Things You Might Not Know About Gilmore Girls
Published on June 12, 2015. Updated March 16, 2020Gilmore Girls has become a cult classic. It starred Lauren Graham as fast-talking, coffee-drinking single mom Lorelei Gilmore and Alexis Bledel as her daughter Rory Gilmore and followed the mother-daughter team through Rory’s high school and college years. Men came and went for these two, but their strong bond and love of caffeine got them through. Gilmore Girls had a very successful seven season run from 2000-2007 and along with Dawson’s Creek, One Tree Hill and The O.C. helped shape the family/teenage dramas we have come to love. The show’s reboot will be airing on Netflix on November 25 so, while we all wait, we have 12 things you didn’t know about the popular show:
12. English is Not My First Language.
In a few scenes during season six, Rory Gilmore (Alexis Bledel) speaks to her grandmother’s maid Ezsperanza in Spanish. While Rory uses simple sentences in her conversation with Ezsperanza, Bledel is actually fluent in Spanish as both her parents are from Latin America. Bledel only learned English when she went to school.
Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com11. Off to the O.C.
Adam Brody played Dave Rygalski, Lane Kim’s boyfriend, from 2002-2003. When he left the show, Lane explaines that he left Stars Hollow to go to college in California, which is partly true. He did go to California, but he went there to play high schooler Seth Cohen on The O.C.
s_bukley / Shutterstock.com10. 27 But Looks Like 16.
When Gilmore Girls first aired in 2000, Keiko Agena — who played Rory’s best friend Lane Kim — wasn’t a teenager. In fact, her teen years were long behind her as she was 27 years old! Alexis Bledel — who played Rory — was still a teenager when she landed the role. She was 19 when Season One was filmed.
Source: Warner Bros.9. The Real Rocker.
The actor who played Gil, Hep Alien’s lead guitarist who replaces Dave Rygalski when he runs off to California, is actually Sebastian Bach, the lead singer in Skid Row. Despite all of Bach’s “rock n roll” expereince, he reportedly didn’t even know how to hold a guitar!
Photo by Owen Sweeney / Rex Features8. Cancelling Jess.
The character Jess Mariano (Milo Ventimiglia) was supposed to have a spinoff of Gilmore Girls. Season Three’s Episode 21 was supposed to be the backdoor pilot where Jess moves in with his dad and his hippie girlfriend. The show was going to be called Windward Circle and was to be set in California. Unfortunately, Warner Brothers decided it was too expensive to film in Venice Beach and Jess did not end up getting his own show. Guess he should have stayed with Rory!
© Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection7. Where is Her Dad?
Lane Kim’s dad is never seen or ever heard from during the show’s seven seasons, but he is beleived to have been present in the Kim family home the entire time. Keiko Agena explained this to Gilmore News. “I felt that they were married and that he was just somewhere,” Agena said. “I know it doesn’t make any sense; he didn’t come to the wedding, and so on, there’s no logical reason for me to feel this way. In my gut, for some reason, my mother is a married woman.”
©2006 The CW / Courtesy Everett Collection6. Close in Age.
It is pretty common for mother and daughter characters to be much closer in age in real life than their TV personalities, but Alexis Bledel and Lauren Graham have about the same age difference in real life as their TV characters. Graham was born in 1967 and Bledel was born in 1981, making them 14 years apart, whereas Lorelei had Rory when she was 16.
© The CW / Courtesy Everett Collection5. Broadway Star.
Adam Wylie, who played nerdy prep school boy Brad Langford at Chilton, was absent for several months because he took on the role of Jack in Broadway’s Into The Woods. The writers wrote this into the show as Langford also explains to Rory and Paris that he missed school because he was on Broadway playing Jack in the same play.
Amanda Parks/Abaca4. What Would Stars Hollow be Like Without Luke?
The role of the diner owner was actually supposed to be portrayed by a woman, but the show needed more male characters and Scott Patterson got the role. He was only supposed to be featured in the pilot, but his chemistry with Lauren Graham was so compelling that he became Lorelai’s long standing love interest. Their relations off set were filled with just as much turmoil as their onset characters, and there were seasons where Graham and Patterson reportedly couldn’t stand each other.
©2006 The CW / Courtesy Everett Collection3. Paris Geller as Rory?
Liza Weil originally auditioned for the role of Rory Gilmore, but was turned down for the part. However, she tested so well that the character of Paris Geller was written for her and she remained a regular throughout the show’s duration. Weil can now be seen in How to Get Away with Murder.
Photo by Broadimage/REX2. Yuck!
Lorelai and Rory’s coffee obsession and caffeine addiction are well known to all Gilmore Girls‘ fans but, in reality, the actress Alexis Bledel (Rory) hates coffee and her cups of java were usually filled with coke instead, so she still got her much needed caffeine intake!
Source: Warner Bros.1. Kissers in Real Life.
In Season Three (2002-2003), Jess Mariano (Milo Ventimiglia) was featured as Rory’s (Alexis Bledel) prominent love interest. Ventimiglia and Bledel dated off camera for three years, which was much longer than their on-screen romance. No wonder those two had such steamy make-out scenes! Bledel went on to play Beth Dawes, who has an affair with Peter Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser), on Mad Men and married Kartheiser in real life two years later in 2014. It looks like Bledel has a type — she likes to date her on-screen love interests!
Photo by Broadimage / Rex Features