Serena Caroline van der Woodsen, born 14 July is one of the main characters in the book series Gossip Girl. The book character is portrayed by Blake Lively, as Serena Celia van der Woodsen, in the TV series.

Serena van der Woodsen is another one of the main protagonists of Gossip Girl. Serena is described as being very beautiful, with long blond hair and navy blue eyes. She was the It girl of Constance Billard School for Girls and the talk of Manhattan. Being the It girl of the Upper East Side, she is a constant fodder to the rumor mill. Her father runs the same Dutch shipping firm his great-great-grandfather created in the 1700's and her mother, Lily van der Woodsen, is a socialite. Her parents are on the boards of all major charities and art organizations in the city and live at luxurious 994 Fifth Avenue, a ritzy, white-gloved-doorman building directly across the street from the Met and Central Park, the van der Woodsens own half the top floor, and live in a fourteen room penthouse. Serena's older sibling Erik, whom she is fairly close to, is a student at Brown University. Her birthday is on 14 July, also known as Bastille Day.

Serena van der Woodsen was a student at Hanover Academy in Hanover, New Hampshire, where she partied a lot and broke many rules. She previously lived in Manhattan with her wealthy family and was the It Girl at the exclusive Constance Billard School for Girls. She was close friends with Nate Archibald, and best friends with Blair Waldorf, with whom she shared many experiences, including pissing on classmates stoops, partying in the Bass Suite at the Tribeca Star Hotel, and leaving Blair's sibling, Tyler, in the Lower East Side, making him walk home to the Upper East Side. Serena returns to New York City, arriving at the Waldorf Penthouse on Fifth Avenue, interrupting Blair and Nate's passionate scene. Serena then becomes the target of Blair's disgust for her, and turns Serena into a social outcast, starting or keeping rumors of Serena going, including her having a baby that's in a fancy French convent school, making marks above the bed for every time Serena did a boy at Hanover, and selling her own drugs with S stamped on them.

Serena van der Woodsen was born to Lillian van der Woodsen, an heiress socialite and currently divorced. Lillian was a former groupie to Rufus Humphrey, father of Dan Humphrey and Jenny Humphrey. Serena is described as a billionaire by Jenny. Like in the book series, she ruled the Upper East Side while best friend, Blair Waldorf, was the equally pretty but less appealing of the gorgeous It girl. However, Serena left suddenly for boarding school, making Blair the queen bee of the social scene. Serena and her family currently reside at The New York Palace Hotel in Midtown Manhattan She has a younger, troubled sibling named Eric. Her parents went to Harvard University and Brown University.

Serena returns home to Manhattan from boarding school to see her younger sibling Eric who had recently attempted suicide, though he is the target of other rumors about her return. Blair and Serena's heart-to-heart at the Palace is soon shattered when Nate tells Blair he and Serena had a one night stand before she went off to boarding school. Serena goes out on a date with Dan Humphrey after he tries to return her cell phone, which she claims is her "sidekick", that she left at The Palace bar. The two ends up going on a date to Dan's father's concert, blowing off the Kiss on the Lips party. Their date is interrupted when Jenny text messages Dan from the Kiss on the Lips party telling Dan she needs help. Serena and Dan goes to the party and finds Chuck all over Jenny, resulting in Dan punching him in the nose. Serena warns Chuck to leave Jenny alone. Chuck calls out to Serena, telling her that her life is over. Serena leaves the place with Dan and Jenny. The following Sunday, Serena asks Dan to the Sunday Brunch at the Palace, hosted by Blair , where Chuck and Blair reveal to Dan that Serena had sex with Nate and “lied about it" causing a rift between Dan and Serena. At an Ivy Mixer, Blair tells the audience that Serena is a patient at the Ostroff Center (since Chuck snapped pictures of Serena entering the building to see Eric) and is an out-patient due to a drug addiction. Serena joins Blair on stage and reluctantly agrees with her to spare her brother's embarrassment. Eric trying to defend Serena, later shows Blair the cuts on his arm from his attempted suicide, resulting in Blair showing Serena a letter she never sent to her, causing them to reconcile their friendship. Serena and Dan have a fairly solid relationship, though they do have their differences- Dan is very against the glitz and glamour of Serena's old lifestyle, but she's constantly proving to him how badly she wants to change. Serena learns that her mother, Lily, and Dan's father, Rufus, are attempting to restart their relationship. Serena begs her mother not to do it because of her feelings for Dan. This leads Lily to accept a marriage proposal made to her by Bart Bass, the father of Chuck Bass, in the previous episode.