About two years ago, Netflix shared a welcome surprise for Gilmore Girls fans everywhere: a return to Stars Hollow nearly a decade after the WB series ended. And although the four-episode revival allowed showrunner Amy Sherman-Palladino to end the series on her terms after all these years, many fans were still left wondering if another season of the revival could possibly be in the cards. So, will the Gilmore Girls revival get a second season? Netflix is dropping some hints that another season is a definite possibility.
Netflix’s VP of original content, Cindy Holland, addressed questions about a potential second season for Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life at the Television Critics Association press tour over the weekend. Although Holland confirmed that the streaming service has not been discussing another trip to Stars Hollow with showrunner Amy Sherman-Palladino, she added that everyone at the network is a big fan of the show:
We haven’t discussed it at all. But [series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino] knows that we are very big fans of Gilmore Girls.
Hmm, it sounds like there is an opening there. Holland's comment partially echoes a statement that Netflix's content chief Ted Sarandos made last year. A few months after Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life premiered, Sarandos said that Netflix was very pleased with the revival series' success, and that he actually had been talking to Amy Sherman-Palladino and her husband/co-executive producer Dan about making a second season. But here we are almost two years later, and it sounds like we are no closer to getting any more new episodes. At least we know that Netflix is definitely open to the idea of more Gilmore.
Of course, the most obvious thing standing in the way of any potential Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life Season 2 is Amy Sherman-Palladino's new show, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Now, Sherman-Palladino is in an exclusive contract with Amazon, and her focus is all on Maisel right now, which has earned the showrunner her first real critical success (despite the fan devotion to her shows for years). Marvelous Mrs. Maisel cleaned up at the Golden Globes at the start of the year, winning both major categories it was up for, and it is also up for six major categories at the Emmys this year, including the prized Outstanding Comedy Series trophy.
But even though Amy Sherman-Palladino is focusing on Maisel and signed with Amazon right now, that does not necessarily mean that more Gilmore Girls is out of the question. In fact, Sherman-Palladino made sure to include an escape clause in her contract with Amazon, which allows her to continue working with Netflix if she decides to create another season of Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.
The other question with continuing the revival is what exactly any new episodes would focus on. The impetus for making A Year in the Life in the first place was so Amy Sherman-Palladino could end the series on her terms, since she left Gilmore Girls before its final season and famously was unable to air the final four words she had planned from the beginning. Now that those final four words have aired (spoiler: they are Rory revealing to Lorelai that she is pregnant), it just feels like the show has finally reached its true conclusion. But there are still ways to keep the Gilmore love going — a new season would likely focus on Rory's pregnancy and the early years of her being a mother. Or, Lauren Graham floated the idea that they make a Gilmore Girls Christmas movie rather than a whole new season, just to give fans a chance to check in on everyone years later.
Let's hope that Amy Sherman-Palladino and Netflix can get something going for all us Gilmore Girls fans!