Although The cast of Gilmore Girls all got a chance to shine in the show’s original seven seasons, but the final season was not the show’s strongest by a long shot. Season 7 was frustrating for numerous reasons, which made 2016’s revival, A Year in the Life, an exciting prospect. However, that self-contained miniseries proved equally contentious thanks to unexpected character changes.

Debate still rages on over whether Rory became more entitled in A Year in the Life, or if this quality was always present and was just more noticeable in her older incarnation. Meanwhile, Luke and Loreali’s wedding pleased some viewers but left others wishing that the Gilmore Girls reunion featured more of their married life. Among all of these issues, however, there was one subplot that undeniably shone. The miniseries gave one of the show’s stars a moment in the spotlight after season 7 failed to offer this to her, and redeemed A Year in the Life in the process.

Emily Gilmore Didn't Get A Great Ending In Gilmore Girls Season 7

Emily’s Role In The Original Final Gilmore Girls Season Was Limited

Kelly Bishop’s Emily Gilmore received a better ending in A Year in the Life than in Gilmore Girls season 7, even though the revival began with her facing the aftermath of Richard’s death. Although season 7 didn’t leave Emily in dire straits, the original series finale also didn’t give her much to do. While season 7 focused on Lorelai finally romantically reuniting with Luke and Rory going off to her new career after graduating, Emily was kept in stasis. The only real moment she received in the spotlight was when she confirmed her dinners with Lorelai would continue.

Although she was pivotal to its story, Lorelai’s mother never received as much screen time and character growth as her daughter or Rory.

It is telling that Gilmore Girls season 7’s most significant finale moment for Emily wasn’t a new venture, but a reaffirmation of her usual status quo. This is where A Year in the Life redeemed Emily’s story and improved one of the show’s main characters. In 2024, Bishop playfully titled her autobiography “The Third Gilmore Girl,” and this reference knowingly acknowledged the fact that Emily was always a peripheral character in the original series. Although she was pivotal to its story, Lorelai’s mother never received as much screen time and character growth as her daughter or Rory.

A Year In The Life Truly Made Emily Into The Third Gilmore Girl

Richard’s ing Resulted In Emily Sharing More Screen Time With Lorelai and Rory

This was a shame since insights into Emily’s life inevitably fleshed out the characters of Lorelai and Rory by extension. In A Year in the Life, the absence of Richard results in Emily trying to work out her own identity outside of her role as a wife, a mother, and a grandmother, and her subsequent struggles make Bishop’s character the heart of the miniseries. For all of its faults, A Year in the Life humanizes Emily more than ever before and makes season 7’s under-use of the character feel like a missed opportunity in retrospect.

Although Gilmore Girls’ best Christmas episode proved that Stars Hollow and its inhabitants were always as important as Lorelai and Rory themselves, A Year in the Life shows that Lorelai’s mother was equally pivotal to the show’s success. Emily’s frustrations with Lorelai, her hard time adjusting to Richard’s absence, and her realizations about the stultifying realities of her upper-crust lifestyle all make her more lovable than ever in the miniseries revival, and it is fun to see her finally branch out on her own in the finale.

A Year In The Life Gave Emily A Sweet Ending

Emily’s Poignant Ending Was A Fitting Conclusion For Her Character Arc

Throughout A Year in the Life, Emily’s character arc sees her embrace independence in a way that Lorelai did years earlier when she rejected her rich family’s expectations of her life to raise Rory. For all of A Year in the Life’s flaws, the revival gives Bishop’s Emily more to do than any story since her and Richard’s breakup in season 5. Moreover, the loss of Richard leaves a lasting impact on her character, whereas that earlier arc was eventually solved by a romantic reunion.

Emily seems newly free at the end of A Year in the Life.

In “Fall,” Emily makes peace with Lorelai’s complex relationship with Richard, rejects the DAR, and moves to Nantucket on her own. Her new life seems fun and fulfilling but, more importantly, it is entirely self-led. A character defined by relationships with her husband, daughter, and granddaughter in earlier seasons and always fighting this, Emily seems newly free at the end of A Year in the Life. While not everything about A Year in the Life works, this character’s self-contained storyline includes a hopeful new conclusion that is far stronger than her role in the original Gilmore Girls finale years earlier.

Gilmore Girls is available to stream on Hulu and A Year in the Life is available to stream on Netflix.