iIn the nine years between the conclusion ofGilmore Girlsand the release ofGilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, a number of significant events occurred in the lives of the show’s beloved characters.Richard Gilmore (Edward Hermann) dies, Paris Geller (Liza Weil) is on the brink of divorce, and Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) and Luke Danes (Scott Patterson) have moved in together. Perhaps most importantly,Rory Gilmore’s (Alexis Bledel) harsh reality of her careerstruggles is evident at the start of the original show’s sequel.
TheGilmore Girlsuniverse has always offered a window into the complexities of interpersonal relationships, and how they change over time. The show’s many what-if moments come to fruition through the characters' convoluted lives years past Rory’s high school and college eras.Gilmore Girlsleft many characters with unfinished business, andwhere the characters end up inA Year in the Lifemanages to both solve some problems and open new mysteries.
8Richard Gilmore Passed Away
Richard’s Death Was Written Into The Show After Actor Edward Hermann Passed Away
Richard’s death marks thecentral theme ofA Year in the Life –the cycle of death and rebirth.Hermann’s real death was written into the show, both to memorialize the late actor and his character, who played an imperative role in the original series. Richard’s death pushes Lorelai and her mother Emily (Kelly Bishop) to understand the emotional space their father and husband held in their lives. In time, Lorelai comes to realize that Richard was often the peacemaker in their home.
Gilmore Girls: 10 Of The Wisest Quotes From Richard Gilmore
From funny moments to some of the most heartfelt, these are the Gilmore Girl’s Richard’s lines that really stuck with us.
As Emily previously separated from and eventually returned to Richard inGilmore Girls, one of her character’s struggles throughout the show is her lack of purpose in life outside of her marriage. While devastated by the loss of her husband,her grief is later translated into a new journey to find a new path, and she becomes a tour guide at the Nantucket Whaling Museum due to her love of history. While the loss of one ofGilmore Girls' most loved characters and actors was heartbreaking, Richard’s death prompted some much-needed growth among the Gilmore women.
7Lorelai & Luke Move In Together
Lorelai & Luke Share A Home But Are Still Not Married
At the start ofA Year in the Life,Luke and Lorelainow live in her house together and are still in a committed relationship since their reunion at the end ofGilmore Girls. However, the couple are still not married.This is likely in part due to Lorelai’s superstition surrounding a wedding, as she and Luke previously called off their nuptialsinGilmore Girlsseason 6. The couple’s eventual marriage finally breaks a cycle for Lorelai’s character after seven seasons.
The Gilmore Girls Actress Who Almost Played Lorelai Before Lauren Graham Was Cast
What if a different actress played Lorelai on Gilmore Girls instead of Lauren Graham? Another actress was very close to snagging the iconic role.
At the end ofA Year in the Life, Lorelai overcomes her attachment issues, and the pair finally wed in the Stars Hollow gazebo after years of a slow-burn turned complicated relationship.The wedding comes after Luke delivers an impassioned speech about his commitment to Lorelaifollowing her return home from an attempted hike of the Pacific Crest Trail once documented in the filmWildfollowing her father’s death. The couple’s marriage was a long time coming after their friendship slowly developed into a relationship over many years.
6Sookie Left The Dragonfly Inn
The Beloved Gilmore Girls Chef Left To Refine Her Culinary Skills
Sookie St. James (Melissa McCarthy) is Lorelai’s best friend and business partner. InGilmore Girls,the pair accomplish their dream of starting a business together, when they open The Dragonfly Inn.A Year in the Lifereveals that Lorelai is still running the Dragonfly whileSookie has taken a leave from the inn to work at Blue Hill Farm, where she is refining her culinary skills by way of deeper knowledge of unique produce.
Sookie was originally inspired to delve deeper into her knowledge of fruits and vegetables when she met her now-husband Jackson (Jackson Douglas), a farmer and independent produce supplier. Sookie does reappear inA Year in the Life, reuniting with Lorelai and sharing all the new things she has learned at Blue Hill. She is still married to Jackson and the couple now share three children.Sookie’s friendship with Lorelai is one of the most important relationships in theGilmore Girlsuniverse, making her return inA Year in the Lifenecessary, even if it is only a brief one.
5Paris Geller Is On The Brink Of Divorce
Paris Married Doyle From Yale
Paris Geller, Rory’s friend from Chilton Academy and Yale, married her college boyfriend Doyle (Danny Strong), and they are now getting a divorce. Doyle and Paris previously worked on Yale’s student newspaper inGilmore Girls. At the conclusion ofGilmore Girls, after giving graduate school plenty of thought, Paris decides to pursue medical school. InA Year in the Life,Paris now runs a successful fertility clinic and is also a practicing lawyer.
