From 2000 to 2007, over six classic seasons and one very bad one, Gilmore Girls turned the story of mother-daughter duo Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Rory (Alexis Bledel) into uncannily smart and immersive TV. Since then, fans have pined for a proper ending to the show, and now Netflix has announced that it will indeed resurrect the series—not as a show per se, but as four 90-minute episodes that start production early next year.
The skepticism, though, has already begun. And understandably so: Reboots of Full House, The X-Files, and Twin Peaks have spurred much debate about the merits of reviving beloved shows years or decades after their original broadcast. These series risk returning as mere shadows of their former selves, zombie programming held aloft by nostalgia, some familiar faces, and little else.
But with Gilmore Girls’ revival, pure, unfiltered glee is both the immediate and rational response. Though the presence of Edward Herrmann, who passed last year, and Melissa McCarthy, who’s likely too busy to commit, will be missed, most of the show’s original cast—Graham, Bledel, Kelly Bishop, and Scott Patterson—is expected to sign on. More importantly, the show’s creator and guiding light, Amy Sherman-Palladino, is on board and seemingly in full control of production.
That’s key, because Gilmore Girls is essentially Sherman-Palladino’s sensibility transposed on screen. The showrunner is a less preachy, much subtler version of Aaron Sorkin, one whose racing dialogue and ping-ponging references emerge not from virtuosic politicians or preening newsmen but from normal people—single mothers, haughty grandparents, ambitious teenagers. Due to a contract dispute, Sherman-Palladino left Gilmore Girls before its lambasted final season, and she’s since lamented the missed opportunity to end the series on her terms. That opportunity is now in sight, and there are zero reasons to think she’ll do anything but knock it out of the park. In other words, the 360 new minutes of Gilmore Girls will likely be just as good as anything in its first six seasons. Fans should rest easy and begin plotting their next scheme: Getting Netflix to bring back Bunheads.
