Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Gilmore Girls fans worried that Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino’s new multi-year Amazon Studios deal all but sticks a fork in a second Netflix revival need to simmer down and read the contract’s fine print.
According to multiple sources, the pact — which calls for Team Palladino to develop new series for Amazon beyond their upcoming dramedy The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel — includes an “out” clause that would allow the pair to spearhead a follow-up to last year’s Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life for Netflix. Of course, that’s hardly a guarantee that there will be a second revival. I’m told the clause was included in case the stars aligned creatively (i.e. Amy and Dan felt inspired to pen a “sequel” and any/all potential scheduling hurdles could be cleared).
Back in May, Lauren Graham weighed in on the subject of a second revival, telling TVLine, “Now it’s become what can we [still] do with this story that’s satisfying, that [makes it] worth continuing, that will be gratifying to the people who care so much about it. I don’t know if there’s a need to do more. I would never want it to feel like we overstayed our welcome.” Several weeks later, Graham hinted at the possibility of a one-off holiday movie during a TVLine Podcast Q&A.
One thing is clear: Netflix definitely wants to head back to Stars Hollow. Buoyed in large part by last November’s release of A Year in the Life, the streamer added a record-shattering 7.05 million subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2016. “We hope [it happens],” Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said last March when asked about the chances of a second revival. “We obviously loved the success of the show [and] fans loved how well it was done; it delivered what they hoped. The worst thing is to wait a couple of years for your favorite show to come back and for it to disappoint you, but [Amy and Dan] sure delivered and people were really excited about more. And we have been talking to them about the possibility of that.’
For now, the Palladinos have their hands full with Mrs. Maisel, which netted an unprecedented-for-Amazon two season pickup in the wake of the pilot’s rapturous reception. (It garnered an average customer rating of 4.9, with 93 percent awarding it five stars). Season 1 is set to launch later this year.
