UPDATE
: Though it was originally reported that Melissa McCarthy would be unable to join the Gilmore Girls reboot, the actress revealed Thursday night that she will return to Stars Hollow as Sookie. McCarthy broke the news on Ellen.
"Literally, about an hour and a half ago, we figured out that I'm going to go and do it, and I'm so excited," McCarthy said in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres. "[Series creator] Amy Sherman-Palladino is gonna squeeze me in to do it."
Indeed, Sherman-Palladino had told EW about the many scheduling issues she faced when trying to get McCarthy to reprise her role. Though tweets from McCarthy had suggested bad blood behind the GG scenes, Sherman-Palladino said there was "nothing malicious going on."
Actually, Sherman-Palladino explained, she hadn't mapped out a big role for McCarthy in the reboot, because she assumed the star would be too busy to spend weeks on set.
“We’d say [to Netflix], ‘Look, we know you didn’t hear a Melissa McCarthy arc in here because we are not naïve enough to think we’re going to be able to grab her for 60 days of shooting... I’ve been told by her people for months, 'Can’t happen. Can’t happen. Can’t happen.’"
But, she offered up a last-ditch offer for McCarthy to make her return.
"We’ve just put it out in the universe: We’re here until May 10," she said. "I know what the scene is. I’ll pre-light it for her. She can drive up, run in, shoot it, and run out. I can get her in and out in two hours."
Success!
