Whatever Happened to Alexis Bledel and Vincent Kartheiser?

You might expect an answer with a headline question like that, but in this case, the question isn’t even rhetorical. I’m literally asking if anyone knows what happened to Alexis Bledel and Vincent Kartheiser. Earlier today, I watched the teaser trailer for the final season of The Handmaid’s Tale, which premieres May 27 on Hulu (but, in our shared reality, already launched on January 20), and thought, “What’s Alexis Bledel been up to since she quit The Handmaid’s Tale?”

The answer, at least in terms of her acting career, is nothing. Bledel hasn’t written, produced, directed, or appeared in anything since leaving The Handmaid’s Tale in 2020. Presumably, she’s living comfortably off Gilmore Girls residuals, raising the now 10-year-old child she had with her Mad Men co-star Vincent Kartheiser, and enjoying life… without Kartheiser.

Bledel and Kartheiser divorced in 2022, but were as private about their separation as they were about their marriage (they even kept their child’s 2015 birth a secret for months). Kartheiser — who expressed some… unconventional beliefs even back when he was on Mad Men — has also been off the Hollywood radar since his forced exit from Max’s Titans following a one-season stint in 2021. He was ousted after an investigation into on-set misconduct allegations—none of a sexual nature. Kartheiser was reportedly just an asshole prone to “juvenile outbursts” (claims he denied at the time).

For what it’s worth, Kartheiser does have a couple of projects in the works: a completed film called Unholy Communion and another, Go On, in post-production. Both appear to be of the straight-to-digital variety, as the most recognizable name in either is the actress who played Karen in the first three seasons of Shameless.

While Kartheiser hasn’t been seen on a red carpet since 2019, Bledel has made exactly one public appearance in the last five years. Last year, she attended the Elton John AIDS Foundation’s 32nd Annual Academy Awards Viewing Party.

Meanwhile, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 3 has been “in the works” for seven years now and seems increasingly unlikely to materialize. And if you want to feel old, the Gilmore Girls reunion season was nine years ago. Or, as our own Alexander Joenks points out, “We are further away from the Gilmore Girls reunion than the reunion was from the show ending.” As for Kartheiser? Based on his previous public comments, I would expect him to show up next on the staff of Robert F. Kennedy’s Health and Human Services.