'Gilmore Girls' goes home to Stars Hollow on Netflix

BURBANK, Calif. — Two women lean back in their loungers at the Stars Hollow pool, shaded by boys with parasols who address them as "m'lady" and "Khaleesi."

"I'm mad about the boy," Rory Gilmore (Alexis Bledel) says of her young attendant, speaking as if she were in an earlier, more mannered era.

As a hefty man in a Speedo, nicknamed Backfat Pat, approaches, Rory's mother, Lorelai,  (Lauren Graham) adopts a Southern accent to inquire: "Is he of the Maryland Backfats?"

As the women debate, diner owner Luke appears in a lifeguard T-shirt — earning a Hasselhoff barb from Lorelai — and inn concierge Michel passes by, offering his world-weary take on life.

Review: You'll still laugh and cry at Netflix's return to 'Gilmore Girls'

It has been nearly a decade since fans said goodbye to WB's Gilmore Girls, but, as with family, a few familiar faces and some signature snippets of rapid-fire, pop culture-infused conversation make it seem as if we never left. Almost all the actors are back for Netflix's update, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life (Nov. 25), four 90-minute movies, each set in a different season of the same year. So are creator Amy Sherman-Palladino and her husband, executive producer Daniel Palladino, who left the show before its final seventh season, without having the chance to end the series as they'd planned.

"It's been exactly like the old show and then completely new and different. Just a little grown up," says Graham during a break on the Warner Bros. lot. She embraces "that wonderful, fun language that's so playful. We get to play a million different little characters within the character. It's just been an overwhelmingly happy experience. I have been weirdly and inappropriately emotional the whole time."

The nine years between the end of the drama's run and its revival are reflected in the characters' lives.

"It had been enough time that all the stories seemed clear, where they would be, what they would be grappling with. If we had done it earlier, it might have been too soon," says Sherman-Palladino, who hopes the update will appeal to new viewers as well as dedicated fans. "We want to span the cult."

In the opening  "winter" installment, three generations of women — Lorelai, ; Rory, and Lorelai's mother, Emily (Kelly Bishop) — are mourning the death of patriarch Richard — a storyline that results from the death of actor Edward Herrmann, who played him, in 2014.

The death, both fictional and real, serves as a centerpiece for Year.

"The anchor for me in this was that we are all unified by a loss that hits us each in a different way," Graham says. And as characters, Emily "is dealing with how she's going to move on. Lorelai (is) facing why she hasn't grown up in certain ways. It's this loss that brings them all together in a deeper way."

Year focuses on the connection of the three Gilmore women, each with their  own story as  "they intersect throughout the episodes," Bledel says. "It's like getting multiple perspectives on the same experience."

Rory is the most changed of the characters by virtue of growing up: At 32, she's the same age her mother was when the series began. "Her becoming an adult really affects the relationship between Rory and Lorelai," Bledel says. "Her mom has to see her as an adult. That's not always an easy transition for such a tightly knit pair."

That evolving mother-daughter dynamic fits perfectly in Year, Graham says. Although "your mother is always your mother, this is a relationship that was always about a friendship."

If the Lorelai-Rory dynamic has changed,Stars Hollow seems much the same, retaining it bucolic-verging-on-fairy-tale charm. "We're not planning that a Starbucks is trying to come in," Palladino says. "It's still going to feel like home to people. It's protected from the real world."

Amazingly, nearly all the engaging, offbeat residents are back, including   diner owner and Lorelai beau Luke (Scott Patterson);  Michel (Yanic Truesdale), Rory's best friend, Lane (Keiko Agena),  who is the mother of twins;   Babette (Sally Struthers); Miss Patty (Liz Torres); Gypsy (Rose Abdoo); and Kirk (Sean Gunn), who has a wacky business idea. Even Melissa McCarthy, now an A-list film star, makes a brief appearance as Sookie St. James, co-owner of the Dragonfly Inn.

A return to the village helped Patterson connect. "I didn't feel like the character when I was rehearsing the first scene. I had to walk around the town a little bit to feel the feelings, but when it came back, it flooded back," he says. "After doing 154 episodes, it's in our bones."

Year also travels with Rory, now a journalist, as she pursues her career and crosses paths with friends, including Paris (Liza Weil) and past boyfriends Logan (Matt Czuchry), Jess (Milo Ventimiglia) and Dean (Jared Padalecki). (Netflix is trying to keep a lid on character spoilers, including the state of Rory's love and professional lives.)

Although production went smoothly once Year got the green light, it was a long, winding road to get there.

"We thought it was over," Sherman-Palladino says. "Every now and then we'd talk about a (theatrical) movie. We would talk to Lauren, mostly. But the movie thing never felt quite right to any of us."

Netflix, home of the Full House reboot, changed the dynamic on two fronts. The streaming service says its reruns proved a dedicated fan base endures, and encourages options beyond a single film or a 13-episode commitment. (The revamp runs about six hours).

"Once it was on Netflix, it was clear there was this audience that continued to grow as new generations discovered the show," Bledel says.

The married producers embraced the concept of four chapters. Rediscovering the distinctive voice and playful banter wasn't difficult, but a longer story structure with no commercial breaks required some adjustments.

"We were surprised about how easy it was," Sherman-Palladino says. "It was less about getting back into the old rhythm. It was more about finding the moments to slow down and take a breather, because you can't have 90 minutes of rat-a-tat-tat. Your head will hurt. It's a whole piece now. it's not 42 minutes. It was more about finding the ebbs and flows."

The revival gave the actors a new opportunity to bond.

"When the series got canceled, I was in Canada on a movie set. Nobody had a chance to say goodbye. There was no closure," Patterson says. But when they reunited in February, "there was that comfort of knowing we were going to be able to savor every moment on set, because this could be the last time we were all going to get together."

Reuniting with the Palladinos, who say they never watched the final season but kept abreast of story lines to preserve continuity, "was great. It was what we hoped it would be," Bledel says. "The show is really defined by Amy's voice, and Dan has always been a pivotal part of the show. A lot of the pop-culture references and the jokes, it's their taste that comes through."

The return also allows the couple to "end it the way we wanted to end it," says Sherman-Palladino, who has long had in mind the show's "last four words," which are part of the fourth chapter. (She unsuccessfully lobbied Netflix to release the films piecemeal and hopes people won't post online spoilers — including those words.)

That doesn't mean Year will be the end, although Netflix and the executive producers say there is no plan for additional episodes. Asked if it were smart not to close doors unnecessarily, Sherman-Palladino responds: "Life only closes doors when you drop dead."

Graham sounds OK either way. "I love how we ended it, but I also loved doing it," she says Graham. "I would want whatever's best for the project. I'm not the person to decide, but I would not pass up another opportunity to do this material."