Get ready to have your Gilmore Girls-loving mind blown, friends, because I have been doing very little other than dreaming about what Stars Hollow will be like in present day, I realized that Sookie’s absence on the Gilmore Girls revival would effect one town staple in a major way: The Dragonfly Inn. I mean, for obvious reasons, Sookie not being around would dramatically affect the current state of The Dragonfly Inn. She was the co-owner and head chef of the place, after all. But, if Melissa McCarthy is really not coming back for the Gilmore Girls revival, then who in the world would be the chef at the Inn? And then it hit me: A Gilmore Girls revival theory that completely explains Sookie’s absence. You guys: What if Luke is now the head chef at The Dragonfly Inn?

OK, before you totally lose your ‘shipping-loving mind over this idea, let’s take a minute to compile everything that we know about the Gilmore Girls revival and the status of Luke and Lorelai’s relationship. First of all, when we left Stars Hollow back in Season 7, Lorelai and Luke were officially no longer together. Their on-again off-again relationship had switched resoundingly to off, and the only thing fans were left with was a telling kiss and one major cliffhanger.

But that kiss has to be considered alongside some other hints that have come out recently that point to a greater connection between Luke and Lorelai. Recently, set photos from the revival seem to shows Lorelai and Luke’s cars parked in Lorelai’s driveway. This doesn’t necessarily guarantee that the two are together —maybe it was Lorelai’s birthday, and Luke was over to give her his one day of repairs that he gifts her every year — but the photo does suggest that the two are at least close in the revival. But are they that close because they’re in a working relationship together?

Maybe, because there are even more spoilers that might point to a change of hands at The Dragonfly Inn and at Luke’s Diner. In a recent interview with Just Jared Jr., Vanessa Marano, who plays Luke’s daughter April, spilled some pretty suggestive spoilers about what role she will be playing in the revival. She said exclusively that April is now “part of the family” and no longer causing any drama. Another major reveal? When asked about the scene in Season 6 when her character filled the salt shakers with colored salt, Marano says, “She truly is the daughter of a diner.”

Ummm, so much so that she would take over the diner if Luke moved on to The Dragonfly Inn? It’s just a theory, of course, but I think it’s totally possible. After all, if Sookie is definitely gone, then someone has to be running the show. And who else would Lorelai trust with her huge business investment than the man who makes her breakfast every morning? Plus, the diner is something that Luke continued to run after his father passed away, so it seems only right that if Luke has moved on, he has left the diner to someone in the family. And if April is still around and still very much like her father, she might just be the person running the show.

But here’s the thing that really has me convinced: If Luke and Lorelai are already together in the revival, than the stakes are kind of low. Sherman-Palladino will either have to rely on other points of drama to keep the conflict high — maybe Rory’s three suitors all returning for another go? — or some kind of conflict between Luke and Lorelai. But, if the two are not together romantically when the revival begins, that will give audiences something exciting to root for. It will be like 2002 all over again.

So if the Luke and Lorelai are working together at The Dragonfly Inn, their proximity to each other means that it would only be a matter of time before these two ended up together. Forever. Finally, happily every after.

Image: Warner Bros. Television; Giphy (3)