The Gilmore Girls Actress Who Almost Played Lorelai Before Lauren Graham Was Cast

Gilmore Girls would not have been so iconic without the lightning-bolt chemistry between its two lead actresses. Alexis Bledel as beautiful bookworm teen Rory and Lauren Graham as the quick-witted, hot mess of a mom Lorelai made the show wildly popular. It was going to take a flawless match for the show to truly work and, thankfully, casting got it right. However, multiple other now-famous CW actors were considered for these lead roles, making for some of Gilmore Girls’ biggest “What ifs?”

Creator Amy Sherman-Palladino knew she had something special in Gilmore Girls with its cozy New England vibes and sugary-sweet small-town antics. Each episode had pages of whip-smart pop-culture references and endless banter between Lorelai and Rory. Lorelai, in particular, would have been a challenging role to cast when she is a very flawed yet endearing character. Graham’s performance is one thing that warranted many Gilmore Girls season renewals, prompting serious contemplation about what the show would have looked like if someone else had played Lorelai.

Mädchen Amick Was In Contention For Playing Lorelai Gilmore

Amick Would Later Have Her Own Mother-Daughter Dynamic in Riverdale

Resident Riverdale mom Mädchen Amick almost played Lorelai in Gilmore Girls. Instead, she ended up playing the recurring character Sherry, the ex-fiancée to Rory’s father Chris (David Sutcliffe), for a few episodes from 2002 to 2003. Amick told TV Line she got far in the casting process for Lorelai before one problem undercut her chances: “But the network said I didn’t seem old enough to be a mother, which I had thought was kind of the whole point.” Winning the role of Lorelai would have bolstered Amick’s career, but she was still able to make her mark on TV through Riverdale.

Amick would still end up on the CW when Riverdale premiered in 2016. Her role as Alice Cooper, the tightly-wound suburban mom to crime-solving, wise-beyond-her-years Betty Cooper was the better fit for Amick. Betty and Alice do some terrible things to each other while dealing with their respective father and husband being a serial killer. Gilmore Girls never got so gruesome — but it did go to some dark places, where Graham proved that she was the right choice to play the single mom all along.

It’s Impossible To Imagine Anyone But Lauren Graham As Lorelai

Graham Perfectly Captured Lorelai’s Stubborn Charm

When Lorelai first appeared on-screen, fans were awestruck by her dominating demeanor and razor-sharp quips. Lorelai makes mistakes; she is stubborn and yet so incredibly charming. Graham spits out dialogue like blazing fire in each episode of Gilmore Girls, making it impossible to imagine anyone but her playing Lorelai. In a 2017 interview with Variety (via YouTube), Graham said she fell in love with the role while auditioning. She was able to use her theater background to get a chokehold on Lorelai, delivering some of the best monologues in TV history.

Lorelai and Rory are funny and sarcastic in their own devious ways, from Lorelai’s funniest quotes about her mother Emily (Kelly Bishop) to Rory’s witty takes on love and academia. Graham also wore Lorelai’s best outfits in Gilmore Girls with palpable confidence and ease, further selling the character. Perhaps most importantly, she kept fans loyal to Lorelai when the character messed up. As Graham grew and matured as an actress over seven seasons and a miniseries revival, so too did Lorelai.

Another Gilmore Girls Actress Came Close To Playing Rory

Liza Weil Almost Played Rory Instead of Paris

Meanwhile, the role of Roy also connoted the usual casting process. Paris Geller is a formidable foe to naive Rory when the latter arrives at the prep school Chilton. Liza Weil is blunt, honest, and amusing in the role that involved making audiences go from hating her character to loving her. Weil also perfectly delivers Paris’ funniest insults in Gilmore Girls, a memorable facet of the character. It was later revealed that the producers of Gilmore Girls liked Weil so much that they wrote Paris for her (via Collider). Just like Amick, she still got to be on the show.

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Weil helped complete the Gilmore Girls roster needed to showcase a kaleidoscope of different women’s experiences. Regardless of which character they were closer to in age, women could see themselves in these flawed yet ferocious TV characters. Primarily, Lorelai and Rory captured the hearts of millions, intrigued by the dynamic between a 32-year-old mom and her 16-year-old daughter. Despite Amick and Weil’s talents, if Bledel and Graham were not playing the two leads, Gilmore Girls would not be as impactful.

Source: TV Line, YouTube, Collider

In the fictional town of Star’s Hollow, single mother Lorelai Gilmore raises her high-achieving teenage daughter Rory. Mother and daughter rely on each other throughout their own life changes, romantic entanglements, and friendships.

Cast

Lauren Graham , Scott Patterson , Sean Gunn , Keiko Agena , Matt Czuchry , Alexis Bledel , Yanic Truesdale , Kelly Bishop , Melissa McCarthy , Edward Herrmann , Liza Weil , Jared Padalecki , Milo Ventimiglia

Release Date

October 5, 2000

Seasons

7

Writers

Amy Sherman-Palladino