Here's a piece of Gilmore Girls news that will blow your mind: The Gilmore Girls revival might not end after four episodes. I know, I know, I'm just just as shocked as you are, but as series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino told Entertainment Weekly, "The cast is not killed in a terrible explosion at the end. Spoiler alert!" Sherman-Palladino isn't just cracking jokes, guys. It sounds very much like she is leaving the door open for more Gilmore Girls if inspiration ever strikes again.
It should be noted this is all hypothetical at this point — the cast hasn't even finished filming the Netflix revival yet — but Lauren Graham, aka Lorelai, has already revealed the mythic final four words of the Gilmore Girls are open-ended. The ending isn't meant to feel final. That means if Sherman-Palladino and the rest of the cast decide to return to the wonderland of Stars Hollow again, they can do so without having to undo any of the story presented in the revival.
How could Sherman-Palladino pull off even more Gilmore Girls though? Since she has had the final four words in mind since before she knew she wouldn't be involved in Season 7, this suggests that for Sherman-Palladino the end was never truly going to be the end. Maybe her master plan was always to end the show and then continue the story in another medium, like say a movie, perhaps?
Granted, I don't think Sherman-Palladino ever imagined the Gilmore Girls would return in the form of four 90-minute mini-movies. The change in format did not change those last words, though, and if they have always been open-ended, then Sherman-Palladino may have been imagining what comes after this story for a really, really long time. Excited, yet? I am.
There are so many possible directions for the Gilmore Girls to go in, even after the revival. That is the beauty of small town and family dramas — there will always be more stories to tell. Even if Lorelai and/or Rory ends up married, there are numerous career and life milestones, from new jobs to relocating to babies, plus opportunities to deal with the way their mother/daughter relationship changes as they get older. Suffice it to say, there is a wealth of human drama that can be mined for a movie or even another miniseries.
After waiting so many years for more Gilmore Girls, the thought that there could be even more of the show after these four movie-length episodes seems way too good to be true though. And it just might be. While Sherman-Palladino's husband and fellow writer told EW, "we just never say never," the cast is very much just taking things day by day as they re-immerse themselves in the Gilmore world.
"I can’t even imagine,” Alexis Bledel (Rory) said to EW. "For there to be more, again, I’m like, 'What would the story be?' Amy would have to tell me and then I would have to think about it. How many actors play the same character for so long?"
While Bledel is understandably skeptical about the possibility of returning to Stars Hollow for a third stint, her fellow cast members seem to be taking the idea in stride. In the same interview, Kelly Bishop (Emily) said, "With so many sequels, things do change and actors don’t want to do it, but here you’ve got pretty much everybody and we’re happy to be together and we really like each other. Let’s just see what happens. I’m a day-to-day kind of person. I just hope everybody likes this one."
I think everyone can drink to that!
Personally, I'm with Bishop on this one. Let's bask in the awesomeness of this revival and as soon as it is over, everyone can start praying to the Netflix gods that inspiration strikes again and Sherman-Palladino gets the gang back together for a third time. Hey, no one ever thought the Gilmore Girls would return after Season 7, but this is a brave new world where the Gilmore Girls could totally go on forever.
Let's aim for the stars — another miniseries, a movie, a Broadway musical — I don't think anyone would say "no" to growing old with the Gilmores. You know Rory and Lorelai would be just as amazing at 50 and 65 as they have been all along.
Images: Warner Bros. Television; Giphy (4)
