Lauren Graham is looking back at one of Gilmore Girls’ most controversial story lines.
During her appearance on the Wednesday, October 7, episode of Christine Taylor and David Lascher’s “Hey Dude … The ‘90s Called!” podcast, Graham, 59, reflected on the seasons 5 and 6 story line where her character, Lorelai Gilmore, was estranged from daughter Rory (Alexis Bledel) after Rory chose to take time off from Yale University.
“It was hard to play,” Graham admitted. “I remember asking [series cocreator Amy Sherman-Palladino], I was like, ‘I don’t think people like this and … it’s hard to justify.’”
The Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist alum added that the plotline felt “out of character” for Lorelai and Rory.
Graham recalled Sherman-Palladino, 60, arguing that Lorelai and Rory’s relationship couldn’t always be “idyllic,” especially when the show leaned into dramatic elements.
“The other conversation that went on around that show was, ‘Is it a comedy or is it a drama?’” Graham continued. “And it was really kind of both at a time … they would always switch our category for any kind of award submission. They couldn’t decide, it felt like. Like, Ally McBeal, I feel like, was doing well as a comedy, a one-hour comedy, but it had whatever elements that made that fit a little better.”
Graham recalled season 6 of Gilmore Girls getting “quite dramatic.”
Gilmore Girls, which ran for seven seasons from 2000 to 2007, followed single mom Lorelai, who gave birth to Rory at 16 years old and left her high-society parents’ home in a wealthy community in Hartford, Connecticut, to raise her daughter in the nearby, quirky small town of Stars Hollow. The show focused on the friendly mother-daughter relationship between Lorelai and Rory, as well as Lorelai’s tumultuous dynamic with her own mother, Emily Gilmore (Kelly Bishop).
Fans have widely debated Lorelai and Rory’s estrangement in season 6, which came after Rory received harsh criticism from a newspaper industry titan and felt she could no longer succeed in a journalism career. Many fans believed Rory’s decision to temporarily drop out of college felt immature for her character and disagreed with Lorelai’s decision to stop speaking to her daughter. However, others have pointed out that the story line was crucial for character development.
Elsewhere on Wednesday’s podcast episode, Graham reflected on the cult classic popularity of Gilmore Girls today, recalling that the show wasn’t as successful when it first aired on TV.
“What’s funny to me, too, is when people talk about the show, [they say] ‘that hit show.’ It was not a hit show then,” she said. “We had the lowest ratings. Also, we were on The WB, which was still like, ‘What’s that?’”
Graham continued, “Hot take, but something with Girls in the title is just going to knock out a good portion of the audience who thinks like, ‘Oh, it’s for young people’ or ‘It’s for women.’ It was not a hit then. It was not a big deal. It had its followers, but it has grown in a way you could never have imagined.”
Graham and Sherman-Palladino are both set to appear in an upcoming HBO Max documentary about Gilmore Girls. The pair are also working on a book about the show, slated for release in the fall of 2027.
