You will hear actors say they hate being typecast, but after playing plucky single mothers on not one but two hit television comedies, Gilmore Girls (2000 to 2007) and Parenthood (2010 to 2015), actress Lauren Graham has made peace with it.
Especially as she does it again in the new Disney+ comedy series The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, a reboot of the popular 1990s Mighty Ducks film franchise about an underdog children's hockey team.
"I just have to accept that this is my lot in life - to play these single mums looking for love," says the 54-year-old to The Straits Times and other press over video chat.
There is something in all these characters "that definitely speaks to me", adds Graham, who plays a mother who starts her own hockey team when her son is dropped from his old one.
They are all "looking for something and are unfulfilled, and kind of vulnerable and hopeful", and that is why audiences connect with them, she says.
"Because you don't want to follow someone who has it all together. And what's an arc that's relatable? Perhaps being single or not having it all together.
"And for some reason, I fit with that," she chuckles. "So, I'll just keep playing it until something else comes along, but I feel very lucky to have received these wonderful characters."
Whether it is Gilmore Girls or this new series, Graham says fan nostalgia is a huge marketing asset.
"In a world where there are so many TV shows, some degree of nostalgia gives you a lifeline - like, 'Oh, I recognise that. There's a reason for me to tune in.'
"But it also comes with the pressure of, 'I hope it's as good as I remember it being.' And I don't know if we can ever live up to expectations."
With the miniseries revival of Gilmore Girls that aired on Netflix in 2016, "we certainly tried", the actress says.
That reboot had "made sense" to her because the series had changed networks and showrunners for the final season of its original run, and creator Amy Sherman-Palladino was able to return for the revival.
But "some of these other reboots, do they make sense? It's not for me to say", she adds.
Graham has formed lasting friendships with the actors who have played her children on previous shows, including Gilmore Girls star Alexis Bledel, 39, and Parenthood's Mae Whitman, 33, and Miles Heizer, 27.
"I feel very lucky to have had such wonderful TV children and I feel proud of each and every one," says the performer, who is married to her Parenthood co-star Peter Krause, 55. The couple have no children.
Each of her television offspring has gone on to bigger and better things, including Bledel with the critically acclaimed science-fiction series The Handmaid's Tale (2017 to present) and Heizer with teenage drama 13 Reasons Why (2017 to 2020).
"I definitely feel a responsibility to make their experiences on set as positive as they can be and keep an eye out for and take good care of them," she says of her young charges, including the actor who plays her son in The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, Brady Noon, 15.
"As I get older and they get younger, especially in the case of Brady on this show, I want them to, first of all, have a positive experience and also to think about what they want for their future."
Graham is especially close to Whitman, who lives down the street from her in Los Angeles.
"It's been a joy to have these friendships with people younger than me. I think that's really important as you get older," the actress says.
"And it's just really helpful to keep in touch with people who are having a different career or life experience. They bring me just as much as what I bring them, so I'm very thankful."
• The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers is streaming on Disney+.
