Edward Herrmann, the actor who played Richard Gilmore — aka Rory's grandfather, Lorelai's dad, and Emily's husband — sadly passed away in 2014. When the series picks up, though we don't know yet how much time has passed since Richard's death, the characters will be dealing with their grief, and it will affect their lives deeply. When Lauren Graham talked about her love life in the reboot, Graham intimated that his death would inform her choices. ". . . In the wake of losing Ed — which was, and still is, a great loss for us personally — it was also part of our story that we were telling, which was the journey of how everyone is recovering. And that gave the show a depth and emotional complexity, which again to me felt like, 'Here's the show grown up even more.' And I mention that because it plays into all the choices the characters are making, and sort of what they're dealing with, in a new way. So through dealing with that, she makes some decisions."
