will play teen Lily in CW's backdoor pilot

By Nellie Andreeva

Feb 26, 2009, 05:34 PM ET

Updated: Feb 27, 2009, 01:44 PM ET

The "Gossip Girl" spinoff has found its Lily.

Brittany Snow is set to topline the project, a prequel chronicling the wild teen years of Lily van der Woodsen (Kelly Rutherford) in Los Angeles during the 1980s.

Also cast in the spinoff is Shiloh Fernandez ("Jericho"). The two would be joining previously cast Krysten Ritter.

The spinoff centers on then-Lily Rhodes (Snow), who, after a falling-out with her parents, is forced to move in with her sister, Carol (Ritter), the black sheep of the family.

Overnight, Lily has to transition from a life of luxury and education at a wealthy Montecito boarding school to living deep in the San Fernando Valley she once made fun of and going to public school. Caught between two worlds, Lily dives into the fast-paced Sunset Strip and the Hollywood lifestyle of the '80s, journeying over the hill to a world of wealth and excess that used to be her own.

Fernandez will play Owen, a hot Valley punk guy with a caustic wit.

The backdoor pilot for the spinoff -- from WBTV, Alloy, College Hill and CBS Par -- will air May 11 as a "Gossip" episode.

Snow, who got her breakthrough as the star of NBC's cult series "American Dreams," went on to appear in a series of movies, including "Hairspray."

She is repped by ICM and attorney Cliff Gilbert-Lurie. Fernandez is repped by Innovative and Untitled.

Brittany Snow to star in 'Gossip Girl' spinoff

Actress will play teen Lily in CW's backdoor pilot

By Nellie Andreeva

Feb 26, 2009, 05:34 PM ET

Updated: Feb 27, 2009, 01:44 PM ET