Gilmore Girls fans who are still debating who was Rory’s best boyfriend have been able to cast their votes this fall a different way — with Panera Bread’s soups. The fast casual chain enlisted the help of Jared Padalecki and Matt Czuchry to advertise their fall soups, but hello? What about Team Jess? Turns out Milo Ventimiglia just learned about the mini-reunion, and I’m loving his reaction.
It’s been 25 years since we were first introduced to the Gilmore Girls — single mom Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and her teenage daughter Rory (Alexis Bledel) — along with several boyfriends as we followed Rory into young adulthood. When Milo Ventimiglia was asked why he didn’t join his former co-stars in the Panera commercial, he responded to People:
There was a Panera commercial?
While this might sound like the coldest burn since Mariah Carey said, “I don’t know her,” the This Is Us alum honestly didn’t know about the ad, and he’s got a pretty good excuse:
I've got a newborn daughter, I live under a rock. I had no idea. That's awesome.
I’d have to agree. In the commercial, Jared Padalecki and Matt Czuchry passionately defend their soup choices, with Padalecki’s Fireside Chili matching traits of his character Dean — Rory’s first love — as the reliable one that “tastes like home” and is the “perfect first … bowl of soup.”
Matt Czuchry’s Autumn Squash Soup, meanwhile, is “more sophisticated,” the actor says, and “so rich” — just like Rory’s college boyfriend Logan.
Neither seem too psyched about the return of the Black Bean Soup, aka “the bad boy,” per the Supernatural star. Referencing Milo Ventimiglia’s Jess, Matt Czuchry describes it as “brooding, mysterious, hot,” which the new dad apparently found amusing, as he said:
Oh, that's funny. I'll have to look it up. Those guys are both so lovely, such lovely dudes. I miss them. I definitely do miss them.
The Panera Bread ad is certainly worth the watch for anyone who hasn’t picked a soup team yet, but I’ll spare you the trouble of having to search for it:
The “best boyfriend” debate may still be an intense one to Gilmore Girls fans, but the actors involved have never had anything but love for one another. When Milo Ventimiglia declared his love for Dean a few years ago, Jared Padalecki responded in kind with his own homemade sign professing his love for Jess.
Knowing how well all of these actors get along, hopefully Panera Bread will remember that next fall and invite Milo Ventimiglia to the reunion, so as not to disrespect the members of Team Jess.
In the meantime, fans can continue to relive Lorelai and Rory’s adventures in Stars Hollow by streaming Gilmore Girls with either a Netflix subscription or Hulu subscription. The spinoff Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life is available on Netflix.
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