It’s been 15 years since the original cast of Gilmore Girls parted ways, but that doesn’t
mean we aren’t still thinking about the folks of Stars Hollow. Who became a comedy superstar?
Who swapped a TV career for the stage? Keep watching to find what the cast is doing today.
Lauren Graham played Lorelai Gilmore, the independent single mother to her teen daughter,
Rory. Known for her fast-talking witty repartee and insatiable coffee addiction,
Lorelai goes through life without help from anyone — especially her rich parents. Until
she needs help to pay for Rory's expensive private school, which is where the story really begins.
"You need money."
"I have a situation."
"You need money."
Lauren Graham went on to big things after Gilmore Girls, debuting on Broadway in Guys and Dolls and
writing three New York Times bestsellers. The Evan Almighty star published her first memoir,
Talking As Fast As I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (And Everything in Between),
in 2016 when the cast reunited for the Netflix reboot, A Year in the Life.
The book served as a companion piece to the Gilmore Girls revival and provided fans with
behind-the-scenes details they've always wanted to know. Graham explained to Elle:
"I thought that it was so kind of strange and wonderful to have played this character
and then to get to play her again that I started writing about it."
"The fact that it was sort of the people who brought us back,
and we, uh, got to finish a story that we hadn't gotten to finish."
Since playing Lorelai, Graham has become Hollywood's go-to TV mom,
appearing in the series Parenthood and the film Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life.
Since March 2021, Graham has had a main role in The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers.
Alexis Bledel is best known for her role as bookworm Rory Gilmore.
Gilmore Girls follows Rory from adolescence to adulthood, focusing on her relationship
with her mom as she navigates high school and college. Bledel was perfectly suited to
play the role of Rory, but she didn't enjoy the six auditions it took to get the role,
due to her having the flu at the time. Bledel admitted on Late Night With Seth Meyers that she
wasn't a very seasoned actor at the time and had a little attitude about the multiple callbacks.
"I was a student at NYU and they kept calling me back up to audition and, I think I went
like six times and um, oddly, I wasn't, you know, a very seasoned actor at all."
But Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino thought Bledel's attitude was perfect for Rory.
"And for the last time, the name is Rory!"
After seven seasons on Gilmore Girls, Bledel continued her television career,
appearing in Mad Men and Us and Them. In 2016, she reprised her role as Rory for A Year In the Life,
but wasn't exactly pleased with where her character ended up. She told Deadline:
"I hoped Rory would end on a high note after all of her hard work.
So [the pregnancy storyline] was a hard thing for me to digest."
Not holding out hope for closer for her character on Gilmore Girls, the Emmy Award-winning actor
has found herself settled in the middle of another TV universe in the hit Hulu series,
The Handmaid's Tale. Since 2017, Bledel has sported a distinctive red outfit for the role,
but now that Gilead has collapsed, her character Ofglen must learn to navigate a new world.
Kelly Bishop played the Gilmore family matriarch, Emily, who was the wife of Richard,
played by the late Edward Herrmann. Emily was a distinctive, complex character who was
often critical of her daughter Lorelai, but doted on her granddaughter Rory.
Bishop said Emily's dual personality was one of the things she liked most about her character.
"I liked her attitude. I mean, she was so difficult and demanding and hard to please."
Since Gilmore Girls, Kelly Bishop has had a busy TV career. The actor appeared in episodes
of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, and The Good Wife. Despite her success in other shows,
there's something Bishop really misses about her time on Gilmore Girls. She explained on Today:
"What I really loved about that whole show was
Amy Sherman-Palladino's writing. [...] It's probably the best material I've ever done."
Bishop got another taste of Sherman-Palladino's writing when she worked on the series Bunheads,
and they reunited again for A Year in the Life. The actor also signed on to join as a writer,
director, and producer in the fourth season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, another
Sherman-Palladino hit. Bishop has apparently been manifesting a role for herself since 2019.
She admitted to People TV that she would love a part in the period comedy-drama, saying:
"I would work with Amy under any circumstances."
Sookie St. James actor Melissa McCarthy is probably the biggest star to come out of Stars
Hollow. She played the accident-prone chef for all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls and McCarthy
quickly made a name for herself in comedy by starring in Bridesmaids and Identity Thief.
