Supernatural’s Jared Padalecki stars in a nostalgic 'Gilmore Girls'-inspired soup ad

Someone at Panera Bread, the American fast-casual restaurant chain, decided to start the fall season binge-watching Gilmore Girls, as the brand’s new ad is directly 'stirring the pot' with the show’s dedicated fanbase.

Despite the brand's limited availability in the USA and Canada, the appeal of its ad extends beyond the Western Hemisphere, fuelled by the cult-like coffee-drinking and book-reading fandom of Gilmore Girls, who emerge from hibernation to revisit their beloved show every fall/autumn season. 

Gilmore Girls is a seven-season fall classic about the fast-talking, coffee-fuelled lives of, well, the Gilmore Girls. It follows the single mother Lorelai Gilmore and her academically brilliant daughter Rory (short for Lorelai II) in the charming, quirky small town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut. 

The show not only depicts the protagonists' coming-of-age journey but also explores their romantic relationships. The ad reflects the various boyfriends Rory has dated over the seasons.

The commercial starts with Jared Padalecki, from Supernatural fame, vehemently defending what sounds like his character Dean from Gilmore Girls, questioning, "What is wrong with being the reliable one, the one that's always there for you?" This is a clear allusion to Dean Forester, who was Rory Gilmore's first boyfriend in season one.

The reference goes on to elaborate on Dean’s other characteristics from the show, saying, “I am sure what you are going to say. It’s not that fancy, but it feels like home,” tugging at the heartstrings of many a Dory (Dean+Rory) shipper. 

Then the camera pans to Matt Czuchry, aka Logan Huntzberger, Rory’s Yale boyfriend from season five, who shoots back at Jared/Dean with, “Some people just might want something more sophisticated,” referring to Logan’s privileged East Coast upbringing. 

“No, all they really want is the bad boy who left even without saying goodbye, and now what? It’s back and hotter than ever?” is Dean’s irked response to Logan, who gets excitable along with the audience, thinking it’s a clear reference to Jess Marriano, another one of Rory’s former boyfriends from season three who was cherished for his “brooding and mysterious” vibe. 

However, Logan exclaims, “Black Bean soup is back?” This breaks the illusion that Dean and Logan are discussing Gilmore Girls, as the camera zooms out to reveal the characters seated in a Panera Bread outlet. 

Just when the viewers are made to feel like it was never Dean and Logan but Jared and Matt all along simply discussing which soup is better, "Fireside Chilli" or the "Autumn Squash", the actors describe the former as “the perfect first b…bowl of soup” (instead of the perfect first boyfriend that Dean was known as) and the latter as “so rich”, a reference to Logan’s massive wealth in the show. 

The illusion is again broken when the confused server points out that “you guys are really passionate about soup”, but the same server then leaves the audience in a daze when she calls out, “a Black Bean Soup for Tess”, a clear wordplay on Rory’s brooding ex-boyfriend, ‘Jess’.

The ad then concludes with Dean hurrying to settle scores with Jess, a call back to when Jess stole Rory from Dean in season three.

The end credits of the ad read, "Panera Bread, 'The Fall for Your Favourites' meal", successfully toying with the feelings of Team Dean, Team Logan, and even Team Jess from the combined fandom.  

The comment section on Panera’s Instagram page exploded with revived competition. While Team Dean was full of support for Rory’s “perfect first boyfriend”, there was a notable, if unsurprising, lack of defence for Team Logan (who liked Logan anyway?).

Even though Jess Mariano (played by Milo Ventimiglia) was absent from the commercial, the support for Team Jess wasn’t, with comments like, “If you got Milo in this, it would’ve exploded the internet,” but then there was also the “No surprise that Jess is MIA per usual” comment. 

Some fans wanted more, and they let it be known in the comments with “just needed Lauren Graham (Lorelai Gilmore) to come in at the end and say: 'I smell… soup.'” (a classic reference).

Another one went, “The server totally shoulda been Kirk lol. Missed opportunity. This was awesome tho!” referring to the beloved character of Kirk from the show, who worked at every establishment in Stars Hollow. 

Present in the comment section, however, was another fandom. While Jared Padalecki’s Dean was popular in Gilmore Girls, Padalecki gained recognition as Sam Winchester through his 15-season-long run with the popular American horror show, Supernatural. 

Fans of “SOUPernatural”, also known as the SPN family, were quick to point out, “Who invited Sam from Supernatural?” and “Careful Jared, your Sam is showing XD,” along with countless Supernatural GIFs. 

Everyone, though, agreed that, “WHO in WHAT department thought of this?! They need a raise IMMEDIATELY👏❤️😂🍂.”