The town of Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls is one of those little New England villages that we all wished we lived in, a place full of colorful characters and many vibrant personalities. Sure, it’s almost a little too perfectly quirky, but the people in Stars Hollow are what keeps things interesting. Whether it’s Lorelai Gilmore and her obsession with coffee, Taylor Doose and his obsession with other people’s business, or Kirk Gleason with his obsession for everything weird, Stars Hollow has proven that it is one of the most fascinating fictional places on the planet.
Gilmore Girls introduced the world to a lot of entertaining characters, many of whom reside in Stars Hollow. These are the people we wished were our next-door neighbors, fellow townspeople, and best friends. We root for these people when they face a challenge. We cry with them when they go through difficult times. There are also a few characters on Gilmore Girls we wish we could forget; those characters that did not make much of an impact on the series, or in some cases, made too much of an impact on the show, at least in a negative way.
For example, consider April Nardini, one of the most controversial characters to ever exist on Gilmore Girls. Many fans wish they could forget her. Many have managed to forget Luke’s daughter. However, there are other characters that Gilmore Girls seems to be equally ashamed about.
Here are 20 Characters Gilmore Girls Wants Everyone To Forget.
Alex Lesman
Lorelai had her share of boyfriends on Gilmore Girls, and many of them seemed pretty pointless. One that viewers tend to forget (and the series seems to want us to forget) is Alex Lesman. Sure, at first, he seemed perfect for Lorelai: he wanted to own a coffee shop, and she loves coffee.
He also enjoyed fishing, something Lorelai had limited experience with. Before their first date, Lorelai decided to try to learn as much about fishing as she could, for a guy she hardly knew. Eventually, he did learn that Lorelai hated fishing and made up for it, but it was evident from the get-go that the two were not a good match.
Tristan Dugray
It’s almost as if Gilmore Girls just wanted an excuse to put the handsome Chad Michael Murray on the show. His character was pretty pointless, and the series never mentioned him again after his departure.
If you don’t remember Tristan Dugray, that’s understandable. In season one, Tristan was one of Rory’s classmates at Chilton and also the first boy who became a problem for Rory’s relationship with Dean. He ended up becoming a plot device; the thing that made Rory realize that she loved Dean after all. In the end, Tristan ended up getting sent off to military school and was never seen or heard from again.
Francie Jarvis
Believe it or not, there was a girl at Chilton who was a lot meaner than Paris. That girl was Francie Jarvis, who seemed to want to become the meanest girl ever to grace the halls of the private school that Rory attended.
The character was mostly created just to create a foil for Paris’ plans for the student council. Francie did everything she could to undermine Paris’ authority with the student council and spent most of her time just being cruel to everyone. Francie was also the leader of The Puffs, a small criminally-minded group of girls at Chilton, who spent a lot of time bullying Rory. Francie was “the” mean girl of Chilton and is best forgotten.
Headmaster Charleston
Whatever happened to Chilton headmaster Hanlin Charleston? Does anyone actually ever wonder about this awful man? The truth is probably not, mostly because he never was that memorable of a character. He was a stereotype of a headmaster: stern and always at odds with Rory and Lorelai.
When Rory missed an exam by 15 minutes, he refused to let her take it, although she had been an exemplary student otherwise. The man was just harsh, and that’s the only purpose he served on the series. His attitude didn’t make Rory a better student because she was already a great student, and he was just on the show to provide some conflict that it didn’t need.
Peyton Sanders
Gilmore Girls fans who are wondering who the heck Peyton Sanders is are not alone. No one really remembers this character. However, they might remember that the actor that portrayed him, Jon Hamm, appeared on the series. It’s likely that most fans don’t remember the character’s name, though.
Peyton was a mama’s boy and wine-lover who briefly dated Lorelai. Basically, his existence was just a reminder that Lorelai did not belong with any other man than Luke (which was what most of her boyfriends on the show were). Once Peyton was out of the picture, he never got mentioned again, and that is probably for the best. What’s forgotten is best left that way.
Anna Nardini
Gilmore Girls loved to play the whole “will they or won’t they” game with Luke and Lorelai. Just as the two got together, the series’ writers decided to throw a massive wrench in the whole works. Sometimes that succeeds, but in the case of Anna Nardini, it only made fans more frustrated.
