It's a good time to be a Gilmore Girls fan. After losing the show to an unfortunate cancellation in 2007, the rabid Gilmore cult following were forced to enjoy the series on syndication and Netflix. But now through the glory of nostalgia and the aforementioned streaming service, we're finally going to be returning to Stars Hollow. Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life will feature four 90-minute episodes which will give fans a comprehensive update on all of our favorite characters, as well as how one particular year affects them. And among the many actors set to reprise their roles is Heroes and This Is Us actor Milo Ventimiglia as Jess Mariano. But how does he feel about bringing back an old character like this?
Milo Ventimiglia recently spoke with the good folks at Collider regarding his new NBC series This is Us, and eventually the conversation turned over to Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. When asked how he felt returning to Jess, Ventimiglia said the following:
I'd never really dreamed about where he would go or what he'd be up to or the shenanigans he'd be imposing on anyone else, but I was happy with where they placed him, in relation to everyone else. Jess' purpose to being in these new four episodes, I was really happy about it.
Yup, this makes perfect sense. Let's examine the actor's statement, and what it could mean for the upcoming Netflix revival.
To start, Milo Ventimiglia admitted he wasn't expecting to ever play Jess Mariano again. That should really be no surprise, as Gilmore Girls ran for an impressive seven seasons and hadn't produced a new episode in nearly a decade. All of the cast and creative has gone on to their own projects, including Lauren Graham's Parenthood, Amy Sherman-Palladino's Bunheads, and Jared Padalecki's Supernatural. The concept of bringing back cancelled series and previously completed film projects is a relatively new one, and he couldn't have predicted a Gilmore Girls revival two years ago.
Now let's get to the juicy part: what the hell has Jess been up to? The last time we saw Jess on Gilmore Girls he had started work at a small publishing house in Philadelphia. He had previously made an appearance when visiting Rory at her grandmother's house in Hartford, and gave Rory a copy of his first novel. When Rory visits Jess at the publisher's open house (and meets the always annoying April Nardini), the two share a brief kiss- before Rory departs because she is actually in love with Logan. But while that was a dramatic situation, Jess is the only one of Rory's love interests who she is on good terms with during the Season 7 finale.
I've personally always been #TeamJess, so I can't wait to see where he ended up when Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life is released on Netflix on November 25th.
