How Old Was Chad Michael Murray in Gilmore Girls?

The connection between Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) and her daughter Rory (Alexis Bledel) in the beloved dramedy Gilmore Girls will go down as one of the most heartwarming and iconic TV relationships of all time. The series, created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, has built a devoted fanbase and continues to be cherished decades after its premiere, best known for the quick-snap chatty dialogue, the references to popular culture and the relationship between mother and daughter that feels closer to sisterhood.

Now, part of the show charm is that Lorelai and Rory do not follow the traditional mother-daughter relationship, but instead they are best friends. Their relationship is even more fascinating because Lorelai became a mom at the age of 16, giving her daughter a generational gap that’s fairly minimal versus television mother-daughter pairs. Despite the fact that Lorelai is the so-called adult, her free-spirited nature and acts of rebellion often make her appear to be the rule-breaker in their relationship, resulting in some of the series’ most relatable and humorous moments.

But aside from the Gilmores themselves, Gilmore Girls also existed in its quirky small-town setting; the the whimsical Stars Hollow. Whether its quirky locals to the relatable oddballs, the life that fills town, easily makes the show so assemble-worthy. What’s remained in the back of fan’s minds, though, is the mystery surrounding the ages of the younger characters when the show began and how they compared to the ages of the actors who played them.

THE CLASSIC TELEVISION PHENOM: ADULTS PLAYING TEENS (OR THE OTHER WAY AROUND!)

Hollywood casting teenagers is the most wellknown age swap trend. Gilmore Girls was by no means exempt from this age-old tradition(even though the show set at least 400 years worth of guidelines. This was not only about finding actors who look youthful enough to pass for high schoolers, but also about casting performers with the experience, professionalism and work ethic who could deliver the series’ notoriously quick-moving dialogue.

Of course this was a trend seen across fields, not just in the thought-style of Gilmore Girls. Just look at Pretty Little Liars — the main cast was made up of people in their mid-to-late 20s, all allegedly playing high school students. Dawson’s Creek and Beverly Hills, 90210 soon stepped in with the same idea, and cast actors who were well beyond high school age to play teenagers. But the opposite also occurred just as often: Gilmore Girls had actors way older than their characters playing younger roles.

Rory Gilmore

The actual show begins with 16-year-old Rory Gilmore. Alexis Bledel, who portrayed Rory, was actually not too far from that age in real life, for what it’s worth. Bledel, then 19 when the series first aired in 2000. Bledel was already 26 by the time the series ended in 2007, while Rory was almost twenty-three. Part of why fans found Rory so believable — and relatable — was due in large part to Bledel and Graham being so close in age.

Dean Forester

But one of the worst heartbreaks in the Rory dating saga starts off in her very first episode and we meet Dean Forester, Rory’s 16 or 17-year-old boyfriend. Jared Padalecki, who played Dean, was also a teenager on his first day too — just 18. He was just 23 when Padalecki left the show in Season 5 It grounded Dean to some extent in a more realistic character sense to have someone so nearby that dated Dean.

Lane Kim

Rory’s best friend Lane Kim, played by Keiko Agena, also had a big age discrepancy from her character. However, even when the show began, Lane’s character was supposed to be 16, and Agena at that point was 26—more in age with Lauren Graham (Lorelai) than Alexis Bledel (Rory). In theory, Lane was supposed to be 22 or 23 in the final season, but the ages in seasons 1 and 34 were consistent with 34yearold Agena being cast. Agena, while opposed to the Lane, made Lane a character you dare not want to love—and one, for whose many wrongs not a chance will be given (the actor who played him, though only four years older, feels a wee bit more…) already, in the not-too-distant past.

Tristan Dugray

Tristan Dugray was the Chilton heartthrob who made every girl swoon but Rory and he was played by Chad Michael Murray. For example, it was fall of Rory’s freshman year at Chilton when those first season events were taking place so Rory and Tristan were kind of 16 or 17 years old but his actor Murray was actually 19. The character at that time was supposed to be 18, which he played in his final episode with Tristan, while the actor had just hit the milestone age of 20. Though slightly older than the character, Murray as big brother is a perfect mixture of charming and barely-containable delinquency.

Paris Geller

The same goes for Rory’s Chilton frenemy-turned-Yale bestie Paris Geller, who was designed to be 16 during season 1. However, the actress who played Paris, Liza Weil, was already 23 then. The series concluded with Paris as a twenty-something freshly-minted college graduate and Weil 30 years old in 2007. Her delicious characterization of the ambitious, driven overachiever Paris was one of the best roles of the series, entirely appropriate for Weil even given the age difference.

Louise Grant

The 16-year-old Chilton student, Louise Grant, was played by 18-year-old Teal Redmann in the first season of the show. When we saw Louise in Season 4 for the spring break episode, her character was roughly 20 — as was her real-life counterpart, Redmann, who was 22 at the time. Louise frequently teamed up with cohorts Madeline and Paris, bringing a light, airy counterpoint to their more uptight ownership at Chilton.

Madeline Lynn

In the same vein, Madeline (Louise’s BFF and also half of the Paris/Madeline relationship trifecta) would have also had to be 16 in Season 1. But that’s a little off—the actress who played her, Shelly Cole, was 25 at the time. As of Madeline’s last appearance in Season 4, she was 20, and Cole was nearly 30. The group, comparatively older than the seemingly 12-year old cast, were well-represented and despite the large age gap, Cole gave a bubbly, slightly ditzy performance – a dead on for Madeline – and we loved them.

Jess Mariano

While Rory was 17 when she was first introduced on Gilmore Girls, her second boyfriend, the misunderstood bad boy Jess Mariano, was 18 — in the show he was one year older than Rory. Except that Jess was a 24-year-old Milo Ventimiglia When Jess appeared for the last time in Season 6, the character was still 23, even though Ventimiglia had just turned 29 — and about to turn 30. Ventimiglia was about 18 years older in real life, but found his true fanbase mark when he played teenage bad boy Jess in one of Rory’s most iconic storylines.

Logan Huntzberger

However, the character that Rory meets as soon as she arrives at Yale is pretty much right up there with the best of them when it comes to Gilmore Girls young people: Logan Huntzberger. Season 5 starts with Logan being 22 when he comes on to Rory. But the actor who played Logan, Matt Czuchry, was already 28. By the time the series ended, at least in Logan years, Logan would have been 25, Czuchry was 30. While Czuchry was much older than Rory —old enough that many viewers shrieked in horror at the idea of Rory dating someone old enough to live by himself—he gave Logan layers and charisma to carry the character from a privileged brat to a pivotal chapter in Rory’s life.