‘Gilmore Girls’ Biggest Unfinished Story Deserves a Second Chance 10 Years Later

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life is set nearly a decade after the finale of the original Gilmore Girls series, but nearly another decade after the revival premiered. Stars Hollow is once again back in the spotlight. Warner Bros. Television is currently developing the first-ever authorized Gilmore Girls documentary for HBO Max, with creator Amy Sherman-Palladino, Daniel Palladino, and Lauren Graham among those involved. The documentary will revisit how the beloved series became a cross-generational phenomenon and feature never-before-seen outtakes, behind-the-scenes footage, and script pages.

That renewed attention comes while one of the franchise's biggest questions remains exactly where A Year in the Life left it. A lot has changed, and a lot has stayed the same. While the lovely town of Stars Hollow and its eccentric inhabitants are no different from the original series, Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Rory Gilmore (Alexis Bledel) find themselves at a crossroads. Now that they are 10 years older, they must learn to navigate a new era in their lives.

By the end of the miniseries, Lorelai and Rory are wiser and vastly more grateful for the lives they have and the people in them. But they are still the lovable, relatable, and witty characters we loved during the show's original run. However, just as Lorelai and Rory embrace the changes that come with growth, Rory announces she is pregnant in the last few seconds of the miniseries.

What Happened in 'Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life'?

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life has four lengthy episodes, depicting Emily (Kelly Bishop), Lorelai, and Rory Gilmore's lives as they go through winter, spring, summer, and fall. As the seasons change, so do the Gilmore girls. Emily, Lorelai, and Rory experience the tricky stages of grief as they mourn the loss of Richard Gilmore (Edward Herrmann). Richard was Emily's husband, Lorelai's father, and Rory's grandfather. He was a pivotal member of the Gilmore clan, always wanting the absolute best for his family and working very hard to provide for them.

Collider Exclusive · Universe Personality Quiz Which Iconic Universe Do You Belong in the Most? Star Wars · Lord of the Rings · Harry Potter · Game of Thrones · Star Trek

Five legendary universes. Five completely different visions of what the world could be — or already was. One of them is the world your instincts, your values, and your particular way of existing were built for. Eight questions will tell you which one.

🚀Star Wars

💍Lord of the Rings

🧙Harry Potter

👑Game of Thrones

🖖Star Trek

FIND YOUR UNIVERSE →

01

What gives your life its deepest sense of meaning? Every universe is built around a different answer to this question.

ABeing part of something larger than myself — a cause, a rebellion, a fight for freedom that outlasts me. BThe journey itself — the places I'll go, the companions beside me, the world I'll discover on the way. CLearning — unlocking what I'm capable of, understanding the world's hidden mechanics, growing into something more. DLegacy — the name I leave behind, the power I build, the mark I make before the world moves on without me. EUnderstanding — exploring what exists beyond the horizon and asking what it means to be alive in a universe this vast.

NEXT QUESTION →

02

Which kind of world do you most want to inhabit? The environment shapes who you become. Choose carefully.

AA galaxy of planets, each with its own culture — connected by conflict, trade, and the Force. BAncient lands of breathtaking beauty, deep history, and a creeping darkness at the edges. CA world hidden inside our own — full of wonder, community, and magic waiting to be learned. DA brutal, beautiful continent where power is everything and every alliance is a calculation. EA future where humanity has reached the stars — and must decide what kind of species it wants to be.

NEXT QUESTION →

03

How do you prefer your conflicts resolved? The shape of a world's conflicts tells you everything about its soul.

AThrough sacrifice and courage — someone has to make the impossible choice so others don't have to. BThrough fellowship — the impossible becomes possible when the right people walk the same road. CThrough growth — confronting what you fear, understanding what you lack, and becoming equal to the challenge. DThrough strategy — outthinking, outmaneuvering, positioning yourself so the outcome was never in doubt. EThrough dialogue — finding the third option, the peaceful resolution, the answer that doesn't require a body count.

NEXT QUESTION →

04

Who do you want beside you when things get difficult? Your ideal companions reveal the world you were made for.

AA small crew — a pilot, a rogue, a warrior — each broken in their own way, unbeatable together. BA fellowship of different kinds of people, bound by purpose and deepened by the long road. CFriends who grew up alongside me — who knew me before I knew myself, and stayed anyway. DAllies whose loyalty I've earned — and tested — and whose ambitions align with mine, for now. EA crew of brilliant, curious, principled people from every corner of known space.

