Fans of Rory and Lorelai Gilmore waited nine years to learn the final four words of Gilmore Girls , and over Thanksgiving weekend, Netflix delivered that touching final scene. But are the final four words actually... well, the end? In her new memoir, Talking As Fast As I Can, Lauren Graham speculates that the final four words are a cliffhanger, not an ending.
To quickly recap: creator and showrunner Amy Sherman-Palladino always had the final four words of the series planned out. Unfortunately, contract negotiations prohibited her and her husband, Dan Sherman-Palladino from working on the show's seventh and final season, which meant she never had the chance to write the scene she'd always intended for the ending. She's teased the "final four words" many times since the show's original run, and she finally got a chance to see them come to life with the Netflix revival.
In her memoir, out Nov. 29, Graham — who plays Lorelai Gilmore — writes that she didn't know the final four words of the show until filming had already begun for the revival. In fact, she didn't even know the final four words were a "thing." "I don't know how it's possible I missed this information," she writes. "Amy and I just never talked about it for some reason."
She told Sherman-Palladino about her ignorance in that respect, and the writer asked her if she wanted to know what they were or if she'd rather wait until the day they filmed the final scene. Lauren Graham chose to find out then, and like us, she was pretty startled by the revelation:
"[Amy] says them quickly. I blink back at her a few times with no expression. Then I go suddenly calm. I realize I'm holding my breath, like I'm getting the results of a biopsy. When I finally exhale, I think my reaction goes something like "Huh." And after that, it goes something like, "Really?"
Though the final four words caught her by surprise, Graham admits they have a "simple symmetry" that perfectly matches the story of Lorelai and Rory. But, like us, she didn't see it so much as an ending as the beginning of something new. She writes:
"They are not what I was expecting, because they are not the exact definition of a conclusion. As in they do not end the story we are telling as much as they introduce something that was not previously known. Which, to me, is not precisely an ending. To me, they are really more of a....
"Isn't that more of a cliffhanger?" I ask Amy.
But Amy doesn't answer me.
She just smiles.
Hmmmm."
This isn't the last time Lauren Graham mentions the final four words in her memoir. The book concludes with further speculation about the possibility of more Gilmore Girls. "After all, we waited a long time to get the chance to finish this show, and now, finally, Gilmore Girls is really and truly over," Graham writes. "I mean, it is over, right? Yes. It is. It's over. But seriously, didn't you sort of think that ending was really more of a cliffhanger? Hmmmm..."
Seriously, that's how the book ends.
Lauren Graham isn't the first major star to theorize about future installments of the series. Scott Patterson, who plays Luke Danes, told The Hollywood Reporter that he was confident he'd wear that blue baseball cap again. "It'd be nice to do it every year," he said.
Even Amy Sherman-Palladino has teased the possibility of more episodes. In an interview with THR, she was asked about whether or not there would be more to the story. She said:
"We really had a very specific journey in our minds and we fulfilled the journey. So to us, this is the piece that we wanted to do. And the whole thought about, is there more, is there more, is there more — this has to go out into the universe now. We've got to put this to bed. And then whatever happens, happens."
I mean, it's not exactly a no, right? Whatever happens, fans now know how the show was originally supposed to end — for better, or for worse. It's safe to say fans all want a little more Lorelai, Rory, and Emily in our lives, but Amy Sherman-Palladino's ending certainly gives them a sense of closure — and a sense of curiosity about what comes next.
Images: Netflix