Anna showed up out of the blue with her daughter, just to tell Luke that he is the father. If that wasn’t a “jump the shark” moment, nothing on Gilmore Girls ever was. She was also incredibly mean to Luke, for no good reason other than her own bad judgment. The good news is that the show seemed to want to forget her later on, and that was fine by fans.
Henry Cho
Fans should probably feel a little sorry for Henry Cho, but they can’t feel sorry for a character they don’t remember.
Henry never really fit into the show, but somehow, he ended up as a love interest for Lane. He started to like Lane because she was Korean, like him. This might have made Lane’s mother very happy. In the end, he decided he didn’t like her because of her Korean mother. What kind of sense does that even make? At that time, though, we knew that there was someone better out there for Lane and that she deserved more than Henry Cho.
Asher Fleming
One of the creepiest and most inappropriate storylines of Gilmore Girls revolved around Paris having a romantic affair with her much older professor, Asher Fleming. Paris was only a freshman at the time, and although she was of legal age, the whole relationship was just completely wrong and made may viewers feel understandably uncomfortable.
Although the series showed that the two probably were really in love, it still felt like a much older man taking advantage of a naive college girl. Eventually, Asher perished of a heart attack, and since then, the series seems to have forgotten him, which was for the best. Paris moved on and that was that.
Robert “Grimaldi”
Does anyone remember Robert? He was a student at Yale with Rory and one of the members of the Life and Death Brigade. It is at a brigade event that Rory met him.
At the time, he gives her a fake last name, “Grimaldi.” He was such an unimportant character that the series never gave him a real last name. He appeared in many episodes, though, and even manages to score a date with Rory, although she agrees to it just to make Logan jealous. He apparently went on to graduate from Yale, although he never got mentioned much after that. He was gone and forgotten.
Pennilyn Lott
Some characters are so forgettable that they only appear in a single scene in the series, although they may get a mention later. Such is the case with Pennilyn Lott.
Pennilyn was actually Richard’s fiance before he met Emily. The two seemingly reunited at a Yale game, but Emily later learned that Richard had secretly been meeting Pennilyn for lunch once every year without telling his wife about it. This drove a wedge between Emily and Richard and even resulted in Richard moving out of the house. Pennilyn’s sole purpose on the show was to create a conflict that was hard for viewers to watch, because if any two people deserved each other, it was Richard and Emily.
Nicole Leahy
The writers of Gilmore Girls spent a lot of time throwing conflict at Luke and Lorelai’s relationship, doing everything they could to keep the couple apart, though fans knew they belonged together. In season 3, the series introduced Nicole Leahy, a woman that Luke met through Taylor.
Nicole and Luke not only dated for a short time, but also ended up going on a cruise where they got married. That made absolutely zero sense with what we knew of Luke. Nicole ended up betraying Luke, so the two ended up getting a divorce, making Nicole one of the most pointless characters to ever step foot in Stars Hollow. She faded into oblivion after that, never getting a mention again.
Janet Billings
Remember Janet Billings? The answer is probably no, and that’s because she was a character who only appeared briefly on the series. However, she was actually more important than any of the background characters because she was a suitemate to Rory and Paris during their first year at Yale. For those fans still drawing a blank, remember the roommate who made Paris mad because she got up super early every morning to go jogging?
She and Paris spent a lot of time fighting with each other, especially when Janet’s boyfriend starts staying over more often. After that first year at Yale, though, Janet disappeared into the ether of forgotten Gilmore Girls characters. That is probably for the best.
Max Medina
Most Gilmore Girls fans don’t want to think that there were ever any other men in Lorelai’s life other than Luke. It was evident from the first episode that Luke and Lorelai belonged together and everyone else they were involved with are best left forgotten. Take Max Medina, for example.
Max was one of Rory’s teachers at Chilton, but that didn’t stop Lorelai and him from dating. Not only that, but the two ended up getting engaged pretty quickly, much to the chagrin of fans. Of course, Lorelai doesn’t love him, so she calls it off, which makes things really awkward for Rory at school. Fortunately, Max faded into the background, and Lorela and Luke eventually ended up together.