NEXT QUESTION →

05

What is your relationship with power? How you seek, wield, or resist power is the map of who you are.

AI want to use it to protect — and I'm terrified of what I might become if I'm not careful. BI distrust it. The most important power in this story is the courage to give it up. CI want to earn it — through knowledge, through effort, through becoming someone worthy of it. DI want to wield it. Preferably before someone else decides to wield it against me. EI want to understand it — its structures, its limits, its ethical dimensions. Power without accountability is the real threat.

NEXT QUESTION →

06

How does your universe treat good and evil? A world's moral architecture tells you more about it than any map.

AThere is a dark side and a light side — and the choice between them is always present, always personal. BEvil is real and ancient and patient — and goodness, however small, is the only thing that can undo it. CGood and evil are real, but they live inside people — and people are complicated, always capable of both. DGood and evil are mostly a matter of perspective and proximity. Power is the only honest currency. EEvil is usually the result of ignorance, fear, or broken systems — and understanding it is the first step to solving it.

NEXT QUESTION →

07

What role would you naturally fall into? Every universe has archetypes. Which one fits you without trying?

AThe reluctant hero — ordinary origins, extraordinary moment, changed forever by the choice to act. BThe unlikely carrier — the one nobody expected to matter most, quietly bearing the weight of everything. CThe student — not yet who I'll become, learning through every mistake, growing into something the world needs. DThe player — sharp enough to see the game for what it is, ambitious enough to try to win it. EThe explorer — drawn to the unknown, driven by curiosity, most alive when standing somewhere no one has stood before.

NEXT QUESTION →

08

What do you ultimately believe about the future? The answer to this is the clearest window into which universe already lives inside you.

AThat hope is real — that even in the darkest galaxy, a new hope is always possible. CThat even the smallest person can change the course of the future, if they have the courage to try. CThat love and friendship and doing what's right will matter in the end, even when everything says otherwise. DThat the wheel keeps turning — that power shifts, winters end, and what endures is those willing to fight for it. EThat humanity — or whatever we become — is capable of extraordinary things, if we choose to be.

REVEAL MY UNIVERSE →

Your Universe Has Been Chosen You Belong In…

Your answers point to the iconic universe your values, your instincts, and your particular way of seeing the world were built for. This is where you would find your people — and your purpose.

Star Wars

You believe in the cause — in the idea that freedom is worth fighting for even when the odds are impossible and the empire is vast.

• You are drawn to the moral clarity of a universe where hope itself is a form of resistance.
• You'd find your people in the Rebellion — a ragtag coalition of true believers held together by conviction more than resources.
• Star Wars is fundamentally a story about ordinary people choosing to matter in an extraordinary conflict — and that is exactly your kind of story.
• The Force may or may not be with you. But the will to use it for something larger than yourself certainly is.

Lord of the Rings

You understand, in the deepest part of yourself, that the journey matters as much as the destination — and that the world's beauty is worth protecting even at great cost.

• Middle-earth is a world of ancient wonder, deep friendship, and a darkness that only retreats when enough small acts of courage accumulate.
• You would thrive here because you value the fellowship more than the glory — the road more than the arrival.
• Tolkien's universe rewards patience, loyalty, and the willingness to carry something heavy across a very long distance.
• Those are not burdens to you. They are simply how you move through the world.

Harry Potter

You believe that love, loyalty, and doing what's right are not naive sentiments — they are the most powerful forces in any world, magical or otherwise.

• The Wizarding World is a place of wonder hidden in plain sight, where learning is transformative and the bonds you form at school follow you into every battle.
• You would flourish here because you take both the magic and the friendships seriously — and you understand that one without the other is incomplete.
• Harry Potter's universe ultimately rewards those who choose to stand for something even when standing is terrifying.
• That choice — made quietly, without guarantee — is something you understand completely.

Game of Thrones

You see the world clearly — its power structures, its hypocrisies, its brutal arithmetic — and you are not paralysed by that clarity. You use it.

• Westeros is a world that rewards intelligence, adaptability, and the willingness to understand that every alliance is also a negotiation.
• You would survive here — possibly thrive here — because you don't confuse the world as it is with the world as you'd like it to be.
• Game of Thrones is a story about what happens when the idealists and the realists collide. You are sharp enough to know which one lasts longer.
• Winter always comes. You are already prepared.

Star Trek

You believe the future is worth building — that curiosity, cooperation, and the expansion of understanding are not just ideals but the most practical path forward for any civilisation.

