Lauren Graham reflects on the return of Gilmore Girls for A Year in the Life, highlighting the profound personal meaning of the show, the evolution of its audience through streaming, and the careful artistic considerations involved in revisiting beloved characters and themes.
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Lauren Graham, Gilmore Girls, comes back
after all these years. And what's that
first moment like, not even just seeing
the scripts and so forth, but stepping
onto those streets again? There were so
many um I mean it was quite a different
time when I started that show. Um it
kind of went by in a blur and I had a
greater sense after I was finished of
how um what it had meant to me, how
important that and rare that part was.
um what an incredible experience I'd had
with Amy and Dan and Kelly and Alexis
and um and and and a real sense of pride
in the way the show continued to find an
audience and and um and live on and I
had never predicted that. So, and then
we talked for so long about the prospect
of doing it again. I couldn't believe
it. It was a It was a true um It It was
a moment I'd played so many times in my
head that
I It was even better than than I could
have imagined. The whole thing just had
a a crazy happy um sort of feeling to
it. If that approached you a few years
ago, would you have been more resistant
to it or did why did this feel like the
right time? I guess it's almost the way
the world has changed. I mean I the
conversation had been about a feature
film and as the sort of world evolved
and features really have become bigger
um budget bigger franchises um you know
was there a space to make this as a
feature film? I think we all sort of
wondered and and then streaming began
and then um it allowed Amy and Dan to
construct the show in the way they'd
probably always wanted to because our
scripts back then were 85 pages um for
you know a 40inut show that's usually 50
pages maybe and um they always had more
to say and so I feel like uh Amy in
particular wanted to be bigger than a TV
episode but smaller than a feature and
she got to do that with the seasons. I'm
glad you mentioned Netflix and streaming
and even the cable networks that ran it
over the years. Did it feel like, hey,
more and more people seem to be watching
this than even when we were on? Um, for
sure when it came to Netflix, there was
a surge. I mean I think again year to
year you can look at the progress of of
technology and and the way I felt it in
my life you know back in when in the
first iteration of the show it was DVDs
and and so when I went to do a play in
New York girls were coming to see it and
I and because of the show and I I would
ask them where they'd seen it and it was
in DVDs that maybe an older sister had
or a family member and then it began to
play in syndication. And then when
Netflix um and the Netflix model is
perfect for this show because it's a
very binge show potentially and you can
you can really lose yourself in it. Um
and it's very happy place to visit which
I I think has you know stood out over
the years as different
shows explore darker worlds. um we were
always a little unusual in this kind of
nostalgic kind of um fantasy town that
that we presented and I don't think it's
changed that much. There aren't there
still aren't a ton of uh worlds you can
visit like that. So I think the the
ability to binge those episodes created
a whole new world of of fans as one of
the producers as well and of course the
caretaker of this character. What what
was important to you to make sure
happened or didn't happen as they
developed the scripts? I mean,
everything was important to me.
Everything um was
uh personal, you know, it's it's someone
I treasure and um have lived with for a
long time. And
um and there was a reason artistically
speaking because we didn't have Amy and
Dan in our final season. So it felt like
a justifiable pursuit to examine, you
know, what had their vision for it um
been. And in between that, I' I'd
started and finished Parenthood and had
found out for the first time what it was
like to uh know that the end is coming
and be be able to plan for it and give
that to the characters and give that to
the people watching. And um it had
always been important to me that she
didn't get married in a traditional way.
Um, uh, I I I didn't mind the idea of
Luke and Laura ending up together. In
fact, I always thought that's what it
should be. I just thought, you know, for
them to
have a traditional wedding would not be
right for what I would picture Lauraai
having. So, what Amy made with this
beautiful kind of middle of the night
magical dance,
impromptu, you know, community kind of
coming together. Um, I just thought was
beautiful. So many characters, so many
actors and actresses that you get to
work with all those years and then and
then recently. Was there one in
particular you just couldn't wait to see
again? Oh gosh, there are so many
characters. Our cast list looks like a
Busby Berkeley musical. Um, and you
know, our scripts were this thick. And
honestly, I was I was happy to see
everybody and was so thrilled that um,
you know, we got to get our town back
together. Um, it was of of, you know,
many people I I knew were able to come
back and and it was a personal crusade
of mine to make sure that Melissa and I
had something together because she was
such an important friend and is an
important friend and such an important
part of the show. And um and I just I
just felt, you know, for a while it
didn't look like there was a way and
just her schedule was crazy and and um
that that piece coming together because
I think everything else had come
together by then. That piece coming
together was was just meant the world to
me. And and just where I am in my life
and as an actor, I was able to really
enjoy everybody in a in a much deeper
way. I think back in the day I was kind
of frenzied and and it was hard to be in
the moment and we shot on film and you
know it was a different day and this
time I was aggressively grabbing
everybody and I'm
like you know Sally Strs I'm so glad
you're here. I just was able to really
be appreciative of of our wonderful cast
in the moment and enjoy it. and among
newcomers to the you I heard way back
that you had recruited people that you
love especially like Jason and Peter and
May to make little cameos here and
there. One thing that was that's
different now too is um you know we're
there. We're all there because we want
to be and and we're there because people
were excited to see it. That's a
completely different energy to go into.
