Gilmore Girls: Scott Patterson talks April's season 6 arrival

During Gilmore Girls‘ original seven-year run, Luke Danes was a business owner, a love interest, a father figure, an uncle, a brother, and in season 6, a biological father. For hardcore Gilmore fans, the arrival of April, Luke’s out-of-the-blue 12-year-old daughter, was a highly controversial story. Many fans didn’t immediately love the character of April. More so, they didn’t love that her arrival further postponed the Luke-Lorelai wedding they’d been waiting years to see.

But for actor Scott Patterson, April’s arrival was an opportunity to see another side of Luke. As much as Jess brought out Luke’s parental instincts, the situation with April took things to another level. “I think he was more out of his depth with April,” Patterson tells EW. “He was back on his heels and more awkward with her. It made him far more vulnerable than we had seen him before. I think that was even more heartwarming on a certain level than how he dealt with Jess, because we’re dealing with this young girl who really needs her father.”

Patterson recognizes that fans had seen Luke be vulnerable with Rory, whom he saw as his kid, but the April situation was something else entirely. And when it comes to the fans’ dislike of April, Patterson is quick to point out all of the good things that came about as part of her arrival. “We got to see Luke completely out of control and just trying to figure it out as he went,” he says. “I know the fans really resisted the April character, that story line, but I feel it gave him dimension. It really humanized him, and it really made him much more confused and off-balance than we’d ever seen it. I really, really enjoyed it.”