It’s an extra special homecoming for Alexis Bledel…
The Gilmore Girls, starring the 39-year-old half-Argentinian American actress, is heading back to The CW after 20 years.
The network will air the four-part mini-series, which was ordered by Netflix and aired in 2016, as an event series starting on Monday November 23 and running through the week. It’ll air the series on its linear network and will also stream for free on its ad-supported app and online for 30 days.
The announcement comes on the 20th anniversary of the show’s launch on The WB.
The deal terms of the acquisition were worked out between Warner Bros., which produced the show in association with Dolly Parker Drank Here Productions, and Netflix, allowing The CW to have a window, according to Deadline.
It’s unusual for a Netflix original to be acquired by a linear network but The CW Chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz was known to have wanted the Gilmore Girls sequel and has admitted that it was tough to have been outspent by the streamer. It also helps fill The CW’s schedule given that the network will not begin its regular 2020/21 primetime season until January.
Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life follows Bledel’s Rory, who has experienced some success in her journalism career, and Lauren Graham’s Lorelai, who still runs the Dragonfly Inn.
As Rory works through job-related struggles and Lorelai deals with some unresolved issues of her own, Emily Gilmore, played by Kelly Bishop, has been handling the loss of her husband, Richard. Emily is at a major crossroads in her life, recently widowed and trying to figure out what to do next. Richard’s death forces Emily and Lorelai to finally re-examine their own fraught relationship, and what the future holds for this mother and daughter.
Also returning were Rory’s best friend Lane Kim, played by Keiko Agena, who still plays in a band with her husband Zack, played by Todd Lowe, and is the mother of twin boys. High school frenemy-turned-college roommate-turned-close friend Paris Geller, played by Liza Weil, also returns, and Rory’s most memorable ex-boyfriends – Logan (Matt Czuchry), Jess (Milo Ventimiglia) and Dean (Jared Padalecki) – also surface throughout the chapters.
The Dragonfly Inn’s resident head chef and co-owner, Sookie St. James, played by Melissa McCarthy, is also back along with the snooty-but-oh-so-lovable concierge Michel (Yanic Truesdale).
It was directed, written and executive produced by series creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino. The original ran for seven seasons on The WB and The CW with the sequel launching on Netflix in November 2016. Each episode of the sequel, which were between 88 and 102 minutes, follows the characters through one of the four seasons.
