Brace yourselves, Millennials, for a voice of a generation is back. Lena Dunham’s acclaimed television show Girls will return to HBO for a limited run a decade after its finale aired.
Girls, a comedy-drama about the messy, chaotic lives of four twenty-something women in New York City, became a lightning rod for Millennials throughout its six-season run, which began in 2012. Created, written and directed by Dunham, the show offered something of a counterpoint to Sex and the City, drawing attention for its raw, unapologetic writing and anti-glamour realism.
The renowned – and often galvanising – series will return for a five-episode run, with production commencing in 2027. Much of the original cast is set to reprise key roles, including Dunham as Hannah Horvath, Allison Williams as Marnie Michaels, Jemima Kirke as Jessa Johansson and Zosia Mamet as Shoshanna Shapiro. Andrew Rannells will also bring fan-favourite Elijah Krantz back to our screens.
“We always said we would only return to Girls if there was a specific story we were burning to tell,” Dunham said in a statement shared on Wednesday. “I’ve missed these characters, but for a long time, I couldn’t quite picture them in the present day. Then, right around my fortieth birthday, they started talking to me in the shower. And, as you may remember, once this fivesome starts talking it’s pretty hard to get them to stop.”
A Girls revival has been on Dunham’s mind since its season six finale in 2017, though it took until now to land on an idea worthy of a comeback.
“If we had something to say that was really specific, and it was a moment in their lives where we felt like revisiting it – like millennial women becoming mothers or stepping into menopause or going to live at old-age homes – I would always want to work with those people again,” the showrunner told Variety last year.
The limited return will also reunite Dunham with Judd Apatow (Knocked Up, This is 40), who served as executive producer on the original series.
Further details around the revival’s narrative plot and additional casting have not yet been revealed. There have also been questions around its title, given the main cast are now all well beyond the realm of “girls” (Dunham turned 40 in May).
“Can we still call it Girls?” Dunham asked in a video released alongside the announcement. “Because we’re old as f-–k.”
Regardless of its title, Dunham said it is rare to be afforded the chance to return to something that “changed your life” with the benefit of hindsight and “a whole new level of gratitude and understanding”.
“I love these girls – and boy – our friends at HBO, and all the people who have continued to discover the show and remind us afresh why we do this, which is the joy of being together … And the chance to wear yellow mesh,” said Dunham, who recently welcomed a baby daughter via surrogacy.
The return of Girls comes amid a significant surge in the show’s popularity, as younger viewers – namely Gen Z – have been discovering the show via social media and relating to its unvarnished take on post-university life. Dunham’s recent memoir, Famesick, also contributed to renewed interest in the series, as it detailed her complicated experience of creating a hit show in her early twenties (she was just 23 when she wrote the pilot).
In Famesick, Dunham revealed several tense interactions with Adam Driver, who played Hannah’s toxic on-and-off-again love interest in Girls. This included a moment in which he allegedly threw a chair at the wall beside her in a rage over her forgetting her lines. Dunham also outlined the souring of her relationship with co-showrunner and former mentor Jenni Konner. Neither Driver nor Konner were mentioned in the revival announcement.
Girls received 19 Emmy nominations throughout its six-season run, three of which it won (including one for best casting). The show also won two Golden Globes for season one, as well as Writers Guild and Directors Guild awards.
“We’re thrilled to have Lena turn her gaze from the tumult of one’s twenties to the milestone of turning 40,” said Amy Gravitt, executive vice president HBO and head of HBO Max comedy programming. “To say the world has changed since we last saw Hannah, Marnie, Shoshanna, Jessa and Elijah is a massive understatement, but we know fans – old and new – will be happy to see how they’ve grown, and relieved to see that they’re still the ‘Girls’ we knew way back when.”
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