The Unaired Gilmore Girls Pilot Is Going Viral On TikTok

Despite being off the air for over 15 years, the hit ’00s drama Gilmore Girls remains just as beloved by fans today, with many of the show’s continuity errors, easter eggs, and burning questions regularly going viral online. Now, the show’s unaired pilot episode has piqued the interest of Gilmore Girls fans on TikTok.

Speaking on the platform, the former Gilmore Girls set customer, Valerie Campbell disclosed some “fun facts” about the unaired first episode, including the show’s original name and filming location. In the viral TikTok, Campbell — who worked in the show’s costume department between 2001 and 2007 — shared that the show was originally known as The Gilmore Girls, adding that in the Netflix sequel series, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, Lorelai encourages Rory to “drop the ‘the’” from the title of her novel, referencing the original show’s title change.

Campbell goes on to explain that the unaired pilot was filmed in the town of Unionville in Ontario, Canada, revealing that show-runner Amy Sherman-Palladino later “made concessions with Warner Bros. to shoot on 16mm film instead of 35mm in order to shoot the show in California.” She concludes: “Sets were built at Warner Bros. studios to duplicate the original locations used in the pilot.”

Responding to fan comments on TikTok, Campbell also confirmed that some footage from the unaired episode was later used in the final Gilmore Girls pilot which aired in October 2000.

As fans might recall, this isn’t the first behind-the-scenes tidbit Campbell has shared on TikTok in recent months. The former set customer previously shed light on a Legally Blonde Easter egg nestled within the 2000s drama and finally revealed the identity of Rory Gilmore’s baby daddy. Meanwhile, Campbell also unearthed a now-viral Season 5 continuity error and shared the real story of how Gilmore Girls got its name.