Melissa McCarthy celebrates Gilmore Girls anniversary with tribute to Lauren Graham

Former Stars Hollow resident Melissa McCarthy ushered in Gilmore Girls rewatch season with an homage to her costar Lauren Graham.

McCarthy — who portrayed the kooky chef Sookie, best friend to Graham's Lorelai, on the beloved dramedy — commemorated the show's 22nd anniversary Wednesday with a series of throwback photos featuring Graham and Yanic Truesdale (who played the snooty but lovable French concierge Michele).

"Happy Stars Hollow season to all those who celebrate!!" McCarthy captioned an Instagram photo of her and Graham. "How was this 22 years ago?!"

In another post, she reflected on a puzzling reaction to Truesdale's French accent. "I remember someone (randomly) saying Yanic's French accent was terrible- we laughed so hard- he had only spoken English for like 10 months," McCarthy wrote. "He had ONLY spoken french his entire life. Oh, people. Also I had no idea I was this short?!"

McCarthy concluded the trip down memory lane by marveling at Graham's ability to master the series' famously speedy dialogue. "I have no idea how LG did all that dialog- she was amazing!!" she wrote.

And where his costar led, Truesdale followed: The actor shared his own throwback photo in celebration of the anniversary, captioning an Instagram post: "Happy birthday Gilmore Girls! Has it been 22 years already?! What a treat that those two wonderful ladies have become friends for life!

McCarthy and Truesdale starred alongside Graham — as well as series stars Alexis Bledel, Kelly Bishop, the late Edward Herrmann, and Scott Patterson — on all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls, which concluded in 2007. In 2016, the cast and crew returned to Stars Hollow for series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino's four-part Netflix revival Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. Truesdale appeared in all four installments, while McCarthy made a cameo in the final episode.

McCarthy previously described her return an emotional experience. "For the longest time it was just not going to work out schedule-wise. And once we decided is there any possible way, something fell out for me, something changed for them, and then we immediately nabbed it," she told PEOPLE in 2016. "I went back and visited about two weeks ago and saw the sets again and everybody on them. Oh my God, it was so sad. I got so sentimental."

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