• Star Trek is a universe where the questions matter as much as the answers, and where encountering something utterly alien is cause for wonder rather than fear.
• You would belong here because you are fundamentally optimistic about what intelligence and decency can achieve — while being honest about how hard that achievement is.
• The Federation is the universe's most ambitious thought experiment: what if we actually got better?
• You don't just hope that's possible. You think it's the only thing worth working toward.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

While Emily fills her home with a family of housekeepers to keep herself occupied, Lorelai goes on a soul-searching journey to California. Rory, however, suffers from an existential crisis as her journalism career hits a dead end. Between trying to reclaim her sense of purpose and moving back home to Stars Hollow, Rory also distracts herself by having an affair with her engaged ex-boyfriend, Logan Huntzberger (Matt Czuchry). The very last scene of Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life involves Lorelai and Rory sitting on the famous Stars Hollow gazebo, reflecting after Lorelai and Luke's (Scott Patterson) wedding celebrations. After a few moments of silence, Rory tells Lorelai she is pregnant. Then the show ends. This cliffhanger leaves the story open for a potential continuation, but in the meantime, audiences are left to speculate about who Rory's baby daddy is.

At the beginning of Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, we learn that Rory has a boyfriend named Paul (Jack Carpenter), but Rory is so uninterested in Paul that she actually forgets that he is her boyfriend. Rory’s indifference towards Paul meant that they rarely saw each other. Eventually, Paul breaks up with Rory, and rightfully so, because Rory’s avoidance of him is cruel and selfish. Paul may have been a pretty dull guy, but Rory should not have strung him along for so long. So, the chances of Paul being the father of Rory’s baby were very slim.

Rory and Jess' Relationship Goes Back Years on 'Gilmore Girls'

Fan favorite ex-boyfriend Jess Mariano (Milo Ventimiglia) also returns in Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. Jess and Rory dated for some time during Season 3 of Gilmore Girls, but at that point, Jess was a rude, reckless, and impulsive teenager. He was judged and misunderstood by the Stars Hollow community. Rory, however, was very different from Jess. She worked hard and had ambition and a strong sense of direction. But Rory and Jess had a lot in common past those surface-level differences. Rory recognized Jess's potential before he could acknowledge it himself. After Rory starts attending Yale, Jess doesn't appear for a long time. However, when he does return, he is a changed man. He is pursuing his love of writing and has a newfound respect for his family.

Interestingly, the two times that Rory loses her way, Jess is there to put her back on track. When Rory dropped out of Yale, Jess was the only person who could convince Rory to go back. And during Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, when Rory's career was struggling, Jess encouraged her to write a book about her and Lorelai's life. Although they have a history and he returned in Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, there is no chance that Jess could be the father of Rory's baby.

Rory Hasn't Made the Best Decisions in the Past

Image via The WB

There are a few more possibilities as to the father's identity. While researching a journalism piece in New York City in A Year in the Life, Rory finds herself mixed up with a crowd of cosplayers. One thing leads to another, and Rory ends up sleeping with a man she met who was cosplaying as a Wookie from Star Wars. This is a low point for Rory. After she sleeps with the Wookie cosplayer, she tells Lorelai: "I'm just a big, fat, Wookie-humping loser with no future." Although the Wookie cosplayer could potentially be the father of Rory's baby, Valerie Campbell, the Key Set Costumer for Gilmore Girls and Costume Supervisor for Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, took to TikTok to respond to the speculation surrounding Rory's baby daddy.

In response to the Wookie cosplayer being the potential father, Campbell quoted that Rory would "definitely be showing, but we never gave her a pregnancy belly, and that is very, very important. We never gave her one; we were never instructed to give her one." Campbell also informed fans that Rory was definitely not sleeping with Paul. The only other possible candidate for Rory's baby daddy is Logan, and Campbell confirms that Logan is indeed the father.

'Gilmore Girls' Logan Has Consistently Proven Himself as Unreliable

Image via Warner Bros. Television

With Logan as the father of Rory's baby, the situation draws immediate parallels between Lorelai and Rory's father, Christopher (David Sutcliffe). At some points during Gilmore Girls, Lorelai and Christopher seemed as though they were meant for each other. However, Lorelai and Christopher never felt as right as Lorelai and Luke. Even though they tried to be good parents to Rory, they just never fit together well. The same can be said for Rory and Logan – their relationship showed various signs of impermanence. Logan was impulsive, often engaging in foolhardy behaviors like excessive drinking and partying, and sometimes he'd even get himself arrested.

