Picture: Netflix
If you can believe it, it’s been eight years (we first posted this at the six-year anniversary!) since Netflix released the standalone sequel to Gilmore Girls, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. Fans are still clamoring for another season (or two), but will it ever happen? Netflix still maintains that A Year In The Life is a limited series, but the cast has teased it more over the years.
Debuting nearly ten years after the mothership series aired on The WB, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life was the beloved follow-up Netflix miniseries that saw most of the cast return for a four-episode event. Since the release of that miniseries, the show has gone into hiatus once again.
Over the years, we’ve had to debunk rumors and speculation from fake news sites stating that Netflix would be getting a season 2. They typically came each November, with the most viral coming in 2021, coinciding with the limited series’ first season being added to Netflix in 2016. Sadly, that’s still not the case, but that’s not stopped the cast from talking about the show and providing various teases.
What have the cast and showrunner said about Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life season 2?
In 2017, that’s when renewal talk for Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life season 2 was most rife; however, hopes were dashed when Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel stated there were no immediate plans to return to the characters. That was echoed by Amy Sherman-Palladino when she spoke to Vanity Fair in 2018 about any continuation, saying:
“It’s still a possibility. Everyone has been very busy. Alexis [Bledel] clearly is very busy! It would have to be the right story, and the right moment. A lot went into getting it together the first time.”
In 2021, hopes were dashed once again with Kelly Bishop (who plays Emily Gilmore) stating that it’s “very unlikely” for the show to return saying she would like to return to the role but added:
” But we’ve already kind of done that, with those four extra episodes. And I honestly think it’s very unlikely that kind of a situation could be pulled together because so many of the important actors in it, they’ve all gone their separate ways and have other projects and other things to do. It would have to be like a continuation of those four extra episodes, but I just don’t see it happening. And I don’t see Amy being interested in it, because Mrs. Maisel is such a huge hit and deservedly so. I just don’t see her wanting to go back and revisit it. We all loved it, and there might be some opportunity, but it doesn’t seem too likely. But sure, I’d play her again. I’d love to.”
Picture: Netflix
A year later, in 2022, Lauren Graham in New Beauty. Straight and to the point, the magazine asked if Gilmore Girls will come back again. Here’s the full answer Graham provided:
“I’m making plans to see Amy [Sherman-Palladino], the creator of the show, in the next few weeks. It’s always a fun prospect to think about and talk about. It used to be more of just talk, but having done it now, we know it’s possible. I think I feel such a responsibility and so much love for the story that I would just want to be sure it was the right time.”
Fast forward another year to 2023, Graham spoke to CBS, who was asked about the show. She responded, “You can never say never in this day and age, I guess. […] There is not a formal discussion of doing it again. There’s always that fear that you want to leave it, you know, where it is best left. But we didn’t know we would be coming back to do those Netflix movies, so you never really know. But there isn’t a formal conversation.”
How well does Gilmore Girls perform on Netflix?
For the first time, Netflix began releasing its regular Engagement Report drops in 2023 and continued into 2024. While you browse the full report here (use the search to type in Gilmore Girls) we can summarize the performance here for the period of January 2023 through June 2024:
- Gilmore Girls: Season 1 – 308.2M hours, 20.2M views
- Gilmore Girls: Season 2 – 275.8M hours, 17.2M views
- Gilmore Girls: Season 3 – 255.7M hours, 16.1M views
- Gilmore Girls: Season 4 – 244.3M hours, 15.2M views
- Gilmore Girls: Season 5 – 239.4M hours, 15M views
- Gilmore Girls: Season 6 – 215.3M hours, 13.5M views
- Gilmore Girls: Season 7 – 187.7M hours, 12.2M views
- Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life – 55.5M hours, 9M views
Netflix Doesn’t Own Gilmore Girls License
We should add that Netflix won’t be holding onto Gilmore Girls forever and doesn’t own the underlying rights. As discussed seperately, the main Gilmore Girls series is licensed to Netflix globally through 2026. Likewise, it’s still the case that the sequel Netflix Original series is also scheduled to stay on Netflix through 2026 (10 years following its initial addition to Netflix).
They could hold off on a revival when the rights revert back to Warner Brothers Television and produce an exclusive season for Max, but that’s just one option.
Would you like to see Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life return or another spin-off? Let us know in the comments.
