‘Gilmore Girls’: Lauren Graham Revealed the Heartbreaking Way She Learned the Show Was Canceled

Lauren Graham is best known for her role as Lorelai Gilmore, one part of the mother-daughter duo from the popular show Gilmore Girls. The show, which has been off the air since 2007, has since seen the cast reunite a few times. But when news first broke that the program had been canceled, Graham was caught completely off guard.

The ‘Gilmore Girls’ cast grew close during filming

The show, which first premiered back in 2000, followed Lorelai and her teenage daughter, Rory Gilmore, as they navigated life in the tiny town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut. Lorelai, who became pregnant with daughter Rory (Alexis Bledel) at 16, has a tense relationship with her own parents and wanted to make sure her bond with Rory remained stronger. Meanwhile, Graham’s character was working at a bed and breakfast with a chef named Sookie (Melissa McCarthy), and the two eventually opened their own inn.

The show’s cast grew incredibly close while filming especially Graham, Bledel, and McCarthy. Graham and Bledel grew to have somewhat of their own mother-daughter bond, which remains strong years later. And to this day, Graham and McCarthy are still close friends.

Lauren Graham was out to dinner when she learned ‘Gilmore Girls’ was canceled

Gilmore Girls ran for seven seasons, and Graham once revealed that she was totally caught off guard when she learned the show had been canceled. During an appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers in 2015, Meyers asked Graham how she learned Gilmore Girls was coming to an end. Graham revealed that there had been some discussion about the show ending, but nothing was set in stone — and they ended up filming the series finale without even realizing it.

Graham explained that she was out to dinner and had turned her phone off to be polite. Eventually, the waiter approached her and asked her name, telling her that her agent was on the restaurant’s phone and wanted to speak to her.

“I thought I was in a 40s movie or something,” she said. “I was, like, walking to the house phone, and I was like, ‘Hello?’ and he goes, ‘It’s canceled,’ and that’s how I found out that it was the end of the series.”

Gilmore was disappointed with how she learned about the show’s cancellation because it didn’t give her a chance to recognize that she was filming the final scene with her co-stars. “It’s better to be able to say goodbye,” she said.

The cast was thrilled to film the ‘Gilmore Girls’ reboot in 2016

Less than two years after Graham spoke about the cancellation process, Gilmore Girls reunited for a reboot. In November 2016, the cast came back together for a four-episode reunion, which featured most of the original cast — including Lorelai and Rory, of course. 

Others who made an appearance were Sookie, as well as Emily Gilmore (Kelly Bishop). Unfortunately, Richard Gilmore (Edward Hermann) was not in the reboot because Hermann died from cancer in 2014. There have been rumors about another season of the reboot, though nothing has been confirmed.