Between 2015 and 2016 alone, McCarthy starred in four blockbuster comedies,
including Spy and Ghostbusters. Her schedule was so jam-packed at the time that she could
only appear in one episode of A Year in the Life. The actor didn't want to miss it,
though. She felt very sentimental when everyone reunited on set, telling ET:
"I [...] just saw the sets and saw everybody there — it kind of felt like we didn't skip a beat."
Following A Year in the Life, McCarthy's career has continued to climb. These days,
the actor can be found on the sets of Hollywood blockbusters like Life of the Party and Thor:
Love and Thunder. McCarthey made several guest appearances on SNL
as then White House press secretary Sean Spicer, and the impression won her an Emmy
for Best Guest Actress on a Comedy Series in 2017. She's also branched out to other genres,
such as the thriller-drama Nine Perfect Strangers, in which McCarthy was also an
executive producer. It was a project that resonated with her on a personal level.
"To me, I thought after the last year-and-a-half or so,
people kind of owning that they need some help, everyone's kinda weird and damaged."
Lorelai and Rory wouldn't function without Luke Danes, played by Scott Patterson,
the man in the diner who gives them their coffee each morning and afternoon and evening. He becomes
much more than just the man with the coffee when he and Lorelai start dating in Season 4.
Patterson told Decider that he instantly connected with the character of Luke. He said:
"I didn't have to do any research. I didn't have to prepare. I said, 'This is me. I got this.'"
After the series ended, Patterson swapped the small screen for big-screen features
like Yellow Fever and lent his voice to the animated feature,
Batman: Gotham by Gaslight. Patterson is a man of many talents and explained
to Decider that he often has a lot of projects going on. Along with acting,
he's worked as a producer and photographer, and he's in a band and writes his own music.
Despite his full schedule, Patterson hasn't been able to let go of Gilmore Girls,
even after returning for the reboot. His 2021 venture is a Gilmore Girls re-watching podcast,
I Am All In With Scott Patterson. Patterson told E News!:
"It was really a good idea to engage the fans because they are hungry to talk
about it and still sort of be in the deep end, if you will, of the Gilmore-sphere."
He also admitted that he's watching most of the episodes for the first time.
Keiko Agena played Rory's music-obsessed best friend, Lane Kim, in Gilmore Girls.
Lane had quite the character development in the show's seven seasons, going from the
dutiful Korean daughter who hid her CDs under her floorboards, to drummer, to married mom of two.
It all works out for Lane in the end. She reconciles with her mom later in the series,
and the pair are even seen working together at Kim's Antiques in the revival.
After Gilmore Girls, the Japanese-American star acted in a variety of films and TV shows,
like the popular Netflix series 13 Reasons Why and Dirty John. In 2019, the actor joined the cast of
Prodigal Son as Dr. Edrisa Tanaka The character really spoke to her, and she explained to ET:
"I could tell that there was something that I could grab on to,
that I could make something out of it."
Agena wrote the book, No Mistakes, which she describes as a memoir-workbook.
According to Bustle, it stems from the anxiety she experienced on Gilmore Girls
and started out as a form of therapy. Despite her anxiety, Agena refers to the
show as a positive experience and is very involved with the series' fandom. In 2021,
she hosted UPtv's GilMORE the Merrier alongside Todd Lowe, who played her on-screen husband.
Gilmore Girls fans know Jared Padalecki as Rory's first love, Dean Forester.
After a few temporary break-ups, Rory and Dean called it quits in Season 5,
and Padalecki abruptly left Gilmore Girls, never to be seen again.
"I don't know, I thought you maybe liked me but it's obvious that you're not interested
so I just wanted to say that I get it and I'm not gonna bother you anymore."
Except when he returned briefly for A Year in the Life. After his Gilmore Girls days,
the actor scored the role of Sam Winchester on the hit television
series Supernatural, which ran from 2005 to 2020.
But Gilmore Girls almost cost him the part in Supernatural. The creator,
Eric Kripke, was concerned that Padalecki couldn't pull
off playing a super smart character like Sam. Padalecki told TV Guide:
"Eric's like, 'Uh, I've seen Gilmore Girls. We want Sam to be really smart.'