Logan's recklessness was an act of rebellion against his father, Mitchum Hunztberger (Gregg Henry). Mitchum is adamant that Logan follow in his footsteps and be a successful businessman, but Logan despises his father. Mitchum is a very selfish, narcissistic man, and at one point, he crushed Rory's dreams of becoming a journalist. Initially, Logan's family disapproved of Rory, and since then, Rory's relationship with Logan's family has been very standoffish. So, Logan being Rory's baby daddy makes Rory's austere relationship with Mitchum even more complicated.

Although he refused to grow up because he did not want to inherit the future his father set up, Logan was never afraid to spend his father's money. Logan's wealth and privilege made it difficult to sympathize with him as he often acted like a spoiled brat. He attended Yale, but he neglected his academic responsibilities. It was hard to feel sorry for Logan when he had the freedom to make bad decisions because his father was rich and had the means to get his son out of trouble.

Logan had a bad habit of running away from his problems. If he'd made a mistake or something upset him, he'd fly to another country, get drunk, and jump off a cliff with a faulty parachute. There were moments during the series where Rory wasn’t even sure why she loved him. Rory has never been materialistic, valuing honesty and humility over extravagance. However, Rory couldn't help who she fell in love with. Although Jess and Logan are academically intelligent, they are very different people because of their values.

Rory and Logan's Relationship Mirrors Lorelai and Christopher's on 'Gilmore Girls'

In the final season of Gilmore Girls, Logan asks Rory to marry her. Rory takes her time to make a decision, but eventually, she declines, choosing to prioritize her career because, during this time, she is graduating from Yale. However, while we did see Logan eventually mature, he was having an affair with Rory despite being engaged to someone else in Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. We do not know what instigated this affair, but it does prove that Rory and Logan cannot resist being in each other's lives, much like Lorelai and Christopher.

Now that Rory is pregnant, she will always be tied to Logan. If Logan's track record of running from his problems holds, it is hard to say what he will do when he learns he is the father of Rory's baby. While it's unclear where the future will take Rory and her baby, Lorelai and Christopher are the blueprint for Rory and Logan. But could Lorelai and Luke be a reflection of Rory's future with Jess? It's unlikely the revival will get any follow-up seasons, but that just means the possibilities are endless for Rory's future.

Rory's Pregnancy Reveal Didn't Go Over Well With Fans

Image via Netflix 

Setting aside the constant ship wars and back and forth over who should have been Rory's baby daddy, the reveal itself didn't go over all that well with fans despite being the plan of the show's creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino, from the very beginning of the series. Throughout Gilmore Girls' original run, Palladino would constantly tease reporters by saying that she knew what the final four words of the series would be. This led to much fan speculation over the years.

However, when the Palladinos departed the series after Season 6, the show was handed over to new writers for the seventh and final season. Amy Sherman-Palladino didn't tell a soul what those final four words would be, so for a long time, it seemed as though we would never know. She certainly didn't seem in any rush to reveal it. But when A Year In The Life was announced, fans were not only excited to have Lorelai and Rory back but to finally figure out what those ominous four words are that have been plaguing us for years. Unfortunately, they proved to be quite divisive. "Mom?" "Yeah?" "I'm Pregnant." It's a lot to unpack, especially after many years of build-up, and fans made their frustration known.

Palladino explained this choice in an interview with Vogue shortly after A Year In The Life dropped its mega bombshell on viewers, also explaining why she chose to stick with the same ending she had planned for Rory when the character was 22 compared to her now 32.

"They both work on their own, because the purpose of leaving Rory in this position was always supposed to be that history repeats itself — daughter follows mother; where you lead I will follow. And that life throws you curveballs that you don’t expect. So it works either way. One, is that she’s just gotten out of college and she wants to start her life. And the other way is that she’s older but she also thinks she’s just figured out what her path is going to be, and she gets this curveball."

Her reasoning makes sense, and it does indeed bring the series full circle, something that fans have recognized over the years, but it's still never sat right. Especially since the series seemingly doubled down on Rory's fall from grace. When we first met Rory, she was an A+ student; she was so sweet to everyone; she never did anything wrong; and she had so many dreams she worked tirelessly to achieve. But around the time she went to university (perhaps it had something to do with her picking Yale over Harvard), she started morphing into a character even the most devoted Gilmore Girls fans couldn't recognize. It was nice to see Rory loosen up, but this was just not the Rory we knew. She was sleeping with her married ex-boyfriend, stealing yachts, dropping out of Yale!

