Alexis Bledel Finds Life After Gilmore Girls

At least even with Gilmore Girls ending, we don't have to wait too long to see Alexis Bledel again. She's playing Kate Peterson in her latest film I'm Reed Fish (which is in theaters now). She recently sat down with TV Guide magazine to talk about life after Gilmore Girls.

TVGuide.com: How do you feel about Logan (Matt Czuchry) and Rory's breakup and how the series ended in general?
Alexis Bledel: I guess it's not what people might have expected as far as their relationship goes, but it's something that happens to a lot of people when they graduate from school and go off to start their lives elsewhere. I think it's a make-or-break [time] for a lot of relationships. I felt pretty strongly that I wanted my character to finish up somewhere that we would have liked to see her finish when the whole story started, because she was so driven and academic and I wanted to return to that in some ways. She did get pretty caught up in [the] relationship — in her relationships with guys in general, not that that's a bad thing — but it seemed to end on a strong note. She made a choice that was very true to herself.

TVGuide.com: Did you feel the job she got was sudden?
Bledel: Well, they needed something. She needed to get some kind of job, and I like that she didn't get hired for something right away. I hope it's not too auspicious a job for her to get right off the bat, but I guess she did have somebody she knew who hooked her up. Hopefully that makes a little bit of sense. But yeah, they needed for her to go off into the world in some way or another. I like that it was for Barack Obama's campaign.

TVGuide.com: Do you think 13 more episodes could have resolved the story lines any better?
Bledel: It was an organic ending for Rory to graduate from college, because it all started with trying to get her into prep school and figuring out how to pay for it because she had so much potential. For it to end this way felt good to me, because I think we would have been trying to come up with things if we had done more [episodes].

TVGuide.com: And you would have entered this whole other post-college territory.
Bledel: Yeah, and the relationship between Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Luke (Scott Patterson) had been played out and needed [to be resolved] in some direction. Where it left off — kind of hopeful — I like that, too, because she has entertained all the possibilities with Rory's dad.

TVGuide.com: Yeah, it just lets fans fantasize.
Bledel: Right.

TVGuide.com: What will you miss most about playing Rory? The fast talking?
Bledel: [Laughs] No. I was certainly lucky to play a teenage character that was so academic and intelligent and unique from a lot of other characters on television, as far as teenagers go, but I'll be happy to play adults. If I don't get to play characters as unique as she is, then I'd miss that.

TVGuide.com: Is it important to you to break away from being known as Rory?
Bledel: I don't know how much it's possible to completely get away from it. I'm looking forward to playing different characters and seeing how far I can stretch, but I don't know that it's a good idea to do something just because it's different. I'm more concerned that the projects I'm involved with are strong material.

TVGuide.com: I watched I'm Reed Fish and it's really simple with this big message behind it. Why did you want to be in the film?
Bledel: It felt a little different from a lot of things I read, because it's a movie within a movie and I like the trick that happens in the middle that I don't really want to give away. The small town felt, in a way, like Stars Hollow; it's a very strong setting for a story to take place in. It's all-inclusive — it's a tiny little town and has all these unique characters.

TVGuide.com: And everybody knows everybody.
Bledel: And everybody knows everybody. That's why I liked it.

TVGuide.com: The movie-within-a-movie aspect surprised me, but it took on this whole new meaning, so it was a good twist.
Bledel: Oh, good. Yeah, that's what drew me to it.

TVGuide.com: Are you working on anything else?
Bledel: I'm hoping that a few independent projects come together, but nothing definite yet. I'm still reading stuff and seeing what else is going to come together.

Photo from TV Guide.