Gilmore Girls Creator Weighs In On #TeamJess Vs. #TeamDean Debate

On its face, Gilmore Girls is a show about relationships: between mothers and daughters, between small towns and their dedicated residents, between innocent girls and boys. But dig a little deeper, and it's really about hopes and dreams and the surprising ways that life leads us to them. That is what series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino wants all of us to be thinking about when we start binging Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life on November 25 — NOT the boys. In a #TeamJess, #TeamDean, or #TeamLogan world, Sherman-Palladino is none of the above. In an interview with Time, the writer and showrunner said she's sick and tired of everyone obsessing over who Rory Gilmore is going to end up with. (Sorry, Amy!) Yes, love is an important component of life, but can't Rory love her job? Love her accomplishments? Love her successes? Sherman-Palladino told the magazine that Rory is thinking about much bigger things than whether or not she wants to get back together with a former beau. Her love interests are only "a small part of who Rory is. Rory didn’t spend her days thinking, 'Who am I going to end up with?' Rory was much more concerned about, 'How do I get that interview at The New York Times?'" Sherman-Palladino said. She's also surprised by how hung up fans are on Rory's decade-old crushes. "Sometimes I wish that the Dean and Jess thing weren’t so prominent, because in the grand scheme of Rory’s life, who her boyfriend was when she was 16 years old is such a small event," she said. "I don’t begrudge people the excitement of Jess and Dean. But they were there to show Rory’s evolution as a character." The creator also expanded on the real reason she even included the boys in the series to begin with: "They were a very big part of the show, and frankly they were always there to feed stories about Lorelai and Rory. That was the core of everything. Lorelai’s relationships, Rory’s relationships were a way for us to explore the mother-daughter relationship." So instead of customizing your #TeamJess T-shirts for the premiere, why not start a healthy debate on where Rory's career is headed, and what kind of badass goals she'll accomplish for herself in the future? That sort of conversation would make both Lorelai and Rory proud.