Lauren Graham and Scott Patterson Shoot Down ‘Gilmore Girls’ Spinoff Hopes

A return to Stars Hollow may not be in the books, at least not for a while. Many Gilmore Girls fans have been hoping for more following the Netflix revival A Year in the Life, but Lauren Graham and Scott Patterson are shutting down any spinoff hopes. Not because they don’t want it but because they aren’t sure it would work.

“I brought this up to Peter Roth once advocating for my own spinoff,” Patterson told E! News. “And he told me something steeped in TV history wisdom. He said, ‘Scott, people would miss the other characters so much because the show is so chock full of rich, wonderful characters.’ And boy, was that a smart thing to say because he nailed it.”

Meanwhile, Graham shared that there could be a prequel, showing off a “high school Lorelai.” She continued, “We’re talking about this as if it’s like The Hobbit or something, which I’m not sure it is, but I think the way other universes have dealt with that question is just going back or forward.” Additionally, the actress pointed out how difficult a prequel would be, saying, “Then you have the problem of you got to cast young Babette and younger Miss Patty, so I don’t know.”

As much as it would be nice to have another Gilmore Girls series, there’s only so much that can be told, whether as a prequel or sequel. Not only would there be fan-favorite characters that probably wouldn’t be included, but it would certainly be hard to find the perfect actors to play younger versions of certain characters if a prequel were to happen. Of course, a lot of shows are doing prequels and reboots these days, but that doesn’t mean that it’s easy.

Once upon a time, there was supposed to be a spinoff centered on Milo Ventimiglia’s Jess Mariano that never made it to series, and while financials played a huge part, it’s hard to predict how the show would have done only centering on Jess, no matter how popular he was. Spinoffs, sequels, prequels, reboots, and revivals can always be a hit or a miss and even though fans have been wanting much more since the Netflix revival seven years ago, it seems like that may never happen. It’s always possible, though, because it seems like the main concern is with prequels and character-centered spinoffs. At the very least, Gilmore Girls and Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life are streaming on Netflix.