And so my manager had to go, 'Uh, well, my client is a National Merit Scholar.'"
And thankfully, it was enough to get Padalecki the audition.
While Padalecki's 15-year stint on Supernatural has concluded,
his career shows no signs of slowing down. As of 2021, he's been playing Cordell Walker
in the action crime-drama Walker, in which he's also an executive producer.
Developing his character for Walker took some time, and it was hard to put Sam aside because
Padalecki considers that character a part of him now. He explained to The New York Times:
"I used that time [during the pandemic] selfishly to really try and develop Cordell Walker."
Michael Winters played Stars Hollow's uptight town selectman and local shop
owner Taylor Doose in Gilmore Girls, and it was undoubtedly the biggest role of his
television career. Winters swapped the small screen for the stage — with the exception
of the A Year in the Life reunion, which was his last television credit.
Winter's passion lies in theater these days. He explained to Fox 13 Seattle that plays are, quote,
"just so immediate," and noted that audiences can instantly relate to emotions in theater.
As for Gilmore Girls, Winter told Fox 13 Seattle that TV requires you to, quote,
"come in prepared and ready to go," noting that Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel would
constantly have their scripts in their hands because they had so much material to learn.
"I mean, it was hard for me and I didn't have as much as they did."
Winters explained that it's different in theater, where you get months and months to prepare.
He's appeared in over twenty plays since Gilmore Girls ended. His most notable credits include The
Merry Wives of Windsor and The Tempest at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival.
Rory's estranged father on Gilmore Girls, Christopher Hayden, was played by David Sutcliffe,
who reprised his role in the "Fall" episode of A Year in the Life. He told The Post:
"I feel grateful to be a part of a show that has
become a multi-generational classic and lives on in the hearts of the fans."
Since Gilmore Girls, Sutcliffe has had a busy television career,
appearing in series including Private Practice, Proof,
and Mistresses. His last acting credit was in the 2018 American anthology drama The Romanoffs,
after which he decided to retire to focus on other projects. He explained to The Post:
"I became obsessed with a form of psychotherapy called core energetics. I now lead workshops,
helping people heal from trauma so they can live a full and meaningful
life. [...] It's very rewarding and endlessly fascinating."
Liza Weil played Paris Geller, Rory's nemesis-turned-best friend in Gilmore Girls.
She joined the show as a recurring character in Season 1 but was promoted to series regular
for the following six seasons. When the show ended, Weil earned a main
role in the legal thriller How to Get Away with Murder, which ran from 2014 to 2020,
but she made time in her schedule to reprise the role of Paris for A Year in the Life.
"And it all sort of came back and it, I didn't realize how much I had missed
doing it, so I was very excited."
Weil had the opportunity to work with Sherman-Palladino again
for a guest stint on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel as Carol Keen in 2019.
According to TVLine, she was under contract with ABC for How to Get Away with Murder at the time,
but was granted time off for the three-episode arc.
Weil is now focused on independent cinema, appearing in 2021's Women Is Losers.
Writer-director Lissette Feliciano said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that
the film shows, quote, "what a healthy relationship between women looks like."
Jess Mariano was Rory's short but sweet love interest in Gilmore Girls,
and he was also Alexis Bledel's partner for four years off the screen.
Fans love bad-boy Jess, but Milo Ventimiglia didn't expect to be
playing such an important character in the series. He revealed to W magazine:
"I was in the room with Amy Sherman-Palladino,
and I thought it was just two episodes. And then my agent at the time said,
'They want to make you a regular.' And I went, 'Regular what? What does that mean?'"
And just like that, Ventimiglia became a series regular,
appearing in 37 episodes of the comedy-drama. The actor joked to W magazine:
"Still to this day, you know, it blows me away — the impact of the Jess character, how much
everyone was in love with him and wanted to find a guy like Jess. He was kind of trouble, you know."
Gilmore Girls was Ventimiglia's breakout role. Since appearing on the show, he's bagged notable
roles in Grown-Ups 2, Gotham, and Ultimate Spider-Man. Since 2016, Ventimiglia has been
playing leading man Jack Pearson on the NBC drama This Is Us. It's a role that he was immediately
drawn to. The actor has enjoyed directing episodes of the series, too, telling Gold Derby:
"I'm happy behind the camera. [...] I just want to make sure everybody looks good, is equipped
with what they need to completely live out these storylines, the experiences, the characters."
