A Luke by any other name? The unlikely chemistry between perky Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) and petulant Luke Danes (Scott Patterson) was a key part of Gilmore Girls‘ appeal throughout the series’ seven-season run that ended in 2007. As it turns out, the two characters almost had a very different dynamic.
In advance of Netflix’s highly anticipated revival, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, show creator Amy Sherman-Palladino told Entertainment Weekly in the most recent issue that Luke was initially written as a woman until the WB brass intervened.
“Luke was originally a female character,” Sherman-Palladino said. “[The network] came to me and said we need another guy, so I literally just took a character and changed the name — didn’t even change any of the dialogue, because I’m that lazy.”
She pointed out that the switch was easy enough to make because the character — who first went by the name “Daisy” — was written in a “unisex” way.
According to Sherman-Palladino, the team was immediately pleased with the change to the role, given the way that Graham and Patterson connected on camera. “We did a few shows, and they just had chemistry,” Sherman-Palladino said.
She added that she first knew there was something special between the characters during a season 1 scene that was not supposed to even be a pivotal moment: “It was the episode where they were in the market, and Lorelai’s spying on Dean. Luke was there, and they [clicked in] this scene that didn’t mean anything.”
Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life launches on Netflix Friday, November 25.
