Gilmore Girls: The Male Characters, Ranked By Their Romantic Partner Potential

Although Gilmore Girls unsurprisingly focused more on its female characters, a lot of the guys who populated Stars Hollow and its environs brought a lot to the series, and to the relationships and dynamics within the show.

Like most characters on Gilmore Girls, the boys were heavy on the quirks, and they brought a lot of personality to the show itself. Not all of them became love interests or had significant romantic relationships throughout their journey, but that doesn’t mean that they didn’t have romantic potential either. So, which of the Gilmore Girls lads had the least or most romantic potential?

10 Logan Huntzberger

At the start of his relationship with Rory, it seemed like Logan Huntzberger had a lot of growing up to do. And by the time that Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life rolled around, it looked like he had done absolutely none of it.

That’s not to say that Logan can’t mature or change now, but given that he’s like 30 years old, it seems like he’s not much of a keeper.

9 Christopher Hayden

In Rory’s little black book of former flames, Logan was clearly meant to be her version of Christopher, and Christopher seems similarly ill-equipped to be a decent partner.

Yes, he managed to pull things together for Gigi, and he was a halfway decent boyfriend to Lorelai after years of failing to be there for her, but as soon as he and Lorelai got married, he seemed to revert to the worst version of himself.

8 Dean Forester

It’s strange, because while Dean was the ideal first boyfriend for Rory, he really revealed some darker sides to himself as he got older.

His inability to get over Rory hamstrung his marriage to Lindsay, and while he hopefully grew up in the interim between his breakup with Rory and his brief appearance in A Year In The Life, the very fact that he cheated on his wife makes him poor partner material.

7 Kirk Gleason

Stars Hollow is a town full of weirdos, and Kirk Gleason might just be the weirdest of them all. He seems to be terminally under-employed and still lives with his mother, but if anyone out there could overlook his endless litany of eccentricities, he’d probably be a good boyfriend or husband.

He clearly loved Lulu and treated her relatively well, so he’s boyfriend material for a certain, super-specific demographic.

6 Taylor Doose

Taylor Doose never seemed to have any love interests or express any interest in finding one, and it seems unlikely that he could ever meet anyone who would fulfill his ever-exacting standards.

And although he is insufferable to most, there are certainly some appealing aspects to Taylor too. After all, he’s successful, motivated, ambitious, and has a lot of different interests, so for the right person, he might be Mr. Perfect.

5 Michel Gerard

The only person who might have higher standards than Taylor is Michel Gerard, however, he probably would offer a lot to the right person as well.

Michel only has those high standards because he holds himself to high standards, and although he isn’t always the kindest to Lorelai or Sookie, he is a true ride-or-die friend for them both. His loyalty is worth the price of his prickly nature.

4 Zack Van Gerbig

Zack really comes off as a slacker goofball, but his relationship with Lane really brought out the best in him.

He’s one of the best boyfriends in the series, and he’s the kind of guy who easily doubles as a combination best friend-boyfriend. He isn’t just supportive of Lane’s dreams, he wants to dream them right along with her, and he pretty consistently put Lane’s wants and needs before his own.

3 Jess Mariano

In retrospect, it’s shocking how good of a catch Jess wound up being. He was a terrible teenage boyfriend to Rory, but he really pulled himself together in the end.

It’s ironic, because while Rory was always the girl who knew who she wanted to be when she was young, Jess wound up being the one to push her in the right direction when she had lost her way, first when she dropped out of Yale and then in A Year In The Life when she had no idea what to do with herself.

2 Luke Danes

It’s astonishing that it took so long for Lorelai to realize that Luke was the one for her, as he’s easily one of the best guys on Gilmore Girls and there aren’t a lot of downsides to dating him.

Yes, the way he handled the April situation was horrible, but overall he was incredibly kind, reliable, supportive, and loving, both to Lorelai and to Rory. And best of all, when he falls in love with someone, he’s with them through everything to the end.

1 Richard Gilmore

In the world of Gilmore Girls, it seems fitting that the man with the most romantic potential is the lone Gilmore man himself, Richard. Richard wasn’t a perfect husband, but he got pretty dang close to it.

Not only was he loyal and loving to Emily through and through, but he was also accomplished, gentlemanly, intelligent, and surprisingly funny. It’s not shocking that his breakup with Emily didn’t last, and he was a huge loss to the Gilmore world.