April Nardini
One of the most controversial characters to ever grace the streets of Stars Hollow was April Nardini, Luke’s surprise teen daughter. Of course, this stresses out the relationship between Luke and Lorelai, which made fans really angry. After all that “will they or won’t they,” it was just frustrating to see the writers still trying to drive a wedge between the couple.
What made it worse is that April never developed much of a personality either: she was never a very likable character. Her presence cause Luke and Lorelai to break up, too, which was utterly unforgivable. Although April turned up in A Year In The Life, fans still like to pretend that she doesn’t exist.
Mitchum Huntzberger
Although Rory and Logan were a major couple on the series, Logan’s father, Mitchum Huntzberger, was never a fan-favorite character. In fact, most fans loathed him, which is understandable, because the man was, more or less, a complete jerk. He is a big name in the newspaper industry who was mean enough to tell Rory that she didn’t have what it takes to become a journalist, which is her lifelong dream. This crushed Rory, and she almost gave up the thing she always wanted more than anything else in the world.
Eventually,he took it back, but by then, fans already hated him for breaking Rory’s heart early on. Fortunately, he didn’t make much of an impact on her life.
Gigi
Remember Gigi? If the name sounds familiar, that’s because she was the daughter of Christopher and Sherry. Something good came out of that storyline, though: Sherry’s pregnancy with Gigi caused Lorelai and Christopher to break up, because as previously stated, Lorelai belonged with Luke.
When Gigi was two years old, Sherry ran off and left Christopher with the child. Lorelai agreed to help out, and eventually, that brought her and Christopher back together. Lorelai married Christopher, and as fans know, this was not how things were meant to be. Fortunately, the two eventually divorced so that Luke and Lorelai could get back together. Gigi was yet another child character only intended to create conflict.
Terrance
Another character who seems wholly forgotten is Terrance, but that’s probably because he rarely appeared in any episodes of Gilmore Girls. Instead, Terrance was often just a voice on the phone who spoke into Paris’ ear: he was Paris’ life coach, someone she began talking to during the summer before she started going to Yale.
Terrance had a way of calming Paris down when she was in a panic, although his methods were quite strange. He was mostly just someone who wanted to control Paris. He got in the way of her relationship with Doyle, as well as her friendships. Terrance was not on the up and up, but eventually, his character disappeared.
Lindsay Lister
In the end, most fans ended up feeling bad for Lindsay Lister, although they initially hated her. After Rory and Dean broke up, Lindsay dated Dean, and the two decided to get married. It was always obvious that they didn’t really know what they were doing and it eventually became apparent that Dean was never happy with the relationship. Meanwhile, Rory decided that she wanted to reignite her relationship with Dean and started seeing him behind his wife’s back.
It was Lindsay who made us think that maybe Rory wasn’t such a good person after all. Dean and Lindsay did get a divorce over his betrayal, but we never saw Rory the same way again. After that, though, Lindsay was gone from Stars Hollow for good, and no one seems to remember that she ever existed.
Kyon
Some characters on Gilmore Girls were so unimportant that they never even got last names. This is the case with Kyon, who most fans probably don’t remember. However, Kyon was the Korean foreign exchange student who moved in with Lane’s mother after Lane moved out and became estranged from her mother. Kyon is dutiful and loyal to Mrs. Kim at first, but then she eventually befriends Lane and learns to become a little more rebellious.
Here is a fun fact, too: Kyon is a fan of Avril Lavigne– and that is literally all fans really know about her. Kyon faded into obscurity and was forgotten by the time season 7 of Gilmore Girls rolled around.
Brennon “Froggy” Lewis
During season 4 of Gilmore Girls, Luke hired someone to help him out at the diner. This was Brennon Lewis, otherwise known as “Froggy.” Froggy was probably one of the world’s worst waiters to ever exist, and he always made mistakes with orders. He was very laid back and forgetful, to the point that he didn’t remember Rory, although the two actually went to grade school together.
Luke’s customers constantly complained about Froggy, but Luke insisted that he wanted to give the boy a chance to become better. Right after he defended Froggy, though, he saw the boy goofing off, and that was the last time anyone saw Froggy. Luke fired him, and, apparently, banned him ever stepping foot into Stars Hollow again.
What other Gilmore Girlscharacters are best forgotten? Let us know in the comments!