Yanic Truesdale played the often grumpy hotel concierge, Michel Gerard,
who worked with Lorelai and Sookie at the Independence Inn, and then the Dragonfly Inn.
He appeared in all seven seasons of the original series and reprised his role for the revival.
"It was crazy for us to go back because, you have to remember that everything was destroyed,
so when we walked back, they had to rebuild everything from scratch."
Since Gilmore Girls ended, the Montreal-born star has done some acting,
but is focused on other passions, like opening a spin studio in his hometown. He told Her Campus:
"I've always loved exercising, so it felt natural to get involved in the industry.
It's something I never thought I would do, but the idea was just so crystal clear and
it felt so right that I just went with it, and I made it happen in four months."
It's a perfect twist of fate for the actor to do something his health-conscious Gilmore
Girls character would love. Now that his spin studio is thriving, Truesdale is set
to return to the screen in 2022 for the Netflix workplace comedy series God's Favorite Idiot,
featuring his Stars Hollow pal Melissa McCarthy.
Elizabeth "Liz" Torres has had a busy career guest-starring on popular television shows
since Gilmore Girls ended in 2007. But the comedy-drama is one of her favorite roles to date.
"I loved the dialogue. I loved saying those lines: 'I'm so glad I had all that sex!'"
After playing the dance teacher, Patricia "Miss Patty" LaCosta, for seven seasons,
Torres continued to star in comedies. She's popped up in Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives.
Torres has also branched out into other genres, appearing in the second season of the political
thriller Scandal, and was named one of the show's best guest stars by Entertainment Weekly.
In 2016, Torres stepped back into Miss Patty's dance shoes for A Year in the Life.
When it came to getting back into character, she told TV Addict:
"It's a second skin for me; it doesn't feel like I'm acting. [...] I'm just Miss Patty."
In 2021, Torres got in front of the camera again to play Eleanor Roosevelt in E. Roosevelt.
Jackson Douglas has done his best to stay out of the public eye since Gilmore Girls came to
a close. The Guilt Trip star played the produce guy, Jackson Bellville,
who was also the love interest and eventual husband of Sookie St. James.
One of Douglas' most notable credits from the years since Gilmore Girls includes a
voice role on the animated sitcom Family Guy. Douglas lent his voice to multiple
characters on the show, which also stars his ex-wife Alex Borstein.
Since appearing in the "Spring" episode of A Year in the Life, Douglas hasn't been spotted
on screen. He's taken a break from acting and has instead been busy traveling the world with
his children, Barnaby and Henrietta, whom he shares with Borstein. His Twitter bio reads:
"Moved the family to Barcelona to experience a more global perspective on life and community.
We are learning a new language and culture. It is very exciting!"
On March 3, 2021, Douglas tweeted:
"Time to move to Japan!"
It's not clear where he and his family are currently living,
but it definitely sounds like an adventure.
Sally Struthers was already a seasoned actor when
she appeared on Gilmore Girls as Lorelai and Rory's excitable, sometimes nosy neighbor,
Babette Dell. The A Year in the Life reunion in 2016 was particularly special for Struthers,
who told Girls Night Live that she was thrilled to reunite with such a brilliant cast.
"It was like we were all brought back to summer camp again. We all got to play together again.
It was fabulous."
After her Gilmore Girls days, the star appeared in the films Still Waiting in the Wings,
You and Me, and The Relationtrip. The Primetime Emmy winner also performs in
Maine's Ogunquit Playhouse each year and has appeared in productions of Chicago,
Legally Blonde and The Witches of Eastwick. She told Girls Nite Live:
"I've worked there every year for 18 years, sometimes twice a year."
Although she has had to miss a couple of years because of the pandemic,
it's definitely something she plans to keep doing in the future. Struthers said:
"I will definitely be there the minute they are doing shows again."
Sean Gunn made his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe after playing eccentric Stars Hollow
resident Kirk Gleason in Gilmore Girls. Gunn went on to guest-star in television shows
like Glee and Bunheads, before joining the cast of The Guardians of the Galaxy,
which was written and directed by his brother, James Gunn. He played Kraglin,
who became a faithful ally to Chris Pratt's character Star Lord and his intergalactic team.
