Although Rory’s romantic relationships with Jess and Logan had a profound impact on her character arc, there is a good reason that neither of her endings from Gilmore Girls or A Year in the Life focused on them. The entire cast of Gilmore Girls had important roles to play in the cult dramedy’s success, but no one was more central to the show than Kelly Bishop’s Emily, Lauren Graham’s Lorelai, and Alexis Bledel’s Rory. The three тιтular Gilmore girls may have struggled to see eye to eye sometimes, but they were the show’s multi-generational heroines.

As such, it makes sense that the original Gilmore Girls series finale centered on Rory deciding what to do next after graduating from Yale. Some viewers were surprised when Rory and Logan’s romantic relationship ended before the finale, but Logan returned in 2016’s divisive revival A Year in the Life. That Netflix miniseries focused on the Gilmore girls a decade after the original show ended and revealed that Rory was feeling professionally and personally unmoored, sleeping with an engaged Logan even though she had a boyfriend.

Rory’s Love Interests Always Dominate Discussion Of Her Arc

Logan and Jess Are Often Viewed As Defining Parts Of Her Story

Some crítics complained that Rory’s new beau from A Year in the Life, Paul, received nowhere near as much screen time or story focus as his predecessors. However, although Logan, Jess, and Dean all got a lot of screen time in the original series, it is worth noting that there is a reason Rory’s two series finale fates have little to do with her love interests. At the end of the day, Gilmore Girls was more interested in Rory’s own character evolution than her love life, despite how entertaining her boyfriends were.

Viewers on Team Jess were disappointed when his sweet cameo in A Year in the Life didn’t turn into a full-blown romantic reunion, while fans on Team Logan were upset when season 7 ended their relationship just before the big finale. However, much like Gilmore Girls didn’t depict Lorelai raising Rory when she was a child, the show also didn’t prioritize Rory’s love life over her career and her personal ambitions. Gilmore Girls was never about who Rory ended up with any more than it was about what job she ended up doing.

The subtle ways that Emily shaped Lorelai’s worldview, and how Lorelai in turn shaped her daughter’s atтιтude to life, were the show’s true focus. As such, Gilmore Girls didn’t center Jess and Logan in the two series finales because the show was ultimately about Rory. She may have sometimes been precocious, enтιтled, and self-centered, but Rory was the show’s imperfect heroine and its primary focus ahead of even her motor-mouthed mother Lorelai.

Rory’s Original Gilmore Girls Ending Was About Her Leaving Home

Gilmore Girls Was Never Entirely Focused On Rory’s Romantic Life

In season 7, episode 22, “Bon Voyage,” Gilmore Girls ignored Logan’s existence to center on Rory’s goodbye party in Stars Hollow. This made much more thematic sense as the party was a symbolic rite of pᴀssage for the now fully independent heroine. Rory finally leaving the protection and security of Stars Hollow behind and being in a place, thanks to Lorelai, her grandparents, Yale, and everyone else, to take a bold step into the world of journalism was the perfect end to her arc.

No Logan-centric ending could have lived up to Rory striking out on her own in the series finale, since the show had focused on Rory since its pilot episode and Logan was a comparatively recent arrival. Like Christopher and Lorelai’s marriage, Logan and Rory’s relationship was a fun storyline that wasn’t the true heart of the show’s final season. Instead, Rory finally being ready to go off and be bold in her career was the culmination of her efforts throughout the series.

Rory’s A Year In the Life Ending Was About Her Finding Her Place Again

The Gilmore Girls Revival Returning Rory To Stars Hollow Made Perfect Sense

While Logan notably isn’t in the original series finale, as the breakup is handled in the penultimate episode, Jess’s role in A Year in the Life is more complicated. While the original series finale was free to be about Rory leaving Stars Hollow, A Year in the Life saw her character arc come full circle. Rory returned home about her back home, struggled to find her purpose, and wondered what became of her ambitions. In A Year in the Life, Rory learns what she truly wants to do after a decade of career struggles.

With her pregnancy, Rory almost inadvertently became a lot more like Lorelai. However, while Rory and Logan’s story was dropped before the original series finale, Jess plays a subtle role in setting up Rory’s A Year in the Life ending. He only appears briefly, but it is Jess who convinces Rory to try writing a book. This ends up being central to her fate in the finale, as she effectively gives up her focus on journalism to write her memoir.

Which Of Rory’s Two Gilmore Girls Endings Was Better?

Rory’s Original Series Finale Had More Hope But Less Drama

The original Gilmore Girls series finale was full of hope, but it was still strange to see Logan shunted off to the sidelines after he was so central to Rory’s story for the preceding three seasons. In contrast, A Year in the Life was so infamously messy that it made many viewers retroactively forgive the shortcomings of season 7’s ending, but its finale had a killer last line. Although Gilmore Girls handled Lane’s pregnancy terribly, the show made the reveal of Rory’s unplanned pregnancy a genuinely shocking twist in A Year in the Life’s last scene.

Rory’s A Year In The Life Ending Wouldn’t Have Worked In Gilmore Girls

A Year In the Life’s Twist Couldn’t Have Arrived Any Sooner

Ironically, series creator Amy Sherman Palladino has stated that she planned those final four words as an ending for the show’s original run, so that scene could have been season 7’s ending if she had not been replaced by another showrunner. However, Gilmore Girls season 7 ending with Rory announcing her pregnancy would not have worked since the show spent so long focusing on her career plans.

With the setup of Rory discovering herself and finally spreading her wings beyond Stars Hollow (and nearby cities), it would have felt oddly bleak for her to make a mᴀssive life decision that planned her firmly at home for the foreseeable future. In contrast, where the ending of Gilmore Girls always needed Rory to leave her hometown, A Year in the Life’s ending was perfectly timed to bring her back home.