Billy Baldwin wasn't a closet "Gossip Girl" fan before he was offered a role on the CW show last season. But after the producers sent him some episodes to watch, he told Hollywood Crush last week that he and his wife "got totally sucked in, totally hooked."
The veteran actor starts his three-episode arc on the show tonight as William van der Woodsen, Serena's (Blake Lively) long-lost father. We haven't learned too much about the mysterious van der Woodsen patriarch as of yet, but Billy gave Hollywood Crush a few details about his character.
"He's a highly cultured, sophisticated, well-educated man," Billy said. "He was raised in a world of privilege on the Upper East Side. He's a surgeon — he's been to medical school. He's traveled all over the world and lived extensively in Europe."
Billy's no stranger to characters from such a world of wealth. He played a senator on ABC's "Dirty Sexy Money" for two years, and "I portrayed Robert Chambers in the docudrama 'The Preppie Murder,' also about children of privilege," he reminded Hollywood Crush.
We finally meet William because he decides it's time to reconnect with his family, Billy said. "He's come back because he wants to make it right," he said. "He wants to prove to his children that he's worthy of their love and their respect, and he wants to do that without disturbing the boundaries with what Lily's created with Rufus."
Since Serena's been on a season-long quest to get her father's attention, she is especially happy when he returns, Billy said. "While she's very excited and highly anticipates wanting to be with me and wanting her father back in her life, she has a conflicted menagerie of feelings surrounding his abandonment of her."
Eric (Connor Paolo) isn't as excited about William's return as his older sister, however. "They both have conflicted responses," Billy said. "Some are more forceful than others. Eric hasn't really been that interested or curious to have me back in his life. Serena has."
Right now Billy said he's only signed on for the last three episodes of this season, but he said that the "threatening, confusing, heartbreaking" storyline holds the potential for more. "It's in the eye of the beholder," he said. "It's a beautiful arc with a great sort of cliffhanger that will create a great water cooler moment for the audience. I can tell you something — it's quite clear that there's a lot of powerful emotions that are exchanged not only between Serena and William but between William and the whole family."
Are you excited to finally meet William van der Woodsen? Do you hope his stay on the show lasts longer than three episodes?
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