When Gilmore Girls first appeared in 2000 it was a breath of fresh air. Featuring a fast-talking mother-daughter duo who live in a postcard-perfect town full of quirky citizens, the show quickly earned legions of passionate fans. For seven seasons, the lives and loves of Lorelai and Rory Gilmore captivated viewers.
The show was created and ushered to the screen by Amy Sherman-Palladino and for six seasons her imprint was on every frame. Then in season 7, she and her husband, executive producer Dan Palladino, exited after a contract dispute. This left Gilmore Girls’ final season in the hands of others and fans never got the ending Sherman-Palladino said she had planned since the beginning. Dissatisfied by the show’s final season, fans clamored for more. While revivals, remakes, and sequels abound these days, this is exactly the kind of situation they're meant for. Enter Netflix, who not only agreed to produce a revival but brought back Sherman-Palladino too.
Premiering in 2016, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, was made up of four movie-length episodes, each taking place during a different season of the year. Fans couldn’t wait to welcome the Gilmores back into their homes. Given that practically a decade had passed between the original series’ last season and the revival, one of the biggest tasks for A Year in the Life was to catch viewers up on what Lorelai and Rory had been up to in the years they hadn’t been on fans' TVs. And a lot happened to the characters during that time.
Here are 20 Things Lorelai And Rory Did Between Gilmore Girls And A Year In The Life.
LOST RICHARD GILMORE
Edward Herrmann is beloved by Gilmore Girls fans for his portrayal of Richard Gilmore throughout the show’s initial broadcast run. So, when Herrmann passed away in 2014, fans wondered how his character would be addressed in A Year in the Life.
The first episode of the revival revealed that Richard is also deceased. The funeral took place several months prior and Rory and Lorelai are still learning to cope with the loss. Richard had a heart attack during Gilmore Girls, so his loss felt particularly poignant after watching his recovery and Rory and Lorelai’s response to it during the series' initial run. Richard Gilmore was a fantastic character, and fans, like the characters left behind, miss him.
RORY: FOLLOWED BARACK OBAMA ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
In the series finale of Gilmore Girls, Rory landed an awesome gig following then-presidential candidate Barack Obama on the campaign trail for an online magazine. She had just graduated from Yale and the job was a sign that she would have the same success in her career as a journalist as she’d had in high school and college.
Of course, given the magnitude of the commitment the job would require, Rory was a little shell-shocked. When Rory got the job it was unknown whether Obama would even be the Democratic party’s presidential nominee, so the position could last just a couple months or it could stretch for two years. Given Obama made it all the way to the White House, Rory’s first post-college job gave her even more than she bargained for.
LORELAI: MOVED IN WITH LUKE
Throughout Gilmore Girls, Lorelai and Luke weren’t so much the will they/won’t they couple as when-will-they. Their chemistry was so strong right off the bat that it was inevitable that their connection would eventually lead to romance. Fans were thrilled when it finally happened. Then their relationship was cruelly torpedoed at the end of the sixth season and Lorelai spent way too much of season 7 with Christopher.
So, when Luke and Lorelai finally kissed in the series finale, fans knew the couple had reconciled once and for all. This belief was confirmed in A Year in the Life when viewers learned that Luke had moved into Lorelai’s house soon after that kiss and the pair had been together ever since.
RORY: GOT A LOT OF CELL PHONES
When Rory comes back to Stars Hollow at the beginning of A Year in the Life, fans were quickly introduced to the bevy of mobile phones she carries with her. She has a personal phone, a work phone, and a phone that specifically gets reception in Stars Hollow.
As she runs all over town trying to get reception on her work phone, though, it’s hard not to wonder why she wouldn’t get a single phone that works for all three situations. If she’s going to get work calls in Stars Hollow what good does it do to have a work phone that doesn’t get reception there? All those cell phones make her seem like a jet-setter, but not a very practical one.
LORELAI: WATCHED MCU MOVIES, ISN’T A FAN
Just like on Gilmore Girls, the pop culture references in A Year in the Life come fast and furious. At one point Lorelai references the Marvel movies, which hadn’t started when the series went off the air in 2007. In the almost 10 years between the end of the series and A Year in the Life, though, Lorelai had clearly caught at least one or two of them. When she says the Marvel movies aren’t memorable during the revival, the implication is clear — the MCU is one cultural phenomenon that Lorelai isn't on board with.
Marvel fans can comfort themselves with the knowledge that Lorelai has some pretty questionable taste when it comes to entertainment. When Luke later goes through her recordings on their DVR, she has a long list of ridiculous-sounding titles, including Deadly Honeymoon, Killer Crush, and Accidental Obsession.
RORY: LIVED IN BROOKLYN
Sometime after graduating from Yale Rory lived in New York City in an apartment in trendy Brooklyn. However, as Lorelai indicates in A Year in the Life, her apartment wasn’t exactly the nicest place. Apparently, its most notable feature was an inexplicably sticky wall. If you avoided the wall it was fine, but as Lorelai points out, it's possible to find an apartment where you don’t have to worry about avoiding any walls.
