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Yanic Truesdale is proud to be part of the Gilmore Girls legacy.
On the second episode of NPR and PBS member station Connecticut Public’s podcast series, Generation Gilmore Girls, hosted by Connecticut native and audio journalist Chloe Wynne, the host chatted with Yanic Truesdale about the continued community around the show.
Truesdale, 55, poured himself into his role as snarky concierge Michel Gerard, but not without the help of showrunner Amy Sherman-Palladino.
Recalling how he refined Michel’s accent, he shared, “It was a compromised accent because the accent that I wanted to do was even more Parisian, where the French, they don’t know how to do the ‘Th’s.”
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He continued, “But Amy thought it was very hard to understand, so I kind of pulled back, and I would say the first couple of years, I literally would say she was always like, ‘Oh, honey, I can’t understand you.’ It was always a thing, which was a bit challenging for me.”
Truesdale pushed through and was rewarded with a beautiful fan outpouring of love for Michel, one that continues to this day.
“I think it’s every actor’s dream to have at least a character, a film, a movie, a series, a play that defines them that people remember decades later, like a moment in time where you can… I always think like, when I’ll die, on the news, they’ll say, ‘Yanic Truesdale, who played Michel in Gilmore Girls,’ ” he shared.
Truesdale called the show’s popularity “a beautiful thing and I’m very appreciative of it.”
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Of the fans, he continued, “I can’t tell you, it’s thousands of people by now told me like, ‘When I went through this,’ or, ‘I had cancer,’ or, ‘I had lost my mom or had a breakup,’ or ‘I lost my job,’ or, ‘I had a depression,’ or this or that. ‘And your show helped me.’ And that is to me, wow, really, really meaningful that the show can do that for people.”
Truesdale loves how loyal the Gilmore Girls fandom has stayed, and how it’s even grown over time. The actor believes the community aspect, felt in every corner of Stars Hollow, is to credit for the longevity.
“I think we have lost the sense of community. I took the train the other day, which is something I rarely do in the subway, and I was wondering how it’s going to be just as far as people recognizing me, if it was going to be too much. And then I realized that no one looks at each other anymore, everyone looks at their phone,” he said.
“The show is very much about a community and a sense of community and helping each other and all that, and I think people are lacking that and perhaps they’re yearning for it.”
Of the podcast conversation, Wynne told PEOPLE exclusively how everyone she’s spoken with for the series has had thoughts similar to Truesdale’s, “Hosting this podcast showed me just how deeply Gilmore Girls has woven itself into people’s lives. Fans told our team they turned to the show in moments of upheaval, not just for comfort, but for a sense of safety and belonging – something that feels especially important right now.”
She continued, “Talking to the actors I’ve only seen on my TV screen was amazing! They’re thoughtful, grounded people who had no idea, 25 years ago, that this little show would spark such longevity. Hosting this project has been a joy and a reminder of the quiet power storytelling has to shape us!”
The first two episodes of Generation Gilmore Girls are now available, with the final installments to be released on December 9 and 16. Follow Generation Gilmore Girls on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find podcasts.
