'Gilmore Girls' Revival Theories About The Father That Explore All The Options

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life ended with a cliffhanger that left some fans pretty frustrated: moments before the screen cut to black, Rory revealed that she was pregnant. Though it was a moment of the show coming full circle, it still left a lot of questions unanswered. Is Rory happy about her pregnancy? What does she plan to do about it? And who is the father? Rory only had a few romantic entanglements over the course of the four new episodes, so there are a few options. These Gilmore Girls revival theories about the father explore them all.

The answer can feel fairly obvious but that doesn't mean the easiest explanation is also the correct one. Rory had both a boyfriend and a sidepiece in the revival, but she also had a one night stand, a bestie with a fertility and surrogacy practice, and an old flame gazing at her longingly through windows. Plus there's no telling what Rory got up to off-camera; the show may be saving an unexpected reveal for the day it returns, if it ever does return. But until then, all we have are theories. According to series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino, "I think there are strong indicators [about who the father is]. But you shouldn't rule out anybody." Which brings me to our first candidate...

Logan

Logan is both the most obvious and the most realistic choice. Not only is he the person Rory was sleeping with most regularly, but his relationship with Rory has a narrative parallel in the story to Christopher and Lorelai. If Sherman-Palladino is interested in history repeating itself, then it would make sense for Logan to be the father of Rory's baby. Then again, there's always....

Paul

Considering Rory couldn't even remember when Paul was in the same building as her, I sincerely doubt they were spending very much time together over the course of the year — especially since Rory was always on the precipice of breaking up with him, if only she could remember to do it. But let's not forget about the...

Wookiee

If Rory's one night stand with a wookiee resulted in a baby that would be kind of hilarious, but it would also keep the focus of the story where it belongs: on Rory, and how Rory feels about her pregnancy. It wouldn't be about whichever guy knocked her up, which isn't the point anyway. The downside to this theory is that Rory slept with him in "Spring" and announced her pregnancy in "Fall," which would leave her much farther along than she seemed to be. Still, that sweater she was wearing was pretty baggy. You never know! However, this could also have something to do with...

Surrogacy

Rory made a joke about being a surrogate for Paris during one of her more uncertain moments, but what if she followed through with it? It would certainly net her enough cash to float a few months of book writing, and there were a few couples looking to have a baby over the course of the season: Luke and Lorelai as well as Michel and Frederick. Or Rory could just be in it for the dollars and not so much doing a favor for someone. It's unlikely, but always possible. And that brings me to...

Jess

The least likely, if only because Jess spent so little time in Rory's orbit during the revival. If they did hook up, it was so secret that they didn't tell a single soul and even the viewers had no idea that it happened. There was also something a little too casual about the way Rory happily hopped up to Jess in "Fall" to update him about her book; it didn't have the wistful poignancy many of her final scenes with Logan had, which didn't make it seem like Rory was hiding the fact that she was pregnant with his baby from him. Still, if Rory was looking for a father figure for her kid she could do worse. Jess is successfully raising triplets over on This Is Us, so he's got the dad thing down.

Ultimately, does it really matter who the biological father of Rory's baby is? As Sherman-Palladino said to TV Line, "It's not about the boy. It's about her." At the end of the day, it's really about how Rory handles this unexpected situation she's found herself in — it's not about the person who helped her get into it.