When the revival came around, fans thought she would have had her life a bit more on track. And sure, maybe it's realistic for the average person, but for Rory Gilmore? Not a chance. The revival kept her in the same spot. She hasn't made any moves to further her life in the nearly 10 years since we last saw her and is now pregnant with an engaged man's baby. Years after the original show left off, looking back at Rory's past didn't make her seem flawed; it made her appear spoiled, privileged, and unlikeable. It's a disappointing fate for Rory, especially since the revival had all the opportunity to give her character some growth that Season 7 didn't.

What Could This Reveal Mean if 'Gilmore Girls' Returns?

Image via The WB

Since the infamous "final four words" were so divisive among Gilmore Girls fans, and the reveal that Logan is the father of Rory's baby didn't go over so well, this could be an issue if the show returns for another season. Fans have constantly wished for a follow-up season to the revival, even though the revival was intended to be the Palladinos' conclusion for the series, but almost a decade later, another season doesn't feel completely impossible.

The upcoming HBO Max documentary isn't a revival, but Warner Bros. bringing Sherman-Palladino, Daniel Palladino, Graham, and other key figures back together to revisit the show's legacy is proof that there is still plenty of interest in Stars Hollow. Amy Sherman-Palladino attended PaleyFest 2025 to talk all about her career, from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Étoile, and, of course, Gilmore Girls. So naturally, the topic of a third go-around was brought up, and Sherman-Palladino weighed in on the idea:

“We never said ‘never’ because we didn’t actually intend to do the revival for Netflix. Then, we all got together for a panel, similar to tonight’s, and we went to a bar afterwards. We all thought, ‘Well, this was fun! Let’s just do it again!’”

Sherman-Palladino continued to say that she loves the town of Stars Hollow, as well as Gilmore Girls cast members Lauren Graham, Alexis Bledel, and Kelly Bishop, so she isn't fully closing the door. At the same event, Graham shared her stance on a return. "I've never been shy to say I would welcome coming back. My armchair analysis is that…when we went back to do the Netflix revival, it didn't yet feel done, which is why the story ended in a way that was not done or could potentially be a beginning." Meanwhile, Bishop has said she's happy to leave the story in the hands of the Palladinos but that she thinks Emily would love having a great-grandchild and getting to mold his or her upbringing her way – the true Gilmore way.

It's hard to say whether or not we will ever see another Gilmore Girls season, but considering the cast is on board and even seems to agree that the story feels unfinished, it wouldn't be absurd to keep hoping for it. That being said, the twist of Logan being Rory's baby daddy does make things difficult. The entire final scene, including the father of Rory's baby, was meant to mirror Lorelai's own life and to have everything come full circle. Rory gets pregnant, and even though she's not a teenage mother, she's not exactly in a stable place in her life, similar to Lorelai. And it's already been said that Logan is a lot like Christopher, so the story doesn't feel all that fresh and exciting to return to. However, Kelly Bishop has been vocal about how she is Team Logan, and her comments about Emily being a great-grandmother and molding this child to be a perfect Gilmore pose an interesting idea. The true core of Gilmore Girls has always been the three generations of Gilmore women and how they interact with one another and navigate their relationship.

We saw the downfall of Rory in the original run of the show, and she had yet to get things back on track when we caught up with her in the revival. Another season would likely not only focus on Rory's journey into motherhood but also on her navigating this new stage in her life while trying to clean up the messes she's made over the years, be it her career, her romances, or her familial and friendly relationships. At this point, Gilmore Girls needs to come back, if only to provide some sort of conclusion to the Rory and Logan arc and give Rory the happy ending the original series and the revival failed to do. Just when it seemed she might be going on to do something really great for herself and her career by writing a book, she gets pregnant by her ex-boyfriend, who is engaged to someone else. She's destined to follow Lorelai's footsteps, and not necessarily the good ones.

Another season could bring the three generations of Gilmore women together to rally around Rory and help her navigate this new chapter, with Lorelai rooting for her independence and Emily begging for her to do things the traditional way, just like she begged of Lorelai and Christopher. At the end of the day, there’s no way to please everyone, but the Palladinos know these characters better than everyone, so we can just hope that someday, they give Gilmore Girls some semblance of a satisfying ending that has never quite managed to stick.

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

Set nearly a decade after the finale of the original series, this revival follows Lorelai, Rory and Emily Gilmore through four seasons of change.