Gunn also filled in as a body double for the character of Rocket Raccoon,
who is voiced by Bradley Cooper. Gunn explained in a Comic Con interview:
"My job is twofold. First of all, I'm there to work with the other
actors [...] then beyond that, the visual effects team will take my
movements and use that as a draft when they start to animate the character."
While filming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 in 2016,
Gunn also reprised the role of Kirk for A Year in the Life. Portraying two equally
bizarre characters was a trippy experience for the actor. He told Entertainment Weekly:
"Gilmore Girls and the first Guardians were the two most substantial jobs of my career.
So, now, doing them both again simultaneously is very strange."
Gunn signed on to reprise his role as Kraglin in the films Thor: Love
and Thunder and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Emily Kuroda played Lane's strict Korean mom, Mrs. Kim, on Gilmore Girls. Despite her
religious beliefs often hindering Lane, viewers always knew her heart was in the right place,
and she ultimately helped her daughter get married and raise her family.
"She's a very warm, loving character that
goes out of her way to be strict with Lane for Lane's own benefit."
Since the comedy-drama ended, Kuroda has been busy acting on television and
appearing in stage productions. In 2010, she reunited with her Gilmore Girls daughter Keiko
Agena for a production of No-No Boy at the Miles Memorial Playhouse in Santa Monica.
Kuroda noted that TV felt more difficult for her than stage,
and admitted that her most challenging gig by far was Gilmore Girls. She told NBC News:
"You look at a normal script, and it's like 100 pages, and then you look at a Gilmore script,
and it's like 200 pages because people talk so fast. [...] Although it was a lot of fun,
it was hard. You don't really get to rehearse."
But Kuroda enjoys the challenge because she's since gone back to television,
reprising her role of Mrs. Kim in A Year in the Life,
and then guest-starring in shows such as The Resident and The Good Doctor.
Logan Huntzberger was arguably Rory's most serious boyfriend on Gilmore Girls.
The pair dated for most of Rory's tenure at Yale, but they broke up in Season 7.
Since then, Matt Czuchry became a series regular on The Good Wife, which ran from 2009 to 2016.
The Good Wife ended just in time for Czuchry to reprise his role as Logan in A Year in the Life.
In the miniseries, he and Rory enjoyed a casual on-off relationship, which led to
speculation that he could be the father of her baby. It's a secret Czuchry knows the answer to
but hasn't spilled because he believes it's not his secret to tell. He revealed to Us Magazine:
"If we do come back, they may change their minds. So it could become somebody
else. Those are the reasons why I've never said what they told me on set."
Since 2018, he's played Conrad Hawkins on Fox's medical drama The Resident.
Hawkins is a character Czuchry really admires as an actor, as he explained to Fox News:
"I love his moxie. I love his strength. I love that he stands up for the little guy.
And also the character felt very different for me
than when I played Cary in 'The Good Wife' or Logan in 'Gilmore Girls."
Vanessa Marano admitted she was a huge fan of Gilmore Girls before she joined
the show as Luke's daughter, April Nardini. She told Today that she was
initially apprehensive about her character because she knew April could be troublesome.
"I was like, 'Oh, they're giving him a daughter, this is going to be horrible.'"
But Marano came to love her quirky Gilmore Girls character. She admitted:
"I'm an April fan. Yes, she broke [Luke and Lorelai] up,
but they got back together, so we should all get over it.
Gilmore Girls sent Marano's acting career into high gear. After the show,
she starred in the long-running series Switched At Birth on ABC Family. She also reprised the
role of April in the "Summer" episode of A Year in the Life and has appeared in Grey's Anatomy,
along with both of its spin-off shows, Private Practice, and Station 19.
Marano also co-starred with her sister, Laura Marano, in the feature film Saving Zoë. The
Marano sisters made their debuts as producers with the film, which they bought the rights to in 2008.
In an interview with BUILD Series, Marano explained the reason behind their decision:
"This was a time in our lives where our careers were not in the best place."
The idea to buy the film came from their mom,
who thought they should have more control and security over their own careers.
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