Gilmore Girls is a comfort show to many but, as it turns out, it’s one of Lauren Graham’s favorite works, too. The actress played Lorelai Gilmore in the series and its revival series, and, although she’s had other exciting roles, Gilmore Girls is one of her favorites.
Graham’s latest roles include the 2024 Christmas film The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, 2025’s Twinless, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival with stunning reviews, and the upcoming series The Z-Suite. The latter is set to premiere on Tubi on Feb. 6 as a Tubi Original. Ahead of the series release, Graham stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and talked about the new series but also Gilmore Girls.
As the conversation switched to Gilmore Girls, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year after its 2000 premiere on The WB, the actress couldn’t believe it’s been that long. “It doesn’t feel like 25 years at all,” Graham agreed.
“And it’s just something I’m super grateful for. And it’s also just kind of strange that new generations keep finding it.”
Asked whether she would come back after she returned in 2016 for the revival limited series Gilmore Girl: A Year in the Life, the actress confirmed she would. “I would, yes. I always say yes because it’s the best part I ever had and I love doing it. It was the perfect material at the perfect time, with the perfect writer, and it just means so much to me.”
She continued, “I will say it’s getting, can be strange at times, because on the one hand, some people are starting to say “You raised me,” and I’m like, “I hope there were other adults involved,” and then on the other hand, people are like, “I just have the show on in the background. It puts my dog to sleep.””
Lauren Graham Had a Recent Reunion With a Gilmore Girls Co-Star
The original series ran for seven seasons between 2000 and 2007, and the cast and crew got close working together. Most reunited for the 2016 Netflix revival series, and continue to be close. In early December, Lauren Graham’s Lorelai and Scott Patterson’s Luke reunited for a Walmart ad, with Sean Gunn’s Kirk coming back to Star Hollow, too. The ad showed them during day-to-day life as their characters, with Luke still busy at the diner, Lorelai still addicted to caffeine, and Kirk still doing all the jobs in the small town.
She also addressed the reunion during the interview, and noted that it was “so wild” to go back on the set. She explained that “there are all kinds of things, the door doesn’t really close. It’s on this weird hinge so it doesn’t make noise, so you have to close it yourself.” She explained that the ad’s director asked if she should be surprised when seeing Kirk delivering the Walmart package, to which she said, “‘No because Kirk takes every job in town.'”
She also noted the directors wanted to have some art behind the menus in Luke’s diner and asked her if it should be art made by a girl or a boy. “I was like, ‘No, no, I can’t make any of those decisions. Because it would be my grandchild, it would be Rory’s kid’s art up in Luke’s [diner],” adding that she didn’t want to make any decision “that my boss wouldn’t make.”
