Gilmore Girls actress Keiko Agena explains why she wasn't close to Alexis Bledel in real life

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Tyler Aquilina
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Tyler Aquilina
Tyler Aquilina is a former digital writer at Entertainment Weekly. He left EW in 2022.
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Published on July 1, 2021 04:13PM EDT

They may have been BFFs on screen, but life doesn't always imitate art.

Gilmore Girls star Keiko Agena, who played Rory Gilmore's best friend Lane Kim on the beloved series, reflected on her real-life dynamic with Rory actress Alexis Bledel in a new podcast interview. Speaking to her Gilmore Girls costar Scott Patterson on his podcast I Am All In, Agena admitted that she didn't make "as much of an effort as [she] should've" to be friends with Bledel off-set.

"I wish we had more of a friendship," Agena said. "That was probably a lot to do with me not making as much of an effort as I should've."

She added of Bledel and Lauren Graham, who played Lorelai Gilmore, "They worked so many hours that their off-set time, I thought, was so precious to them, and I didn't want to insert myself into that time of their lives."

GILMORE GIRLS
Keiko Agena and Alexis Bledel on 'Gilmore Girls'. Everett Collection

Still, some real-life chemistry did work its way into Lane and Rory's relationship on screen. "Alexis is such a wonderful person, and I do think that as soon as I met her as a person, you just recognize that she's an intelligent, special individual," Agena said. "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."

She continued, "So maybe some of that was something that is just instinctual, 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."

Patterson's podcast features interviews with Gilmore Girls cast members interspersed with his recaps of the show as he watches it for the first time. "I don't like watching myself," the actor previously told EW. "It's not a good experience for me. [But] enough time has gone by where I can just really appreciate it as a fan. I'm really enjoying it."

Gilmore Girls, which EW recently ranked as one of the top 10 teen shows of all time, is currently streaming on Netflix.

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