Gilmore Girls’ Lauren Graham Surprises Kelly Bishop in Sweet Reunion

1. The show's fictional Stars Hollow—which has gone connected to go 1 of TV's astir beloved settings—was inspired by Amy Sherman-Palladino's unexpected sojourn to Washington, Conn. Charmed by the radical she met, traditions she witnessed and the inn she stayed at, she near the tiny municipality with the conception for the series—including immoderate of the pilot's dialogue.

"If I tin marque radical consciousness this overmuch of what I felt walking astir this fairy town," Sherman-Palladino told Deseret News, "I thought that would beryllium wonderful."

2. Alexis Bledel had lone 1 uncredited acting relation connected her resume and was a pupil astatine New York University erstwhile she auditioned for Rory.

"I was precise sick, I was a pupil astatine NYU, and they kept calling maine backmost up to audition," Bledel recalled during an quality connected Late Night with Seth Meyers. "I deliberation I went, like, six times. Oddly, I wasn't a precise seasoned histrion astatine all. I didn't cognize the process. I grew a tad spot impatient. I had a small cognition and our brag truly liked that a lot. She was like, 'That's our girl!' I was like, 'Are you guys going to bring maine backmost again?' and she was like, 'I similar that, that's perfect.'"

3. Gilmore Girls without Lauren Graham as Lorelai? Unimaginable, right? But it astir happened.

"When I got the publication for the Gilmore Girls pilot," Graham wrote successful her 2016 book, Talking As Fast As I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (and Everything successful Between). "I was successful New York, staying successful a friend's workplace apartment, waiting to perceive if the bid I conscionable completed for NBC — Don Rooses' M.Y.O.B.—was going to beryllium picked up for a 2nd play oregon canceled."

Fortunately for us, M.Y.O.B. was not picked up, allowing Graham to play the fast-talking lead, which was besides bully for immoderate different histrion successful information for the part.

"There's a benignant of manic designation that happens precise seldom erstwhile I work thing that I privation truthful overmuch that I spell concisely but wholly bonkers," she explained of her transportation to the quality aft speechmaking the script. "That feeling is simply a operation of 'Hello, aged friend,' meets EVERYONE GET OUT OF MY WAY SHE'S ALL MINE."

4. Scott Paterson was the lone histrion to audition for Luke, winning implicit the casting directors instantly with his charming yet curmudgeonly instrumentality connected the diner proprietor and Lorelai's aboriginal husband.

"Amy said, 'I don't request to spot anyone else," casting manager Jill Anthony told Vanity Fair. "'He's 100 percent it.'"

But Paterson ne'er thought helium was going to athletics Luke's signature chapeau and flannel shirts. 

"I had 3 auditions that day, and this was the 2nd one," the histrion elaborate to Glamour. "I had prepared 1 scene, but I was expected to person prepared two. So I went successful and I did my thing. I didn't attraction anymore...I knew I wasn't going to get [Gilmore Girls]. The publication was excessively good. The aviator publication was truthful good; they were going to connection it to stars, truthful what was I wasting my clip for? I'm precocious for this different [audition], I'll astir apt get a summons [outside], truthful tin I get retired of here, please?"

5. Before Jared Padalecki could onshore his starring relation arsenic Rory's archetypal emotion Dean Forester, 2 different Canadian actors had to beryllium fired. Why? The quality had been altered to beryllium little "alternative," Anthony explained to Vanity Fair.

6. Ryan Gosling and Chris Pine some auditioned for the series. Gosling was brought successful to work for a tiny part, with casting director Jami Rudofsky admitting astatine the 2015 ATX TV Festival that his audition fell—gasp!—flat.

Pine, meanwhile, revealed his father, histrion Robert Pine, had secured him an audition (his archetypal nonrecreational one), though helium couldn't retrieve for which part. As helium said successful a W Magazine video, "I dunno, possibly a boyfriend."

"The younger mentation of myself was truly freaked retired that that's what they wrote," the How to Get Away With Murder prima joked. "I couldn't fathom that they would deliberation that they could bash that! But present I deliberation it's truly flattering and I'm truly glad."

13. Throughout the series' run, Bledel dated 2 of her main onscreen boyfriends IRL, according to casting manager Mara Casey.

"We did person a gag astir casting each of Alexis' [real-life] boyfriends," she revealed to Life & Style successful 2016. "She dated Jared and Milo [Ventimiglia]. And she besides dated a young New York histrion named Chris Heuisler, who played a impermanent role. Real saccharine kid."

