Fans Keep Roasting Gilmore Girls Stars For One Coffee-Related Reason, But Lauren Graham Isn't Having It

Gilmore Girls is a wildly popular show, one that's regularly re-watched by fans (especially those with a Netflix subscription). The original series, as well as the revival A Year in the Life are some of the best shows to binge-watch on Netflix, although the fandom's passion can sometimes result in some discourse online. And while some fans have a coffee-related complaint about Lorelai Gilmore, actress Lauren Graham isn't having it.

Gilmore Girls returned for a new limited series with 2016's A Year in the Life. Upon its release, some fans took umbrage with how Graham's Lorelai was holding her coffee from Luke's Diner in the opening scene. In a clip on Instagram from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, she responded to folks who thought that her cup was empty, saying:

Now that's some method acting. Both Lorelai and Rory are coffee addicts in Gilmore Girls, just one example of how they have stomachs of steel. And if folks though that Lauren Graham was carrying around an empty coffee cup on A Year in the Life they were wrong.

In the opening sequence Lorelai and Rory reunite at the Star's Hallow town square, and eventually go running around when Alexis Bledel's character frantically tried to find cell reception. That's when Graham was shown holding a coffee by the bottom of the cup. Later in her same conversation the actress went on to say:

There you have it. Lorelai herself isn't here for the discourse surrounding her coffee cup, especially because it very much had liquid in it. We'll just have to see if she ever gets the chance to play her signature character again on the small screen.

Of course, this isn't the only moment from Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life that got some backlash upon the revival show's release. The final scene was polarizing, where Rory revealed to her mother that she was pregnant. Fans are still debating who the father of Rory's child might be, with my personal choice being Milo Ventimiglia's Jess. But we'll have to see if Amy Sherman-Palladino ever actually confirms who it is one way or another. Although the mystery does feel very Mamm Mia! coded if we end up waiting for another revival series to find out.

Both Gilmore Girls and A Year in the Life is streaming over on Netflix. As for Lauren Graham, she can be seen in Reminders of Him, which is in theaters now as part of the 2026 movie release list.