Milo Ventimiglia is looking back at Gilmore Girls with a fresh pair of eyes.
More than 20 years after the beloved series premiered, the actor is revealing his true thoughts about his bad boy character Jess Mariano. Specifically, Ventimiglia admitted to Jess’ immaturity and reflected on why (spoiler alert) he wasn’t the model boyfriend to Alexis Bledel‘s Rory Gilmore.
“Jess was a child,” Ventimiglia told InStyle in an interview published Feb. 15. “I think Jess had a lot of life to live. And I don’t think he was quite set up the best way in his younger years—not having a father, not having a parent. He had to find his way on his own a little bit.”
That doesn’t mean Jess wasn’t self-aware, as Ventimiglia went on to suggest. The This Is Us alum noted, “I think he got to it a little quicker, just a place of… acceptance of who he was, and what he wanted to be, and who he wanted to be around.”