20 'Gilmore Girls' Facts Even the Biggest Fans Don’t Know
Gilmore Girls Fan Fest took place this past weekend in Washington Depot, Connecticut, and it was pretty much every Gilmore Girls fan’s dream. The quaint New England town that served as the inspiration for Stars Hollow was completely transformed into IRL Stars Hollow by two superfans, Jennie and Marcus Whitaker. With the help of various sponsors, townsfolk, and local businesses, the fictional Stars Hollow was brought to life in the town where the idea of Gilmore Girls was originally born, in order to celebrate both the original series and the upcoming Netflix reboot.
The weekend was jam-packed with quintessential Gilmore activities, such as a knit-a-thon, a town hall meeting, tea time at the Mayflower Grace (the inspiration behind the Independence Inn), screenings of fan-favorite episodes, a cake tasting, a dance recital, a living art show, and, of course, a limitless supply of coffee. Additionally, the festival featured an array of cast members from the original series, including Keiko Agena (Lane), Todd Lowe (Zack), John Cabrera (Brian), Vanessa Marano (April), Sean Gunn (Kirk), Jackson Douglas (Jackson), Liz Torres (Miss Patty), and Rose Abdoo (Gypsy).
The cast held various workshops throughout the weekend, and occasionally mingled about town with the fans. And we can vouch for the fact that it was totally surreal to be walking outside and just casually pass Jackson on his way to get some coffee, or spot Miss Patty on the steps of Town Hall. It was honestly as though we had been transported into one of the Gilmore Girls episodes. We could say things like, “Let’s go grab coffee at Luke’s and then catch Hep Alien’s performance” – and it was real life.
In addition to the events and the workshops, Gilmore Girls Fan Fest contained two behind-the-scenes panels. Friday night’s panel featured members of the production team and was moderated by TV Line’s founder and editor-in-chief Michael Ausiello. Saturday night’s event was hosted by Kevin Porter and Demi Adejuyigbe of the Gilmore Guys podcast, and featured members of the cast.
Over the course of the weekend, we learned A LOT about Gilmore Girls – and there were plenty of facts that surprised us, even though we consider ourselves superfans. Here are 20 secrets from Stars Hollow that we learned:
1/20Jackson was originally supposed to be on set for just three episodes.
According to Jackson himself (Jackson Douglas), he was originally written in as a guest role. But when creator Amy Sherman-Palladino saw the chemistry he had with Melissa McCarthy (Sookie), his character was turned into a recurring role. Jackson also said that it was “so fantastic” to work with Melissa, and that it was really easy to share scenes with her because of how much chemistry they had together on camera.
2/20That fan theory about Caesar is actually true.
While Gilmore Girls fans don’t have to scrutinize the scenery of every episode so much as, say, Pretty Little Liars viewers do, some fans noticed a familiar face in the background of Rory’s school dance at Chilton in season 1. Fans suspected that one of Rory’s classmates was played by Aris Alvarado, who also played Caesar, AKA, a cook at Luke’s Diner. At the cast panel on Saturday, Aris confirmed that Caesar was indeed at Rory’s dance. Aris explained that he was just waiting for someone to discover it, and of course people did because, the internet.
3/20Todd Lowe is basically Zack IRL.
We couldn’t get over Todd Lowe at this festival – he wore his sunglasses almost the entire weekend, did plenty of hair flips, and rocked out with his guitar. It turns out that Todd definitely has a lot in common with Zack; he has his own rock country band called the LA Hootenanny that plays shows throughout the Los Angeles area.
4/20And he’s pretty grateful that The OC happened.
Remember when Adam Brody was on Gilmore Girls for a hot second? Well, at the cast panel on Saturday, Todd joked, “Thank god Adam Brody got hired on another show, or I would have been written out!” We don’t think anyone could replace Zack, TBH.
5/20John Cabrera, AKA Brian, didn’t actually know how to play the bass.
Before every episode, John would have to learn the finger formations for the songs Brian was playing, but his bass wasn’t plugged in – someone else would always be playing off-camera. “It’s hard to bass sync,” John admitted. However, he’s been learning for real, especially since Todd gave him an autoharp for a wedding gift.
6/20Hep Alien actually has a slogan.
At the end of the cast panel on Saturday, the Stars Hollow squad played a trivia game with the audience. There was just one question that stumped every superfan in attendance: What is the slogan on Hep Alien’s poster? Apparently it’s three simple words: “We’re out there.” Makes sense.
7/20Um, Ryan Gosling auditioned for Gilmore Girls.
We’re still not over this one. At the production team panel on Friday, casting director Jami Rudofsky explained that she had previously cast a “handsome young man” in an independent film, and so she brought him in to read for a small part on Gilmore Girls. She had told her team all about him, saying that he was amazing, but then his audition fell flat. It’s worth noting that Jami told this whole story without ever mentioning Ryan’s name, leaving us all on the edges of our seats. Eventually, Michael Ausiello knowingly asked which actor she was talking about, and Jami leaned forward into her microphone and slowly said, “Ryan. Gosling.”
