Gilmore Girls’ Kelly Bishop Discussed Rory Gilmore’s Character Arc

Like many Gilmore Girls fans, actor Kelly Bishop was surprised by Rory Gilmore’s character trajectory throughout the beloved, long-running drama.

In the show’s earlier seasons, Rory, an aspiring journalist and high school valedictorian played by Alexis Bledel, was a picture-perfect student, daughter, granddaughter. But in the show’s later seasons, the character took a different path than many had anticipated.

In Season 5, for example, Stars Hollow’s prodigal daughter stole a yacht. In the next, she dropped out of Yale University, and in the 2016 Netflix reboot, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, she had an affair with her engaged ex-boyfriend, Logan Huntzberger.

In a new interview with E!, Bishop, who played grandmother Emily Gilmore, opened up about Rory’s arc, saying that “it would have been nicer if she had stayed truer to herself.” She also referred to one of the character’s idols on the show, journalist Christiane Amanpour.

“I remember early on she was a guest, I don’t know how they got all those good guests, but Christiane Amanpour — that was her idol,” Bishop said. “I would have liked to have seen her stick a little bit closer to that.”

With that being said, Bishop understands why Rory needed to make some mistakes along the way.

“Here is a very protected young woman in a small town at a private school,” the actor continued. “She’s going to get out there in the newspaper world and she’s going to find a lot of other situations that might be curious for her to explore. ... I think that might be how she got herself into sort of awkward situations.”

The Future Of Gilmore Girls

Gilmore Girls, which aired for seven seasons (2000-2007), was revived in the four-part 2016 miniseries. In her interview with E!, Bishop discussed the possibility of a second revival.

While she “would love to see it revisited,” the actor said it “realistically” won’t happen. “You’d have to collect together Emily, Rory, Lorelai, and Luke,” she said, alluding to her former co-star’s busy schedules. “It could happen. But I just don’t think it’s likely, frankly.”