Cue up The Bangles and start celebrating: In conjunction with the Television Critics Association summer press tour, Netflix has just announced when Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life will drop. The four, 90-minute episodes will appear on the streaming service November 25 at 12:01 a.m. PT. That means you can avoid your own familial travails this Thanksgiving and instead spend some time with the Gilmore clan and all of their deep-seated resentments. Dealing with your own matriarch will be a joy when you think of all the crap Emily and Lorelai have been through.
Each installment of A Year In The Life will take place in a different season, covering Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. (Now switch your soundtrack to Gilmore-fave Carole King: All you have to do is call.) Amy Sherman-Palladino is executive producing, writing, and directing the entirety of the revival along with her husband Dan Palladino. Hence, there’s a good chance this won’t be a season seven situation.
UPDATE: As is traditional for Netflix, all four episodes will drop at once. This, Sherman-Palladino revealed during the TCA panel Wednesday, was not her initial preference. “I was going to hang myself with a shower curtain,” she quipped, adding: “You don’t always get what you want.” Sherman-Palladino would prefer if fans refrain from jumping ahead to learn what the legendary final four words of the saga are. (Sherman-Palladino didn’t get to employ her preferred conclusion when Gilmore ended its run the first time around given that she left the show prior to the seventh season.) “I hope people want to take the whole trip, It’s a fun journey,” she said. Naturally, the panel was sparse on secrets. Alexis Bledel did acknowledge that all of Rory’s exes will make appearances and that lingering questions will be resolved, but she also noted: “We can’t answer them today”
Mostly it was a nostalgic affair. Sherman-Palladino and Scott Patterson reminisced about the show’s impact on fans. Though Lauren Graham said it felt “literally like no time had passed” upon returning to shoot the revival, Sherman-Palladino did acknowledge that the sets have altered. The original Stars Hollow, it seems, was not saved for posterity.
[Additional reporting by Gwen Ihnat.]