Most times you start a new project, you
have no idea. And and it felt like a
real family. And I wanted my family, my
extended family to be a part of it just
for, you know, posterity. And and
because now my relationship, you know,
when I was younger and just sort of
working for my boss, it's it's different
now. I I get to have these fun creative
conversations with Amy and Dan and and
we could sit and talk and think like who
could, you know, we could invite our
friends. and they did the same to um to
be part of this incredible experience.
Kelly Bishop, I mean, she was always
great on the show, but boy, she knocked
it out of the park for this the whole
thing, but especially the the final
episode where you really see her in
action. You see, you know, Kelly has
incredible range and the and the beauty
of her Emily is how restrained she
always is and was so that when Emily has
an emotional or a happy moment, she's
really earned it. And I also think just
the benefit of our friendship and these
years going by, you know, it just adds a
texture to um you know, I love that
we're meeting these characters. We're
not supposed we're not trying to pretend
it's 2009. you know, we're meeting them
where they are and more life has
happened and so uh understandably their
relationship has even grown more complex
and and deeper and with the loss of
Richard um everybody sort of is in an
upheaval and
um and and Kelly was just incredible and
and just a dear friend. The loss of
Edward Herman, I just had to touch all
of you so much. What did you learn from
him back in the day? Uh I you know I
learned um he always had such respect
for whoever he deemed to be a true actor
and that was someone who had a great
sense of history and the craft and
respect and knowledge and um
appreciation of others and uh you know
and and then there was just um a joy he
had in in how he conducted himself every
day. I know, you know, for some people
it was hard to have the show go in this
more emotional direction um and and not
be, you know, just non-stop fun,
although I think we have a lot of fun in
there, but there was just no way to not
address that loss. you know, there was
no way to not include him as a character
even in his absence because he was is
and is and was just too big a figure to
um you know he he was he is just too
important. So we had to um you know
honor him I hope in a way and
uh and and be affected by his loss as we
all were. That's why that large painting
was so such a nice touch because he was
a large presence on the show. Well, and
I think that's a real beautiful emblem,
that large painting, you know, it's a
great example of the kind of work Amy
does that that's her episode that it's
just no one else's imagination. you
know, it's it's real, but it's extreme,
but it's sort of theatrical, but it's
funny, but it's um smart, and it's gives
all these characters this thing to react
to. And that's just one moment in a in a
sea of them, you know? That was one of
the many reasons it was such a just
dream to go back and and do that
material. It's just the way I felt the
first time I I looked at it. I I thought
this is an
unusual voice and mind and this is a
world I want to be part of. From the
first day you worked with Alexis to the
most recent day you work with Alexis,
how has your relationship as actresses
changed? We always had in in some ways
not not at all. We always had a
shortorthhand and I think just a kind of
way of being together that was very easy
and um sort of unspoken. I I was going
to take sort of I it's hard to explain
if I was going to do one thing she was
going to do the other like we knew how
kind of we fit you know and the ways to
be complimementaryary I guess and and um
and I think in the best case you don't
you don't try to analyze that or kind of
dismantle it too much you know you just
as actors you kind of have a sense oh
okay this works and and you just sort of
appreciate it and and then the only
difference in in the um here in year in
the life is by necessity she doesn't
need me as much anymore. You know, we
found ways for her to come home and for
us to be together and and and um you
know, but as as you would at these ages,
we're on slightly more parallel paths
than we are braided together and and
um so I missed that at times, but it
also made complete complete sense. And
you know, like any child this age, she
doesn't need me as much anymore. And um
and so but the relationship was never
traditional. It was always about these
two women who are really more like
friends. It they had more issues with
it, you know, as as younger people. Now
they can really enjoy their relationship
and that four-word thing that we heard
about for years and years and years. Is
it make you anxious to actually finally
perform it or how, you know, I know you
know as you knew as the producer what it
was going to be, but I'm just wondering
about actually shooting it. It was very
stressful. Um, first of all, I had
family there who all had to sign
non-disclosure agreements and I was
like, they won't tell anybody. They're
trustworthy. So, it was just a hush kind
of on the set and
um and and also there's the
um you know, we shot it near the end,
but it wasn't the end. And and that had
a piece that had a very emotional piece
as well. We're shooting
finally potentially the the end. You
know, we didn't know it was the end in
that seventh season on uh the CW. Um,
and the we never say never and I don't
know, but this was something Amy had
planned as originally as what the end of
the show was. And so there's just kind
of a a a real bittersweet um not even
bittersweet, I would say just a sadness
about that. Just a wow, you know.
Um, and especially because the four
words suggest where the characters go
from there. They don't they don't put a
neat bow on on the experience. And and I
think that might be actually the
perfect place to, you know, let you, the
person who has loved these characters
over all these years, feel where they
might go next. Um, I think that's kind
of genius. Will it be just a feeling or
or will they will you come back?
Um I really don't know. Um the reaction
and and viewership was amazing. Yeah. I
really don't know. I I I am in love with
that with this person, you know, as a
person, as a character, as a as a day of of
of
of work, as what I get to do. I I'm
thrilled by that material. That's the
feeling. And and um you know, I was
always I came up in the theater and was
interested in in in theater. And to me,
this is the perfect marriage. It's it's
language that has a theatrical kind of
energy and quality and demands, you
know, demands speaking an ability to
sustain a sentence. And it just really
has a kind of unusual for television
um aspect to it that I crave when I'm
away from it. But you have to be respectful
respectful
of, you know, what's right for the story
and I'm thankfully not in charge of
that. Well, just welcome back to the
whole team and we were so glad to see it
again. Thanks for so much for today.
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