The actor would totally get it because he’s a big fan of Jared Padalecki, too.

Gilmore Girls star Milo Ventimiglia explains why he has no problem if his daughter is Team Dean

The actor would totally get it because he's a big fan of Jared Padalecki, too.

By Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2022. Her work has previously appeared on MTV News, Teen Vogue, and *NME*.

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February 23, 2026 11:20 a.m. ET

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Milo Ventimiglia attends the "I Can Only Imagine 2" Nashville Premiere, GILMORE GIRLS Jared Padalecki as Dean, Alexis Bledel as Rory Gilmore. Credit:

Jason Kempin/Getty; The WB/ Greg Schwartz

*Gilmore Girls *star Milo Ventimiglia wouldn’t be offended if his daughter watched the show and thought that Rory (Alexis Bledel) may have been better off with someone else.

The actor, who starred as Rory’s love interest Jess, explained to PEOPLE that he’d be okay if his 1-year-old daughter Ke'ala grows up to be a Dean (Jared Padalecki) and Rory shipper.**

"I'd be way okay if my daughter eventually watched the show and she was Team Dean,” Ventimiglia told the outlet. “I get it because I'm Team Jared, so I get it."

Bledel and Padalecki on 'Gilmore Girls'.

Ron Batzdorff/WB

To this day, *Gilmore Girls *fans are still locked in a contentious debate over who Rory should’ve ended up with on the series. Dean was her first boyfriend, but the pair ended on rocky terms when he publicly broke up with her at a school event by telling her and Jess that their feelings for one another were very obvious.

Rory would then go on to date Jess, but the pair had their own struggles — none greater than when he left Stars Hollow just before graduation in season 3. The pair had a few reconciliation attempts, but could never quite make their complicated romance stick.

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And one also can't forget Logan (Matt Czuchry), who Rory began dating when studying at Yale in season 5! While she eventually turned him down when he proposed at the end of season 7, the pair did reunite in the show's 2016 revival *Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life*.

Speaking with PEOPLE, Ventimiglia had nothing but positive things to say about his onscreen rivals and the legacy of* Gilmore Girls*. **

"I know that Logan and Jess and Dean were kind of very spread apart in who they were as characters, but Matt Czuchry and Jared Padalecki couldn't be … I mean, they're the best guys," he said. "They couldn't be any lovelier as human beings.”

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Ventimiglia continued, “And I think it's nice that more than 20-plus years later we all still can talk about this show we were growing up on and come together as grown men just to recognize that and still have loving words for one another."**

Ventimiglia’s confession comes less than a year after Padalecki revealed that he was actually Team Jess while sitting down with Czuchry for PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive 2025.

Ventimiglia and Bledel on 'Gilmore Girls'. Warner Bros./Everett

"I'm Team Jess, funny enough," he said at the time. "Just knowing the show and having some idea of where Rory was in her life. They all were flawed, let's be clear. Well, I'll say Dean was flawed. They all had their issues, but today I'm team Jess."

Czuchry noted that his pick for who was Rory’s best match has changed over the years.

“I think right now, because we had that part on Netflix that went back, and we had that whole aspect too, which was great, it was so much fun — but I think if he changes his life, then I could see Logan coming back and being with Rory,” he said. “He would be in a completely different place in his life.”

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