However, Doyle has abandoned his reporting career in favor of becoming a Hollywood screenwriter. In his success, he finds himself constantly traveling between Los Angeles and the family’s New York City townhouse, causing a rift between him and Paris as she is often left to bear the brunt of their parenting responsibilities for their two children.While the couple’s matching intensity made them one of the show’s most popular relationships,their reasons for divorce add a sense of realism to the show. The pair do not entirely despise one another, but life has gotten in the way of their relationship.
4Logan Is Now Engaged To Odette
Years After Rory Turned Down His Proposal, Logan Is Engaged To Someone Else
At the end ofGilmore Girls,Logan Huntzberger (Matt Czuchry) proposes to Rory. The pair were in a relationship throughout their time at Yale, and Rory ultimately turns Logan down on graduation day. Rory wanted to leave her future “wide open” and not move to California with Logan as he started his tech company. In the years sinceGilmore Girls' conclusion,Logan is now engaged to an heiress named Odette, who is never seen on camera.
Despite Logan’s engagement (which is insinuated to be an arrangement encouraged by his powerful family), he continues to have an affair with Rory, leading to one of the biggest bombshells ofA Year in the Life –Rory’s pregnancy, with it still being unconfirmed whether he knows. At the revival’s conclusion, it remains ambiguous whether Logan still plans to marry Odette, while the affair has become one of the most divisive parts of the revival series. It shows that Rory has unfortunately not broken her habits in relationships, as she previously had an affair with a married Dean Forrester (Jared Padalecki).
3Dean Is Now Remarried
Dean Reappears In Stars Hollow & Has A Brief Conversation With Rory
Dean was Rory’s first boyfriend. Later in the show, Rory has an affair with Dean during his first marriage to Lindsay Lister (Arielle Kebbel). Lindsay’s discovery of the affair creates a town-wide scandal that effectively ends their marriage. Following the breakup, Rory meets Logan at Yale, and Dean no longer plays a significant role in the show after season 5. Dean was struggling post-high school and working in construction instead of attending college.
When Rory returns to Stars Hollow inA Year in the Life,she bumps into Dean at the local grocery store, where he reveals that he has since remarried a woman named Jenny and has three children of his own.The family now lives in Scranton, Pennsylvania, but he is in Stars Hollow visiting his parents for the weekend. Despite the couple’s bombastic ending,the tone of their conversation shows how much they have grown as people in their time apart.
Gilmore Girls: All 4 Of Rory’s Boyfriends, Ranked
Rory Gilmore had several dramatic relationships over the course of Gilmore Girls, and of her four boyfriends, some are more lovable than others.
The brief scene features an important conversation:Rory asks Dean for his blessing to include him in her book and tells him that if she hadn’t met him she wouldn’t be the person she is today.The evolution of their relationship connects back to the central theme ofA Year in the Life, proving that loss is occasionally essential to growth.
2Lane Kim Is Still In Stars Hollow
Lane & Zack Are Still In Hep Alien But Remain In Their Small Town
InGilmore Girls,Lane Kim (Keiko Agena) marries Zack Van Gerbig(Todd Lowe), her Hep Alien bandmate, and she quickly becomes pregnant with twins. The marriage comes after the band decides to live together to make music following Lane dropping out of her 7th Day Adventist college, and Lane’s boyfriend Dave Rygalski (Adam Brody) leaves for college, resulting in them breaking up.
InA Year in the Life,the twins are grown and Lane and Zack are managing the Kim family’s antique shop while continuing to make music on the side.While Lane’s character appears to feel content, this modest lifestyle compared to the lofty dreams she had as a young adult continues to make Lane’s story one of the more controversial endings depicted inA Year in the Life.
1Christopher Is Working For The Family Company
Christopher Ended Up With A Job He Didn’t Want While His Second Daughter Is In Paris
Rory’s father Christopher Hayden (David Sutcliffe) is now working for his family’s company, a fate he has always dreaded. His daughter Gigi from his previous relationship with Sherry Tinsdale (Mädchen Amick) is now in Paris with her mother, who maintains primary custody. Christopher appears when Rory drops by his office for a conversation with him regarding the book she is writing about her life.
The conversation, while lasting but a brief scene, is a poignant one forGilmore Girls. Unbeknownst to the audience yet, Rory is pregnant with her first child (presumably by Logan).Her inquiries into whether Christopher wished he had been a more active parent are her attempt to assess how Logan could react in this situation, which mirrors that of her parents in some ways. Christopher is now in a relationship with a woman named Lana and appears as removed from Gigi’s life as he once was from Rory’s.
Gilmore Girls
Cast
In the fictional town of Star’s Hollow, single mother Lorelai Gilmore raises her high-achieving teenage daughter Rory. Mother and daughter rely on each other throughout their own life changes, romantic entanglements, and friendships.
