Fret not, “Gilmore” fans. Sookie is back.
After months of speculation, Melissa McCarthy says she is joining the Netflix reboot of “Gilmore Girls,” reprising her beloved role as chef Sookie St. James, Lorelai Gilmore’s best pal.
“There has been something I’ve been asked about so, so many times, and it hasn’t worked out. They’re making four new movies of the ‘Gilmore Girls,’ which is a show that was near and dear to my heart for four years, and we could not get those schedules to work,” McCarthy announced Thursday on Ellen DeGeneres’ show.
“Literally about an hour and a half ago, we figured out that I’m going to go back and do it, and I am so excited!” McCarthy said. “They’re gonna be amazing.”
The news is a coup for the Netflix project and a turnabout for McCarthy, the red-hot actress who had tweeted in February that she wasn’t asked to return to the reborn series.
The original “Gilmore Girls” told the story of single mom Lorelai (Lauren Graham), who ran away from her rich and controlling parents and made a new life for herself and her teen daughter, Rory (Alexis Bledel), in the fictional town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut. It ran for seven seasons and 153 episodes on The WB and CW networks before ending in 2007.
A “Gilmore” revival without McCarthy, now the cast’s biggest star, would have felt incomplete.
The actress, 45, has been on a roll since her Oscar-nominated, career-redefining role in 2011’s “Bridesmaids.” She won an Emmy for her own now-canceled sitcom, “Mike and Molly,” headlined hit comedies such as “The Heat” and “Spy,” and has won legions of fans for her brassy good humor.
She’s also having a moment. In the past week alone, McCarthy has upstaged Jimmy Fallon in a fierce lip sync battle and attended the premiere of her new movie, “The Boss,” which opens today.
And now comes the “Gilmore” news.
Netflix has not announced a release date for the reboot, which will be packaged as four 90-minute episodes (the series will be produced in association with Warner Bros. Television, which is owned by CNN’s parent company, Time Warner).
Revivals of cult-hit movies and TV shows are a growing trend for Netflix, which birthed a fourth season of “Arrested Development” in 2013 and a sequel to the 1990s ABC series “Full House” called “Fuller House.”
