Why a Second Gilmore Girls Revival Might Not Happen After All
By Laura Bradley. Courtesy of Saeed Adyani/Netflix.
As much as Gilmore Girls fans loved returning to Stars Hollow for Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life last November, it seems another reunion might be slow to arrive—if it ever happens at all. At a Deadline panel Sunday morning, Lauren Graham revealed that she and her co-star Alexis Bledel have not yet been approached for a second continuation of the beloved mother-daughter dramedy.
“Now it has become a dialogue with the fans of the show; if it all existed in a vacuum, I would play that character until my dying day,” Graham said, adding later that the most important question has become, “‘What can we do that is satisfying, and worth continuing, and gratifying to the people who care so much about it?’
“I don’t know if there is a need to do more,” Graham continued. “I would never want it to feel like we overstayed our welcome. . . There’s probably a way to keep these characters alive but I don’t know if that’s the best thing for them.”
One reason the ball probably hasn’t started rolling yet? Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino have been busy working on a new show, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel—which turned out to be the gem of Amazon’s pilot slate and just earned a rare two-season pickup from the streaming service. When Vanity Fair asked Sherman-Palladino and Palladino about the possibility of a second Gilmore reunion back in March, Palladino demurred: ”We’re really focused on this [Mrs. Maisel] right now.”
At the Deadline panel, Bledel offered some more hedging: ”I think for me it comes down to what story we’re telling. I’m just interested in telling a story that is dynamic and that I sort of relate to and can hook into. And if that happens. . . I don’t know. It’s such an unknown, I don’t think we anticipated that this would happen.”
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Although Netflix has approached the Palladinos for preliminary talks about an additional Gilmore order, there’s plenty standing in the way of another revival—even barring Mrs. Maisel. Milo Ventimiglia now stars on NBC’s runaway success This Is Us, while Graham nabbed the lead role in an upcoming Fox pilot, Linda from HR, as well as a recurring role in Curb Your Enthusiasm’s upcoming ninth season. Bledel has been working on The Handmaid’s Tale, whileJared Padalecki remains wedded to hunting down demons and the like on Supernatural. Meanwhile, Melissa McCarthy continues to be Melissa McCarthy—and therefore extremely busy.
So even if this reunion does happen eventually, fans should prepare for a long wait. And as some of the show’s most beloved characters—along with the masterminds behind the world they occupy—move forward, it might be time to consider whether it’s time for fans to move on as well—and let Stars Hollow be just another warm, fuzzy memory.
This story originally appeared on Vanity Fair.
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