Gilmore Girls: How Old Lorelai Is At The Beginning & End

Gilmore Girls focuses on the lives of Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Rory (Alexis Bledel), but what’s Lorelai’s age at the start and finish of the show?

Lorelai Gilmore is one of the two characters at the heart of Gilmore Girls, but how old is Lorelai Gilmore when the series begins, and what was Lorelai’s age when Gilmore Girls finished, both for the first time and in Netflix’s revival, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life? Played by Lauren Graham, it’s Lorelai and her relationship with daughter Rory (Alexis Bledel) that dominates the show, providing much of its warmth, humor, and drama. Lorelai’s relationship with her parents is particularly difficult because of events that happened long before those of the show. Lorelai fell pregnant with Rory when she was just 16-years-old, and opted to leave home to raise her alone. That’s the backdrop for so much of what happens in Gilmore Girls, but just how many years later do the events of the series pick up, and how many years of Lorelai’s life does the entire show span?

So, how old is Lorelai Gilmore? When Gilmore Girls season 1 aired in 2000, Lorelai was 32 years old, with her daughter, Rory, now 16. The ages of the two were important, since making Rory the same age her mother was when she had her allowed for the show to explore the contrast between their two lives and different experiences growing up. When Gilmore Girls came to an end for the first time, after season 7 in 2007, Lorelai was 39 years old, with each season of Gilmore Girls spanning from the latter half of one year (generally around the time of Rory going back to school/college) and ending just before the summer. Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life picks up around 10 years later, with Lorelai (whose birthday is in April) 48 years old for the majority of it. That brings things full circle, with Rory at this point the same age Lorelai was when the series started.

Related: Gilmore Girls: Who Is The Father Of Rory’s Baby?

Lorelai’s Age In Gilmore Girls

How old is Lorelai Gilmore exactly? It’s hard to determine when her birthday is because it’s given so little importance. Lorelai’s birthday is never given too much focus in Gilmore Girls, and is only actually celebrated on-screen once – in the season 3 episode “Happy Birthday, Baby”, in which Rory gets the locals to make the largest pizza the town of Stars Hollow has ever seen. In that episode, which aired in 2003, it’s specifically mentioned that Lorelai is turning 35 years old (though her father, Richard, mistakenly thinks she’s going to be 36). At the same time, Rory orders her a cake that jokingly reads “Happy 16th Birthday, Lorelai.” Lorelai’s actress Lauren Graham is extremely close to her character, and that goes for her age too: Graham was born in March 1967, meaning she’s just one year older than Lorelai.

How Old Was Lorelai When She Became A Grandma?

How old is Lorelai Gilmore in AYITL? Of course, Lorelai may not necessarily always act her age. While she also wants to be a parent for a second time at the age of 48 during A Year in the Life, it’s ultimately Rory who falls pregnant by the end of the Netflix Gilmore Girls reboot. Rory and Lorelai’s age difference (or rather lack relative thereof) is an important part of their relationship in Gilmore Girls. A Year in the Life sees Lorelai become a grandmother at age 48 when Rory reveals she’s pregnant, right before the credits roll.

A Year in the Life received some criticism due to the fact that Rory essentially faces the same fate as Lorelai. However, the two characters are still markedly different, as is the circumstance of their entering motherhood. Rory had a baby at 32, rather than 16, showing that she made some very different choices than her mother. What’s more, Rory is bringing her child into a loving family with a wide support network — a far cry from Lorelai’s self-imposed exile as a teen. They both became moms at very different stages in life, only highlighting the contrast between the two characters which made Gilmore Girls great.

Who Played Teen Lorelai Gilmore?

Now that the question “how old is Lorelai Gilmore?” has been answered, what of teen Lorelai? Teen Lorelai Gilmore can be seen in Gilmore Girls season 3, episode 13, “Dear Emily and Richard.” Over the course of the episode, Sherry (Mädchen Amick) is giving birth and asks Rory to accompany her to the hospital. In the meantime, Lorelai reminisces about her own pregnancy with Rory and her birth story. The episode sees a number of flashbacks with teen Lorelai, who is played by actress Chelsea Brummet. The episode itself takes place in 2003, which means that the adult Lorelai would be 35 years old at the time of the flashback. Lorelai’s age in Gilmore Girls is a somewhat important topic of the show, as she tries to figure out how to be a young mother to Rory.

Next: Will There Be More Gilmore Girls On Netflix?