Of course, as a journalist it’s no wonder Rory would live in NYC, where so many publications are based. However, the city is notoriously expensive, so the fact that Rory found an apartment she could afford at all was probably a minor miracle, especially when considering her lack of steady income and the expense of her three cell phones.
RORY: HAD AN ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN THE NEW YORKER
When A Year in the Life starts, Luke brings up an article Rory had published in The New Yorker, her most recent career success. Rory modestly says it’s just one piece, but Luke is so proud he put it on the back of all his menus in his diner.
The piece was a profile on an eccentric woman named Naomi Shropshire and it was so well-received that Rory starts working on a book with her subject. Unfortunately, Naomi proves to be too indecisive and the project breaks down, another disappointment for Rory in a string of career disappointments. Despite the triumph of her New Yorker article, Rory doesn’t seem to have had many other recent publications to her name.
LORELAI: IS RUNNING THE DRAGONFLY WITHOUT SOOKIE
A year prior to the first episode of A Year in the Life, Sookie, Lorelai’s business partner at the Dragonfly Inn, decided to take a six-month sabbatical to work with Dan Barber at Blue Hill Farms. That left Lorelai and Michel to run the Inn without her. A workable arrangement for half a year, but Sookie extended her sabbatical and by the end of the revival, she'd been away for almost two years.
This also left the Dragonfly with an empty kitchen that Michel tries to fill with a string of famous chefs, all of whom Lorelai fires. Lorelai misses Sookie and can’t quite except that her friend may be gone for good. While Sookie finally makes an appearance before Lorelai’s wedding, she doesn’t stay, making it clear Lorelai will have to come to terms with her absence sooner or later.
RORY: STARTED A relationship WITH LOGAN
When Rory graduated from Yale, her boyfriend Logan proposed to her, but Rory turned him down in favor of pursuing her career. In A Year in the Life, fans learn that although Logan was extremely hurt by her rejection at the times, he’s still very much a part of Rory’s life in 2016. Rory is having an affair with Logan and it looks like it’s been going on for quite some time.
Rory stays with Logan whenever she’s in London, where Logan lives, but their relationship is supposed to be a casual, no strings attached situation. The whole thing is surprising given Rory’s history with this kind of an arrangement — does she not remember what happened with Dean? Plus, Logan has a fiancée who he has no plans to leave.
RORY: DATED WHAT’S-HIS-NAME
In A Year in the Life, viewers learned that Rory is celebrating her two-year anniversary with her boyfriend, Paul — and so did she. While Paul is a perfectly nice guy, he’s so bland, that Rory can barely remember him, and neither can anyone else.
When Paul shows up at Lorelai’s place to join her, Luke, and Rory for dinner, Lorelai and Luke both have no memory of ever meeting him before, even though they’ve clearly spent time together. Of course, Paul remembers their past interactions and follows through on his apparent promises to bring an old wrench for Luke and virus protection software for Lorelai’s computer. This doesn’t make him any more memorable though. In fact, poor Paul is so forgettable that Rory keeps neglecting to break up with him.
LORELAI: FOUGHT WITH HER MOTHER AT HER FATHER’S FUNERAL
All the Gilmores had a hard time saying goodbye to Richard, but this was especially true for his wife, Emily. As is often the case, Lorelai deeply disappoints her mother on one of the hardest days of her life. At Richard's funeral, after Rory and Luke leave, Emily asks a small gathering of Richard’s closest friends to tell a story about him. Fueled by too much alcohol, Lorelai flubs her mother’s request by regaling the gathering with embarrassing stories that are anything but fond memories of her father.
Lorelai apologizes to her mother after the guests leave but Emily’s heartbroken, both because she misses Richard and because Lorelai dishonored him. Their fight goes on for four months during which the pair barely speak, and eventually leads to Emily tricking Lorelai to coming to therapy with her.
RORY: STRUGGLED AS A JOURNALIST
In the years between Gilmore Girls and A Year in the Life, Rory continues to pursue her career as a journalist. So far, though, she's failed to find a permanent position or consistent freelance work. She seems to be adrift and confused about what she should be doing with her life.
She puts a positive spin on it, insisting she has a lot of “irons in the fire,” but clearly Rory isn’t living up to the promise she showed when she edited the Yale Daily News and landed a promising job right out of college. Nevertheless, Rory has a confidence in herself she hasn’t earned, showing up unprepared to an interview for a staff job at a website and that acting like the company is beneath her when she gets rejected.
RORY: GAVE UP A PERMANENT ADDRESS
Since graduating from Yale, Rory has spent her time hopscotching between Stars Hollow, New York City, and London, but the only place she had a permanent residence was NYC. When the building went condo, however, Rory decided to give up her city apartment. She claims she was barely there anyway, so it made no sense to keep it.
Instead, she’s excited to lead a rootless existence and see where life takes her. As a result of her lack of a place of her own, Rory has mailed boxes of her things to her friends and family, which gives her an excuse to see them all as she bounces from location to location. Unfortunately, she also forgot to label her boxes, making it hard for her to find the things she needs the most.
