Gilmore Girls Star Jared Padalecki Isn’t Actually Team Dean

There are some debates that will rage on for eternity: Team Edward vs. Team Jacob, were Ross and Rachel on a break, and who was Rory Gilmore (Alexis Bledel)’s best boyfriend on Gilmore Girls? For years, Gilmore Girls fans have taken sides between bad boy literato Jess Mariano (Milo Ventimiglia), Yale rich kid Logan Huntzberger (Matt Czuchry), and her first love, Dean Forester (Jared Padalecki).

Even the actors themselves have gotten involved, and Padalecki had a surprising response when E! asked him about the never-ending debate in an Aug. 12 interview. “I’m Team Jess,” he admitted. “Yeah, I am.”

In an ironic twist, Ventimiglia is ride-or-die for Dean, as he told Bustle in 2018. “Team Dean, I get it,” he said. “I was always Team Dean, too.” He doubled down on his stance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2021, where he showed off a handwritten note on display in his house that reads, “I [heart] DEAN 4 EVER.”

Padalecki referenced that display while speaking to E!. “Funny enough, Milo’s a buddy and he’s Team Dean,” he said. “Somebody sent me a meme, I think when he got in his office in his house, he has his Emmy nomination alert letter and on the bottom corner, it’s like, ‘Team Dean forever.’ And so I drew my own ‘Team Jess forever’ with markers, and I was like, same Milo, samesies but for you.”

What Padalecki and Ventimiglia can apparently agree on is that Logan should be out of the picture. Regardless, Padalecki is happy that fans are still debating this topic almost two decades after the series ended in 2007. “I think with any story, when people are passionate and they have feelings, you’re like, ‘That’s what I’m doing this for, to get people thinking and reacting and talking about it,’” he said.

Where Is Dean Now?

As seen on the 2016 Netflix reboot Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, Rory doesn’t officially end up with Jess, Logan, or Dean — at least not yet. However, it becomes clear that the person she’s least likely to reconcile with is Dean, who has started his own family in Stars Hollow. And Padalecki suspects that not much has changed since then.

Asked what Dean is doing now, he answered, “Working at Doose’s Market,” referring to his first job in the original series. “Hiding all the cornstarch. It’s like, ‘No one’s going to steal this again.’ But as we found out in the reboot, he has a family of his own, so hopefully he’s doing the right thing.”

As for Padalecki, he’s been looking forward to finally taking some time off after 24 years on TV, going from Gilmore Girls to Supernatural to Walker. Speaking to TVLine in late June, he said, “I’m going to surround myself with family and friends and loved ones, and try and figure out if I have anything else to offer that people want, and if I can be of service in storytelling, somehow, some way, then I guess I’ll put my proverbial cowboy hat back on and saddle up.”