Kelly Bishop on returning to Gilmore Girls sans ‘other half’
When the beloved American dramedy series
Gilmore Girls makes its much-anticipated comeback via Netflix streaming on Nov. 25 (nine years after ending its sevenseason run on television), the show’s loyal followers worldwide know full well that one major character won’t be returning to the fictional wealthy town of Star Hollows, Connecticut.
Edward Hermann, who played the patriarch Richard Gilmore, died battling brain cancer in December 2014 at age 71. His absence left a deep void on the set, according to Hermann’s onscreen wife Kelly Bishop, otherwise known as Emily Gilmore, the indomitable and wealthy matriarch and who is the other half of one of the most iconic couples in the history of TV entertainment.
“There’s a real emptiness on the set without having Ed there,” an emotional Bishop tells reporters at a New York City junket for the revival called Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life held at the Essex House by Central Park. “We all anticipated the sadness but we still felt bad when we came back to the set.”
Emily’s new life as a grieving widow will figure prominently in the fourpart miniseries (with 90 minutes each episode), which will also serve as the show’s lasting tribute to Hermann. Each of the four installments will be covering a season as in winter, spring, summer and fall (or autumn).
Written, directed and executive produced by series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino and executive producer Daniel Palladino, the revival kicks off on a winter, six months after Richard Gilmore has died and with Emily groping around trying to find her way with dignity.
“Emily is completely confused, I mean she’s not acting confused but she’s confused as she doesn’t know where to go or what to do,” Bishop shares about her character’s struggle. “She says in one scene, ‘We were married for 50 years, half of me is gone.’ I think that any widow or widower probably feels that way.”
“We deal with flashbacks, we deal with memories, we deal with the ups and downs of grieving,” Bishop adds. “It’s a very interesting process for my character. And Amy’s writing is just amazing.”
Aside from Bishop, all-original cast members will return including Lauren Graham (Lorelai Gilmore), Alexis Bledel (Rory Gilmore) and Scott Patterson (Luke Danes). Also reprising their roles are Rose Abdoo, Keiko Agena, Matt Czuchry, Chris Eigeman, Sean Gunn, Todd Lowe, Melissa McCarthy, Jared Padalecki, Danny Strong, Sally Struthers, David Sutcliffe, Liz Torres, Yanic Truesdale, Milo Ventimiglia, Liza Weil and Michael Winters.
Over the years, fans of Gilmore Girls have remained loyal — often by rewatching the episodes on Netflix or through syndication. Its streamability has also attracted new viewers, some of whom were too young to catch it the first time around or, perhaps, lived in
places where it wasn’t accessible preNetflix.
The series will continue to explore mother-daughter conflicts, friendship, romance, as well as generational divides and social class. But Bishop says there will be a lot of changes for sure, including Emily’s complicated relationship with daughter Lorelai which has taken on a “more mature dysfunction.”
“There are moments in this project where we have tender and sweet moments as mother and daughter,” Bishop points out, “and we also have terrible moments. But you know that we’re fiercely loyal to each other.’’
Fans will be thrilled to see Stars Hollow recreated in all its glory, from Luke’s Diner to the bed-and-breakfast Dragonfly Inn to Lorelai’s charming Connecticut home. The writings of Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino are also on display, featuring rapid-fire dialogues, witty banter and pop-culture references.
Bishop reveals that the four episodes of Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life were filmed all at once making it extraordinarily challenging.
“Filming all four shows at once for an actor is like making your eyeball fall out,” Bishop points out. “It’s enough that you always shoot an episode or a movie out of order. You’re gonna shoot according to like everything in the living room, then everything in the backyard, and then everything down by the shore.”
“But when you do four shows at once,” she continues, “and you’re doing winter, spring, summer, fall and especially the outdoor scenes of Star Hollows with the gazebo — those guys in the crew, changing out winter into spring, that was enough. And now, all the actors have to remember where they are emotionally at that point in the show. So it was really tough. It was hard.”
Bishop, likewise, expressed amazement as to how Netflix and all the people behind the camera managed to schedule and assemble about 150 cast members, both with regular and recurring roles, and dress them all up to bring their characters to life.
“I don’t know how they did it,” she says in awe. “That’s my experience with Netflix. I’m very impressed.”