'Gilmore Girls' Star Makes Rare Red Carpet Return for First New Film Since 2019

On June 6, Gilmore Girls alum Alexis Bledel made a rare public appearance, attending the Tribeca Film Festival to promote her first film in seven years, Ponderosa.

The former Rory Gilmore looked radiant in a yellow satin top with a collar cutout and a knee-length black skirt. She carried a small black sparkling clutch and wore her brown hair in loose waves. She wore black peep-toe heels to set off the look.

Inside Alexis Bledel's Genre-Defying New Film

Ponderosa refuses to fit neatly into a specific genre, instead being listed as a mix of comedy, drama, horror, mystery, and other categories. Bledel, 44, plays Sandra, who works at a buffet restaurant and is mom to Zeke (Jack Dylan Grazer). "When the buffet where Zeke's mom works closes down, he's forced to entertain the wild advances of a rich regular who is weirdly and vehemently obsessed with becoming his father," the film's synopsis reads.

Tracing the Star's Recent Surprise Onscreen Appearances

While Bledel stays out of the spotlight, she did appear onscreen twice in 2025. Gilmore Girls fans were ecstatic when she and onscreen mom Lauren Graham reunited at the 2025 Emmy Awards. Everyone's favorite highly caffeinated, fast-talking mother-daughter duo took the opportunity to poke fun at the show.

"25 years ago, Gilmore Girls premiered, and took the season of fall hostage," Graham told the audience. "In spite of our autumnal dominance, Gilmore [Girls] was actually a pretty small show," Bledel said. "Meaning we had no money," Graham quipped.

They continued joking, with Bledel claiming they were "bullied and starving," but at least they had "great scripts."

She also appeared in the season finale of The Handmaid's Tale after leaving in Season 4. Her abrupt departure coincided with her divorce, but many were still surprised by her absence.

"[Bledel] made that decision completely on her own; it was a complicated time and she let me know," Showrunner Bruce Miller told The Hollywood Reporter at the time. "What I tried to do was deal with it in the way we were all feeling at that point. Like, ‘Oh my gosh.' So I think that, in some ways, the real emotions wag the dog."

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This story was originally published June 8, 2026 at 7:14 PM.