Some of Your Favorite 'Gilmore Girls' Ships Actually Had Major Age Gaps — Here Are the Ages of the Cast Members While Filming

From Season 1 to Season 7, Gilmore Girls told a relatable yet insightful tale of a single, witty mom and her smart daughter. It also introduced fans to many more interesting characters who had an impact on all of our hearts. With a show lasting that long, fans not only saw the characters grow but also the actors themselves.

The cast's ages ranged as it focused on womanhood in various stages of life, including adolescence, parenthood, and after that. With such an array of topics to cover, they needed a wide variety of ages to fill all the roles. Let's take a look at how old cast members were when they joined the team.

Playing the spunky, young mother, Lorelai Gilmore, Lauren Graham flawlessly tackled the role when she was just 33. The star played an energetic single mom who wanted the best for her daughter after moving away from her uppity family to a small town, Stars Hallow.

The only daughter of Lorelai, Rory Gilmore carried on her mother's namesake and was an intelligent teenager. The academically driven girl was played by Alex Bledel who was only 19 when she took on the role. Fans watched as Rory grew and navigated high school before moving on to college and, eventually in the reboot, her early career.

Playing Rory's first love, Dean Forester, Jared Padalecki joined the show at age 18. Dean and Rory's romance spanned the first few seasons and bubbled back up on occasion. In the end, though, they both decided it was better to go separate ways and Dean married another girl, Lindsey.

Milo Ventimiglia joined the cast in Season 2 when Jess Mariano entered the picture to compete for Rory's love. The edgy teen was appealing to Rory due to his bad boy attitude. However, by the time of filming, this put about a four year age gap between Alexis in Milo.

Logan Huntzberger became Rory's final major love interest in the show, if you don't count the Wookie she slept with in the revival. He didn't enter the show until Season 5 when actor Matt Czuchry was 28.

Despite playing the same age, Alexis and Liza Weil shared a considerable age gap of four years. Liza was 23 when she started on the show in Season 1, playing Rory's No. 1 frenemy, Paris Gellar.

Luke Danes and Lorelai were fans' No. 1 ship on the show, but there was nearly a decade age gap between their actors. Scott Patterson was 42 when he started playing the grumpy diner owner.

Uptight Emily Gilmore was played by Kelly Bishop who was 56 when the show started filming. The difficult tension between Emily and Lorelai ended up adding another layer to the Gilmore girls' family dynamic.

Richard and Emily Gilmore's relationship wasn't easy, but it did showcase a type of love navigated through high-society standards. Richard was played by Edward Herrmann when the show started. Edward died before the filming of the show's reboot at age 71.