Fifteen years ago today, the world was introduced to the fast-talking, pop culture–referencing mother-daughter duo of Gilmore Girls. In honor of the show’s anniversary, Entertainment Weekly talked to creator Amy Sherman-Palladino and star Lauren Graham, who reminisced about the pilot episode and shooting in Canada, and hypothesized what the Gilmore girls would be up to today. Here, a few interesting tidbits we learned from the interview.
The theme song, “Where You Lead,” written and sung by Carole King, was originally about a man.
When producers contacted the singer to get the rights to it for the show, King suggested rerecording it with her own daughter to make it more relevant to the series. Sherman-Palladino calls it “the greatest theme song in the entire world.”
Lauren Graham and her on-screen daughter, Alexis Bledel, were, at times, literally joined at the hip.
Graham confesses she had to help Bledel through some technical aspects of filming the show. “We have a lot of scenes in those early episodes where I’m literally gluing her to my side,” she said. “I don’t know if she noticed or cared, it kind of worked and it served to help make us look like this connected duo because I literally wouldn’t let go of her.”
Some of Lorelai’s outrageous fashion choices—specifically those regrettable rhinestone bandanas—were reflective of Graham’s own taste.
“There was a fashion in the early 2000s of the rhinestone-studded bandana worn as like, whatever you call that style across the forehead, and I could not get enough of it,” she said.
Stars Hollow is named after Mia Farrow’s house in Connecticut, which is called Frog Hollow.
Sherman-Palladino and her husband once visited the actress there and were so charmed by her town and the inn where they stayed that they ended up writing a version of both into the series.
Kelly Bishop (who played Emily Gilmore) predicted the show’s enduring appeal from the start.
Graham said that she never really thought Gilmore Girls would find a lasting fan base until she performed a play on Broadway and saw several young girls in the audience who had become fans after watching reruns of the show. Ever since Gilmore Girls debuted on Netflix last year, the show remains one of its most popular streaming series.