How Gilmore Girls ‘should have ended’ as fans brand alternative finale ‘so much better’

*Warning - This article contains major spoilers for Gilmore Girls and Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.*

Gilmore Girls is a staple cosy winter watch for many fans, who continue to revisit the show years later after it first aired in 2000 and concluded with A Year in the Life in 2016. The series, which is currently streaming on Netflix in the UK, continues to enchant audiences worldwide thanks to its lovable characters and compelling storylines. 

Gilmore Girls stars Lauren Graham as young single mother Lorelai Gilmore and Alexis Bledel as her super-smart daughter Rory Gilmore as they navigate life in their small town of Stars Hollow. While fans still love the show, many are not happy with the way it ended following the show’s revival for the limited series, A Year in the Life, which saw all our favourite characters for four more episodes. 

This is evidenced by the fact that Gilmore Girls’ original finale episode, entitled Bon Voyage, is the show’s third-highest-ranking episode of all time on IMBD. In the season 7 finale, the future looks bright for Rory as she lands a job as a journalist following the presidential campaign, with the entire town putting on a farewell party. 

The feel-good episode is filled with promise, as it also hints at a rekindling between Lorelai and her will-they-won’t-they love interest Luke Danes (Scott Patterson). Fans were delighted to see the show return in 2016 to catch up with the Gilmore family, the residents of Stars Hollow and Rory’s love interests several years on - but some weren’t pleased with the twist ending. 

While fans finally get to see Luke and Lorelai get their happily ever after, Rory’s character becomes lost as she finds herself unable to find journalism work. 

She is also the mistress of Logan Huntzberger (Matt Czuchry), her former college boyfriend whose proposal she rejected, and ends up having to move back to Stars Hollow when she can’t support herself financially anymore.

All hope is not lost for Rory, however, as it seems she might be about to write the book of a lifetime about growing up with her mother, following some encouragement from everybody’s favourite bad boy Jess Mariano (Milo Ventimiglia).

At the end of the series, we see something of a narrative circle, as Rory tells her mum she is pregnant and it becomes clear that she will soon be a single mother living in Stars Hollow. 

We also see Rory’s high school boyfriend Jess lingering in the background, suggesting that he may one day become the parallel figure to Luke in her love life. 

While there was still plenty of hope in this somewhat more realistic show ending, some fans were left fuming to see Rory’s character never live up to her potential.

Taking to Reddit, one user named @MiddayScroller shared an incredible theory that viewers praised as a “much better” alternative finale. 

In the post titled ‘If I could fix AYITL and a second revival‘, they wrote: “AYITL happened 5 years after the finale. Rory would have been 27. Lorelai would have been 43. Paris and Doyle are still together and very happy. She is a surgeon and Doyle is a stay-at-home dad; he writes freelance articles occasionally. 

“Lane and Zach have a local radio station that is gaining popularity. Brian married the Korean exchange student. Sookie still works at the inn. We see more of Jess and his publishing house.

“At the end of the reunion, Lorelai and Luke get married. Rory is pregnant and working on her book. The next show picks up five years later. (Rory is 32).

“Rory has a small house in Stars Hollow. Emily bought the house as a gift for Rory because she insisted that she have a place to raise her child. She gets frequent visits in return. Lorelai and Luke decided not to have a child (through surrogacy, Lorelai was too old to conceive) because they want to focus on helping Rory with her daughter. They are very involved. 

“Rory finishes her novel and it becomes very popular. Jess’s publishing house publishes her book. Jess is involved in editing the novel and they become close but never crossing into romance even though there is chemistry. Jess bonds with Rory’s daughter, as he has been around since her birth. 

“He helps Rory with her writing, book publicity, and around the house. Rory’s daughter, Lorelai (nickname Leigh) is 4 years old. Logan is married to Odette. Rory has not told Logan about his daughter. This causes tension with Luke, as he was not told about April.”

The post goes on to describe Logan finding out about his daughter, continuing: “This news causes trouble for Logan and Odette. They try to work it out, but over time Logan becomes more involved with the daughter and Rory. He decides to divorce Odette, but before he can tell Rory, Jess makes his move, sensing that he may lose his chance. Rory sleeps with Jess and they start dating.”

The post further details Rory and Logan getting closer as he tries to bond with his daughter, with the former ultimately turning down a second marriage proposal after realising his continued immaturity. 

“Logan proposes, Rory declines. She ends up taking Leigh back home early. They return to Jess, whose feelings are hurt. Rory and Jess fight about the trip and Logan. They decide to break up,” the post goes on. 

In this version of events, Rory and Logan then do end up getting engaged and send their daughter to a private school, but Rory becomes unhappy. 

“Rory begins to miss her stars hollow life and living close to her mom. Logan is gone too often for work and Rory begins to get lonely. She isn’t working, as she left the SH gazette after moving and she is not working on another novel. She is bored and is living the socialite life again. She is making friends, but doesn’t really like any of them. She sees them all as shallow,” the post reads. 

The post then states that, while Logan does remain in their lives as a great father to their daughter, Rory later calls off the engagement.

They conclude: “Jess and Rory decide to write a book together. After a long night of writing, they have a heart to heart to conversation and get back together. Jess proposes after their book is done. Rory says yes. They have a short engagement and get married in the town square. The show ends with Rory pregnant again with Jess’s son.” (sic)

Fans took to the comments section to praise this alternative ending, with one writing: “This is so much better! If only they’d gone with your version.” 

“I wish this happened more than I can say in a reddit comment. Incredible. Incredible,” a second gushed, as another agreed: “So much better!” (sic)

“This storyline would've been so much fun! I also love the parallels with Lorelai's story, great job!” a fourth person enthused, as one more commented: “Wow. This would be awesome. I love it.” (sic) 

All seasons of Gilmore Girls and Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life are available to stream now on Netflix.