3 Alternative ‘Gilmore Girls’ Endings That Would Have Been More Satisfying Than the Famous 4 Words
Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life was controversial. The Netflix revival followed a confusing arc and introduced characters who felt vastly different than how fans last remembered them. The show’s final four words, with which Rory Gilmore announced her pregnancy to her mother, might be the most controversial aspect of the show. Fans think there were better ways to end the series. We’ve collected a few.
Fans would have preferred Luke and Lorelai’s wedding to be the actual endpoint
Luke and Lorelai’s journey to the altar was a challenging one. Fans watched on as the couple flirted for seasons before they finally got together, only to see the couple’s love dashed by a meddling mother. When they got back together, all seemed to be going well until a long-lost child appeared. Luke and Lorelai fans have been through a lot.
While they did get a happy ending for the official endgame couple of Gilmore Girls, fans never got the ultimate satisfaction of seeing the couple’s wedding in its entirety. It would have been preferable for fans to see the couple’s wedding and call that the endpoint of the revival. We would have happily swapped a wedding reception for Rory’s pregnancy announcement. Budget constraints made it impossible, but a fan can dream.
Rory Gilmore realizing her dreams would have been a more hopeful ending
Rory Gilmore was kind of insufferable in Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. Whiny, melancholy, and still a bit too entitled, she didn’t collect many fans over the four-part special. Still, Rory is a part of the Gilmore Girls family, and we’ll always be rooting for her, even if we hate her behavior.
Instead of ending the revival on the depressing realization that history is, apparently, destined to repeat itself regardless of opportunity, it would have been nice to see Rory realize her dreams. Instead of Rory announcing an unintended pregnancy with someone set to marry another woman, it would have been great to see her land a full-time writing gig, get her book turned into a movie or a show, or watch her actually bring her small-town newspaper to prominence. A career win feels like a much more uplifting ending than an unexpected pregnancy.
Lorelai Gilmore giving another young girl a chance would have offered up an alternative “full-circle” ending to ‘Gilmore Girls’
Not long after the revival premiered, a fan took to Twitter to suggest a “full-circle” ending that would have been most satisfying. The tweet, which was shared on Reddit, suggested the revival should have ended with an unrelated teenager showing up at the Dragonfly Inn with an infant in her arms, looking for a job.
In the fan’s alternative ending, Lorelai would then serve as the kind inn owner who gives a teen a safe place to live and a job, just as Mia did for her 30 years earlier. The ending would have been a satisfying one, for sure.
While we think there were alternative endings for Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life that could have worked and ended the special on a happier note, the conclusion we were given does have one significant benefit. The open-ended nature of Rory’s announcement means there is plenty of directions to take a second Gilmore Girls revival if it ever does happen. While neither Netflix nor Amy Sherman-Palladino has announced a second season, no one has said no yet, either.
