Gilmore Girls: Melissa McCarthy's Sookie Would Be Living The High Life Nowadays
If you're a "Gilmore Girls" fan, you probably like to wonder where your favorite characters would be now. Maybe Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) is running a whole chain of homey inns; maybe her mom Emily (Kelly Bishop) is terrorizing servers and store assistants in Europe. Rory (Alexis Bledel) must have had that baby by now, considering she ends the much-maligned revival, "A Year in the Life," by revealing that she's pregnant. So what about Melissa McCarthy's Sookie St. James? McCarthy has some ideas.
"She still cooks, but I think she does edibles," McCarthy told Entertainment Weekly during their "3 Rounds" video series in June of 2023. "I think they run a very nice little mom-and-pop business with their 13 kids and she makes delicious edibles." The "they" here, of course, refers to Sookie's on-screen husband Jackson Belleville (Jackson Douglas), who grows vegetables — so it definitely does make some sense that the two would turn to a new, trendy form of baked goods and other ingestibles. So what was Sookie's deal in the original series and revival — and beyond that, what's McCarthy up to these days?
Sookie St. James is one of the best supporting characters on Gilmore Girls
There's no question that McCarthy's Sookie is one of the funniest and most beloved supporting characters found within the sleepy, quaint small town of Stars Hollow. As Lorelai's best friend and one of the best chefs in all of New England, Sookie starts out working with Lorelei at the Independence Inn as the establishment's head chef, impressing everybody with her attention to detail and laboriously created dishes. Ultimately, Lorelai and Sookie buy their own inn, the Dragonfly Inn, and have complete freedom over their business — and along the way, Sookie marries Jackson... although it seems like McCarthy may have forgotten, in saying they'd have 13 kids, that they only have two. Sookie isn't the main character, to be sure, but she's a constant source of support for both Lorelai and Rory throughout the entire show.
In the revival, "A Year in the Life," it was clearly a lot harder to pin McCarthy down for an appearance, as she'd skyrocketed to fame by then (but more on that in a minute). Lorelai keeps trying to fill the void Sookie leaves behind while she's traveling the world and learning from the best chefs, hiring personalities like Roy Choi and Rachael Ray (who both play themselves), but eventually, Sookie returns to reunite with Lorelai, and the revival finally feels right.
What is Melissa McCarthy doing today?
Realistically, what isn't Melissa McCarthy doing these days? After "Gilmore Girls," she worked steadily and joined other network shows like "Mike & Molly" — for which she won an Emmy — before getting her big-screen break in 2011's "Bridesmaids." As Megan, the foul-mouthed sister of the groom who ends up in Lillian's (Maya Rudolph) wedding alongside Lillian's childhood best friend Kristen Wiig, McCarthy steals the show... which is saying something considering the movie also features Rose Byrne, Wendi McLendon-Covey, and Ellie Kemper as the rest of the bridal party. McCarthy ultimately scored an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actress, incredibly, and she'd go on to earn a second Oscar nod for a much more serious role years later in "Can You Ever Forgive Me?"
Beyond her Oscar nominations, McCarthy has teamed up with writer-director Paul Feig for projects like "The Heat" and "Spy" — Feig also directed "Bridesmaids" — and worked with her husband, Ben Falcone, on a number of films that he wrote and directed. Most recently, McCarthy appeared as Ursula in the live-action remake of "The Little Mermaid," and she'll show up next in Jerry Seinfeld's comedy "Unfrosted: The Pop Tart Story."
"Gilmore Girls" and "A Year in the Life" are both available to stream on Netflix now.