Culture

Netflix Has Confirmed They Are Definitely Rebooting ‘Gilmore Girls’!

IT'S FINALLY HAPPENING.

by Steph Harmon  20 October 2015

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Update 30/01/2016: It has been confirmed! According to TV Line, Netflix is rebooting Gilmore Girls in four 90-minute episodes, with each one representing a different season over the course of one year. Lauren Graham, Alexis Bledel, Scott Patterson, Kelly Bishop, Sean Gunn and Keiko Agena are all set to return — sadly, there’s no word on Melissa McCarthy. A premiere date hasn’t been released yet, but shooting begins February 2, so keep your eye on Twitter for cute set reunion photos.

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When Gilmore Girls showrunners Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino left the show ahead of its final season in 2006, it wasn’t on their terms. The pair had been after a roomier contract from their new network, but the CW wouldn’t commit to more than a year — leaving David S. Rosenthal, who had worked on the show as writer and producer, to take over.

At the time fans were devastated, but none moreso than TV writer Michael Ausiello, who interviewed the pair for TV Guide about their decision shortly after their split from the show was announced. “It’s horrifying. It’s like a freaking nightmare,” Amy said back then. “We have been begging for these things every single year, and every single year it gets harder and harder and harder, and it got to the point where it’s like, ‘No. … We’ve done a lot for this network and we’ve done a lot for this studio. We need you to do something for us.'”

In that same interview, Ausiello managed to wrest out of the pair that they had the finale planned, right down to the last four words. And in the years that followed that interview, he did everything he could to find out what they were. (“For the rest of my life you’re going to be asking me that,” Sherman-Palladino told him in 2012. “It’s not going to be today, but I am going to tell you. And I’m only going to tell you.”)

Imagine Ausiello’s delight, then, when he was the journalist who got to announce the news that Gilmore Girl fans have been waiting for since the show’s final episode aired in 2007: Netflix has finalised a deal with Warner Bros. to bring the show back for a limited series revival, penned by Amy and Dan.

The revival of the show has been brought up in interviews with the cast and crew for years now; notably at ATX TV Festival in June this year, Sherman-Pallidino reunited with key cast-members for a Gilmore Girls panel, and addressed “the most-asked question” she gets: “It would have to be the right everything — the right format, the right timing,” she said of a reunion. “If it ever happened, I promise we’ll do it correctly.”

In his news announcement today, Ausiello notes that “negotiations with the cast are only now beginning”, but that his source has confirmed all the major players are expected to return for four 90-minute episodes. This backs up what Scott Patterson (Luke) told us in July: “Everybody is on board,” he said of the cast. “They’ve all expressed their desire to be involved. If a movie or a limited-run TV series comes about, everyone is there.”

Of course regardless of how many get involved, there’ll be one gaping, bow-tie shaped hole in the cast: Edward Herrmann, who played Lorelai’s father and Rory’s grandfather, died in July this year.

:'(

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Watch the full reunion panel from June’s ATX TV Festival below: