Lauren Graham Reveals How the Parenthood Cameos in the Gilmore Girls Revival Almost Didn’t Work

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life gave Lauren Graham fans the GG and Parenthood crossover they were hoping for.

When Graham left Gilmore Girls and Stars Hollow behind and relocated to San Francisco to join the Parenthood family, fans immediately connected to the rowdy and warm Bravermans that seemed to be the complete opposite from the complicated but lovable Gilmores.

And thanks to Netflix’s Gilmore Girls revival, Graham’s two TV worlds finally came together. In the new four-part series, Parenthood stars Peter Kruse, Jason Ritter and Mae Whitman each make small but satisfying — and memorable — cameos.

While promoting her new book Talking As Fast As I Can at a 92nd Street Y talk with Michael Ausiello, Graham revealed how the mini Parenthood reunions came to be — and how they almost didn’t work!

In “Fall,” Jason Ritter and Peter Krause — who is also Graham’s real-life love — make small cameos as park rangers while Lorelai is about to embark in a Wild-inspired hike on the Pacific Crest Trail. But Graham revealed that the part was supposed to be for only one ranger, and it almost all fell through when Krause, who was eyed for the role, suddenly wasn’t available on both shooting days.

“I was obsessed with Peter playing park ranger. It was so difficult to work out and I was obsessed with it beyond a healthy degree,” Graham said, citing a connection to Krause and the outdoors that she highlights in her book. “And then I finally got everyone to agree and it was working out fine and then The Catch had a re-write.”

Although creator Amy Sherman-Palladino didn’t want to split up the park ranger role into two, Graham recruited Ritter to step in on the second day of shooting. “The first phone call I made was to Jason who I just thought would be funny. And he was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’d love to!’ He’s literally the nicest person.”

Graham also opened up about getting to reunite with her Parenthood daughter Mae Whitman, who was sick during filming. “Mae had a stomach flu when we were filming that and kept throwing up. She was puking the whole time,” Graham revealed.

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life is streaming now on Netflix.