8/20The dresses in “You Jump, I Jump, Jack” probably look familiar – and for good reason.
One of the most iconic scenes in Gilmore Girls history is that moment when Rory and Logan are dressed in their fanciest clothes and parachute off a platform using an umbrella (PSA: don’t try that at home). It turns out that all of the dresses that the girls wear throughout the episode were actually the same dresses from the cotillion episode earlier in the series. Valerie Campbell, Gilmore Girls’s key costumer explained that they reused those white dresses and dyed them for the season 5 scene.
9/20There’s fanfiction out there about Gypsy and Andrew.
Actress Rose Abdoo told the crowd that she read a fanfiction story that depicted a romance between Gypsy and Andrew. But Rose disagrees with the ship for one big reason:
10/20Gypsy actually has a crush on Lorelai.
According to Rose, it’s really obvious! She explained that in every scene where Gypsy and Lorelai are together, Gypsy just lights up – she’s so excited to be in Lorelai’s presence. Rose also reminded the crowd that Gypsy was extremely Team Lorelai when the entire town was hanging pink or blue ribbons to “pick a side”if Lorelai and Luke ever split up.
11/20Those town hall meetings were a total beast to film.
Because the town meetings contained so many characters, not to mention so much dialogue, they would sometimes take from 7am until 10pm to film. Luckily, the cast developed plenty of ways to pass the time. Sally Struthers (Babette) invented a game called “What’s In My Purse?” where other cast members would have to guess the random items of her handbag.
12/20The dialogue was so tricky on Gilmore Girls, they hired someone to help with the words.
George Bell (who also played Professor Bell in the Yale episodes) worked as the show’s dialogue coach. His job was basically to make sure that the cast was speaking at a proper rapid pace, which would sometimes take upwards of 20 takes. George joked that this annoyed cast and crew at first, but they grew to love him when the crew’s overtime paychecks began to increase.
13/20Lauren Graham is the best at talking fast.
When asked which character was the best at talking quickly, George quickly answered that it was Lauren Graham. Seems about right.
14/20Jared Padalecki was the third Dean.
When casting directors Jami Rudofsky and Mara Casey watched Jared read for Dean, they had already gone through two previous actors in the role. They had put the search on hold while focusing on other characters, but were told about an amazing actor who would be perfect for the part. So Jami and Mara decided to see him, and it’s good that they did because they loved him immediately, and the rest is history.
15/20Richard Gilmore was definitely with the cast in spirit during the filming of the revival.
One aspect of the Gilmore Girls revival that has always been bittersweet is the absence of Richard Gilmore, due to the passing of actor Edward Herrmann. Ed’s wife Star and his daughter Emma were in attendance at the festival, and they told a handful of touching stories about Ed’s love of the show, and how happy he would be to see the cast getting back together. Star shared one story that was told to her by Kelly Bishop (Emily) that totally gave us all goosebumps. Apparently, when they first started filming the revival, Kelly kept waiting for Ed to walk through the door – his presence was such a staple on set that it felt so strange without him. Star explained that as soon as they began filming, all the lights suddenly went out, and Kelly reportedly thought, “Ahh. There you are, Ed.” It was clear to see that his memory and spirit is still very much with the cast today.
16/20Sean Gunn has a favorite of Kirk’s odd jobs.
Kirk is one of the quirkiest Stars Hollow character due to the fact that he has a different job in literally every episode. When asked what job of Kirk’s has been Sean’s personal favorite, he chose the time Kirk worked as the sports announcer at a hockey game. He said it was because he’s secretly always wanted to announce a sports game.
17/20And he had one pretty amazing odd job IRL.
Sean and John Cabrera are friends off-set, and Sean actually officiated John’s wedding. Talk about method acting.
18/20Luke had a closet full of flannel shirts – but only one hat.
Costumer Valerie Campbell told the crowd that there was an entire closet full of flannel for Luke, but he only had one hat for his signature backwards baseball cap look. According to Valerie, it would get lost pretty often.
19/20The cast and crew love Gilmore Girls just as much as us – and maybe even a little more.
We learned that the entire cast applauded after the final table read for the revival – something that does not happen often at television table reads. More importantly, no one wanted to leave. Everyone wanted to stay in that moment forever – and we don’t blame them.
20/20The Stars Hollow squad is REALLY divided over which guy Rory should end up with.
It was a question we heard all weekend (and we asked it a lot ourselves): “Are you Team Logan, Team Jess, or Team Dean?” Most cast members said that they were Team Jess, but there were a few outliers. Sean expressed his admiration for Logan, and Liz Torres (Miss Patty) said she was Team Dean. But our favorite answer came from Rose Abdoo, who vehemently exclaimed, “I’m TEAM RORY.” Amen, girl.
