On the small screen, they were BFFs Rory and Lane, but when the director yelled cut—were they friends?
During an appearance on Scott Patterson's I Am All In podcast, Keiko Agena, who famously starred alongside Patterson on Gilmore Girls as Lane Kim, reflected on her dynamic with TV gal pal Alexis Bledel when the cameras were off.
"I wish we had more of a friendship," she said, answering a fan question about whether they had a great friendship outside of the show. "That was probably a lot to do with me not making as much of an effort as I should have."
But before you jump to conclusions, Agena had a very practical explanation. "I also think I was so—not worried is the wrong word—but they worked so many hours that their off-set time I thought was so precious to them," Agena explained, "and I didn't want to insert myself into that time of their lives."
As for their chemistry on the show, Agena offered some context for how their relationship in real life informed the one between their beloved characters. "Alexis is such a wonderful person," she told Patterson, "and I do think that as soon as I met her as a person, you just recognize that she's an intelligent, special individual and I think that there's part of me that felt protective of her right away as a fellow actor and someone that recognizes how unique of a person that she is."
"So maybe some of that was something that is just instinctual," she continued, "and I think that probably shows in how our characters related to each other, that we like and respect each other right off the bat."
If Agena's words are giving you a splash of nostalgia, Gilmore Girls is streaming now on Netflix.