14. While Sean Gunn initially was introduced arsenic Stars Hollow's DSL installer Mick, helium would yet go a bid regular arsenic Kirk, who would person a antithetic unusual occupation successful each episode. So wherefore the sanction change? Gunn revealed Sherman-Palladino had simply forgotten helium already had a name.

15. The WB was funny successful a spinoff starring Ventimiglia, with the play 3 occurrence "Here Comes the Son" serving arsenic a backdoor aviator for the caller series. Windward Circle would've centered connected Jess' beingness successful Venice Beach, Calif., but the bid yet didn't spell guardant owed to fund concerns. 

16. As Gilmore Girls was ending its seventh season, determination were talks of continuing to travel Rory successful her big beingness aft Graham decided she was not going to return. 

"I did formally accidental astatine 1 point, 'I'm not coming back,'" Graham revealed to TV Guide. "Then they thought, 'Well, tin we bash it with conscionable Alexis?' I don't privation to talk for her, but we some went backmost and forth. Ultimately, neither of america wanted to bash it without the different one."

She continued, "They were trying to deliberation of everything. There was a clip erstwhile we thought possibly I would nutrient and not beryllium connected the amusement successful the aforesaid capacity."

17. After declaration negotiations stalled, Stars Hollow was rocked erstwhile it was announced the Sherman-Palladino and husband Daniel Palladino would not beryllium returning for the seventh (and yet final) season.

"The abbreviated reply truly is that we conscionable could not travel to presumption with the workplace for a caller contract," Palladino told TV Guide astatine the time, with Sherman-Palladino adding they "tried" to get a multi-year deal.

"Deals person options," she explained. "There are each sorts of things that spell into deals. What we were asking for was not crazy. It was not insane. It was not the moon. It was truly about, frankly, protecting the show."

While the mates had hired their replacement, Dave Rosenthal, Sherman-Palladino admitted passing implicit the reigns was "horrifying. It's similar a freaking nightmare."

And she's since revealed she's ne'er watched the last season.

18. For years, determination were rumors of hostility connected acceptable betwixt Paterson and Graham, contempt their undeniable chemistry arsenic Luke and Lorelai. The couple's rabid fanbase believed it was the crushed their favourite brace broke up successful a polarizing play six storyline, but Graham denied those claims successful an interrogation with TV Guide aft the bid ended.

"Yes, it was overblown," she said, though she admitted she was "closer" to David Sutcliffe, who played Rory's begetter Christopher. "I ever thought that possibly radical thought I was trying to springiness him immoderate benignant of vantage due to the fact that we're friends. But that's not it."

And Graham was conscionable arsenic disappointed and frustrated arsenic the fans were with however Luke and Lorelai's narration ended connected an ambiguous enactment successful the series' archetypal run.

"I conscionable emotion the hostility betwixt [Luke and Lorelai] truthful much…For me, it didn't extremity successful a satisfying way," she explained to TV Guide. "We weren't definite it was the end. Amy wasn't with america successful the past season. I can't reply it due to the fact that it didn't truly end. It didn't resoluteness satisfactorily."

19. Because of her exit from the bid aft play six, the amusement did not extremity the mode Sherman-Palladino primitively intended to. And she wasn't shy astir voicing that, teasing fans for years with the lore of the "last 4 words" she had planned to extremity the Gilmore women's tally with. 

Almost each interrogation with the Palladinos successful the years that followed included a question astir the mythical words, though they ne'er spilled immoderate details for a hopeful reason. "I don't privation to wholly accidental [what my ideas were]," Sherman-Palladino told Entertainment Weekly, due to the fact that if determination is simply a movie successful the making, I'm going to beryllium fundamentally delving backmost into wherever I near off, and past I'm benignant of [screwed]."

And erstwhile the Netflix revival was announced successful 2016, it was confirmed that the four-episode miniseries would extremity with the long-awaited 4 words. Which you tin work each astir close here. (Yes, they were worthy the wait.) 

20. Cast arsenic Lorelai's waspy-but-loving parents Richard and Emily Gilmore, Edward Herrmann and Kelly Bishop became rather adjacent and his spouse Star Herrmann even referred to Bishop arsenic his "second wife." Herrmann died successful 2014 astatine the property of 71 aft a conflict with encephalon cancer. In the weeks conscionable earlier helium passed, his wife  invited Bishop to sojourn with him.

"She was the lone idiosyncratic we had come," she told Vanity Fair. "It was important to him, and it was important to her."

Bishop called the invitation "wonderful and bittersweet and surprising." At the cast's reunion sheet astatine the ATX TV Festival, a seat was near unfastened connected the signifier successful grant of Herrmann.