LORELAI: GOT INTO A RUT IN HER RELATIONSHIP
Lorelai and Luke finally got together for good at the end of Gilmore Girls, but that hasn’t prevented them from getting into a bit of a rut in their relationship. Like many couples that have been together for a long time, Luke and Lorelai’s relationship has become somewhat routine and has some recurring issues. Those issues didn’t mean the relationship is bad though.
If anything the pair has waited way too long to make things official, which they both realize by the end of the revival. This leads to a hasty wedding. Viewers always knew these two were destined to be together. Despite all the drama, it was good to see them commit to each other the way they should have when they got engaged a decade earlier.
RORY: LANDED AN INTERVIEW AT CONDÉ NAST
One of the strange things we learn during A Year in the Life is that Rory has an upcoming meeting with Condé Nast. Maybe this sounded good on paper, but the problem is Condé Nast isn’t a publication with editors who hire writers. It’s a company that owns several publications and websites. While Rory could write for any one of those, she wouldn’t have a meeting with the company in general.
Setting all that aside, Rory’s meeting happens even though she isn't able to find her lucky outfit to wear to it. It’s a perfectly pleasant exchange that ends with her agreeing to work on a story she has no interest in. When she can’t get any traction on the piece, she goes back to Stars Hollow without any prospects, where she agrees to edit the Stars Hollow Gazette for free.
RORY: STARTED TAP DANCING FOR STRESS RELIEF
Lorelai wakes up in the middle of the night to find Rory tap dancing in her kitchen. Why the midnight dance session? It’s for stress relief. Rory claims tapping keeps her calm and helps her shut her brain off.
While Rory won’t be giving a tap-dancing recital anytime soon, she swears that tapping has helped her calm her nerves for the month she’s been doing it. At least, more than the other stress-fighting activities she’s tried, like meditation and jogging. Of course, the fact that Rory spends her nights tapping instead of sleeping indicates that her troubles aren’t far from her mind. When Lorelai discovers her stress relief secret, Rory quickly stops tapping in favor of coffee and banter with her mother.
LORELAI: DECIDED SHE WANTS ANOTHER KID
When Lorelai fought with her mother after her father’s funeral, Emily argued that Lorelai never considered what Luke wanted in their relationship. Clearly, this has an impact because Lorelai starts thinking about having another kid — a development that appears to have a lot to do with her concern that Luke feels like he's missed out on raising a child. Luke has a daughter from a prior relationship, but didn’t learn about her until she was 13. And Lorelai remembers all the fun she had raising Rory and wants that for Luke too.
So, Lorelai drags Luke to Paris’ swanky fertility clinic to look into having a surrogate carry their baby. Eventually, Luke convinces Lorelai to let the idea go, but not before she's made him feel extremely uncomfortable.
RORY: ATTACKED THE NEW YORK TIMES’ GAIL COLLINS
One of the anecdotes Rory shares with Lorelai during A Year in the Life is about the time she attacked the journalist Gail Collins in the lobby of The New York Times building. Instead of greeting Collins like a professional. Rory lunged at her, scaring her so much that Collins gave Rory her wallet. Rory excuses her actions by saying she wasn’t expecting to see Collins and that she’d had a lot of coffee. Fortunately, Collins was nice about the misunderstanding and soon recognized Rory from their one prior meeting.
Was the incident a sign of Rory’s career desperation, an honest mistake, a moment of insanity? It’s hard to say, but in the fictional world of Gilmore Girls, it’s unlikely Gail Collins will ever forget Rory Gilmore.
LORELAI: SUPPORTS RORY NO MATTER WHAT
Between Gilmore Girls and A Year in the Life, Lorelai and Rory have maintained their close friendship even though they don’t see each other as much as they used to. Despite the obvious ups and downs of Rory’s career, Lorelai is supportive of Rory’s choices no matter what she does.
The only exception comes when Rory tells her mother she’s planning to write a book about their relationship. Lorelai initially refuses to give Rory her permission, she doesn’t want Rory to tell her story. However, Lorelai quickly gets on board and begrudgingly learns to accept her daughter’s latest project. One way or another, Lorelai and Rory always manage to come back together.
MAINTAINED AN IMPRESSIVE INTAKE OF FOOD AND COFFEE
Throughout Gilmore Girls, Lorelai and Rory’s ability to drink cup after cup of coffee and eat copious amounts of food was truly astonishing, especially considering their slight frames.
In A Year in the Life, their food and caffeine intake hasn't changed much. As the revival begins, they already have started in on the coffee. Once they get to Lorelai's house where Luke is making them a home-cooked meal featuring two main courses, the pair tuck into tacos as Luke looks on in amazement. The Gilmores have the digestive systems of Hobbits, with the number of meals a day to match. It’s pure wish fulfillment for the mere mortals who watch them as they eat all the junk food their hearts desire.
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Can you think of anything else the Gilmore Girls accomplished? Let us know in the comments!