So, here we are. It’s 2026 and everyone is basically buzzing about Colleen Hoover again. But this time, it’s not just the BookTok crowd or the people who leave "CoHo" paperbacks on park benches. It’s because Lauren Graham is finally back on the big screen in a role that is about as far from Stars Hollow as you can possibly get.
The movie is called Reminders of Him, and honestly, if you're expecting Lorelai Gilmore to walk through the door with a Venti coffee and a sarcastic quip about Dean, you’re in for a massive shock.
The Reminders of Him Reality Check
Lauren Graham’s new movie is a heavy-hitter. It’s an adaptation of the 2022 novel by Colleen Hoover, and Universal Pictures basically went all-in on this one. Released on March 13, 2026, the film puts Graham in the shoes of a character named Grace Landry. Now, for the uninitiated, Grace isn't the fun mom. She isn't the "we're best friends first, mother-daughter second" type.
She’s a woman grieving the loss of her son, Scotty, and she is the primary obstacle standing between the protagonist, Kenna Rowan (played by Maika Monroe), and the daughter Kenna hasn't seen in years.
It’s complicated. It’s messy. It’s Wyoming-set drama that feels like a punch to the gut.
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People always assume Lauren Graham is just "The Gilmore Girl." They think she only does fast-talking, light-hearted dramedies where the biggest problem is a broken heater at the inn. But in Reminders of Him, she’s playing a custodial grandparent who is fiercely, almost violently, protective. She has to play a version of grief that is hardened. It's less "Oy with the poodles already" and more "I will never let you near this child."
Why the Casting is Throwing People for a Loop
Casting Bradley Whitford alongside her as the grandfather? Pure genius. Or pure torture, depending on how much you loved Parenthood. Seeing Sarah Braverman and Josh Lyman (okay, different shows, but you get the vibe) as a united front of grandparental gatekeeping is a lot to process.
The movie follows Kenna, an ex-con who returns to her hometown after five years in prison. She’s trying to reconnect with her four-year-old daughter, Diem. But Lauren Graham’s character, Grace, isn't having it.
- The Conflict: Grace blames Kenna for her son's death.
- The Stakes: A small child who doesn't know her mother exists.
- The Twist: A local bar owner named Ledger (Tyriq Withers) starts falling for Kenna, creating a massive rift in the local social fabric.
It’s a role that requires a lot of silence. If you’ve followed Graham’s career, you know her superpower is usually her mouth—how fast she can talk, how many pop culture references she can jam into ten seconds. Here, she has to act with her eyes. She has to show the wear and tear of five years of raising a grandchild while mourning a son.
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The Production Was a Whole Vibe
They filmed this thing in Calgary, Alberta, back in the spring and summer of 2025. If you look at the shots, the landscape is stunning but lonely. It perfectly mirrors the internal world of these characters.
Vanessa Caswill directed it, and she has this way of making everything feel intimate and slightly uncomfortable. It’s not a "glossy" Hollywood movie. It feels lived-in. The screenplay was actually co-written by Colleen Hoover herself along with Lauren Levine. That’s probably why the fans are saying it’s so faithful to the book, which—let’s be real—doesn’t always happen with these adaptations.
What This Means for Lauren Graham's "New" Era
Look, Lauren just got her Hollywood Walk of Fame star in late 2025. She’s 58 now. She’s in this interesting "pre-legend" phase of her career where she can kind of do whatever she wants.
She just finished The Z-Suite over on Tubi, which was a totally different, corporate-satire vibe. But Reminders of Him is the one that’s going to change how people see her. It’s the "Serious Actor" pivot. Not that she wasn't serious before, but when you’ve spent twenty years being the face of comfort television, you have to do something drastic to break the mold.
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Common Misconceptions About the Film
- "It’s a romance movie." Kinda. I mean, the Kenna and Ledger stuff is definitely romantic, but the heart of the movie is actually the relationship between the two mothers—the biological one and the one who stepped in.
- "Lauren Graham is the villain." This is the biggest thing people get wrong. In a standard movie, the person stopping the mom from seeing her kid is the "bad guy." But once you see Lauren's performance, you realize she's just a person who is terrified of losing another piece of her son. There are no easy villains here.
- "It's a Gilmore Girls sequel." Please, stop. I’ve seen the TikToks. Just because she’s in a movie about a mother and a daughter doesn't mean it's Stars Hollow 2.0.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Moviegoers
If you're planning on seeing this—or if you've already seen it and are trying to process that ending—here’s the move:
- Read the book first? Honestly, yes. The movie hits harder when you know the internal monologue of Kenna, but seeing Lauren Graham's face bring Grace to life adds a layer the book couldn't quite reach.
- Bring tissues. This isn't a "maybe I'll cry" movie. It's a "I need to sit in my car for twenty minutes afterward" movie.
- Watch for the flashbacks. Rudy Pankow plays Scotty in the flashback scenes, and the chemistry between him and Maika Monroe is what makes the present-day stakes feel so high.
The reality is that Reminders of Him is probably the most important thing Lauren Graham has done in a decade. It proves she doesn't need a fast-paced script to be the most interesting person in the room. She just needs a story that's as complicated as she is.
Keep an eye on the box office numbers, because if this performs the way It Ends With Us did back in the day, we’re going to be seeing a lot more Colleen Hoover adaptations—and hopefully, a lot more "Serious Lauren Graham" in the future.
Check your local theater listings for showtimes, but be warned: this one stays with you long after the credits roll.