There had been signs that a Girls reboot was brewing. In April the show’s creator Lena Dunham conspiratorially admitted in an interview that she had begun piecing together a plot for a possible reunion, explaining that “it’s impossible not to think about where they are now”. Confirmation came on Tuesday night, when Dunham and her co-stars, Allison Williams (Marnie), Jemima Kirke (Jessa), Zosia Mamet (Shoshanna), and Andrew Rannells (Elijah), revealed in an instantly viral video that they will reunite to make five new episodes.
It’s ok to have mixed feelings about all of this. We have, after all, been subjected to a rather miserable onslaught of botched reboots, remakes and prequels in recent years (plus, whatever And Just Like That was). Dunham devotees must trust we are in safe hands, however, for our own sanity. In a statement, Dunham said that it was love from the fans, and turning 40 this year, that inspired her to revisit the characters. “We always said we would only return to Girls if there was a specific story we were burning to tell,” Dunham said. “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.”
The episodes will go into production next year, with Dunham – who had her first baby via surrogate earlier this year – to executive produce and Judd Apatow to direct. With some righteous trepidation, then, we must prepare to meet our beloved Hannah, Shosh, Jessa and Marnie once again. Here, we imagine where we might find them…
Hannah
HBO/Sky Atlantic
We left the self-appointed voice of her generation in upstate New York, getting to grips with breastfeeding her newborn son, Grover, whose surf instructor father Paul-Louis (Riz Ahmed) declined to be involved. Today, she is single and back in Brooklyn, where she and Grover, now nine, are living in an apartment Hannah tells people is a stone’s throw from the viral “Issey Miyake Montessori school”. She has a Substack (she recently got restacked by Jameela Jamil) and ghost writes, but has been bluntly informed by her agent that she needs 100,000 followers on Instagram before he can pitch her memoir to publishers. She keeps telling her mother she is worn thin from being part of the “sandwich generation”, prompting Loreen to remind her she hasn’t visited in months.
Marnie
Marnie is married to a 6ft5in man named Huxley who runs an AI start-up, which was entirely funded by his father. They live in Connecticut with their two children. He proposed just three months into their relationship, as they watched the Fourth of July fireworks, by giving her his Oura ring – though this was swiftly replaced with a Jessica McCormack diamond. Since the kids have started school Marnie has got into wellness-maxxing: she posts her Pilates workouts on Stories, obsessively Googles peptides and microdoses mushrooms at the weekend while watching The Real Housewives. Their summer home is in East Hampton, near Gwyneth’s – they got invited to the Sam Altman dinner and were bummed when it was cancelled. She sometimes worries she’s too trad wife, so has been trying to get back into music with the help of a local artist she connected with on Instagram, who claims to have discovered Alanis Morrissette (he didn’t).
Shoshanna
“He works in product development which is perfect for me because I love products.” - ShoshannaRex Features
Having had her political aspirations ignited back when she helped her ex Ray to win his place on the community board, now Shoshanna is a special advisor to Mayor Mamdani after helping to mastermind his successful campaign in 2025. Her husband Michael is also on the team (they met at a Democratic run club eight years ago), their twins were born via IVF during Covid. She and Jessa butt heads when it comes to parenting styles, and didn’t speak for seven months after Jessa gave one of the twins a fringe whilst babysitting for them.
Jessa
Mark Schafer
Jessa is currently working part time at a curiosity shop in Brooklyn. She has a daughter, Neveah, from a failed relationship with a high school boyfriend with whom she briefly reunited five years ago. She refers to herself euphemistically as a “crunchy mom”, which Hannah tells everyone really means she’s anti-vax. She has been in a series of relationships, most recently with an outdoorsy type she suspects might have voted for Trump, but is currently voluntarily celibate. She’s not short of fans, however, after going viral on TikTok when she was stopped for an on the street interview (though she had no idea because she’s not on TikTok).
Elijah
His role in White Men Can’t Jump: The Musical led to a few other minor Broadway parts before Elijah packed it in to become a casting director (he recently booked Lisa Rinna for Oh, Mary!). He found love with a Brit on a business class flight to London and moved there for 11 months, but is now back and dating a much younger guy (depending on who you ask he’s either 24 or 29, though Jessa claims he’s 21) with whom he just enjoyed a summer trip to Hydra. He and Hannah have a text chat with Marnie which they use to send divorce updates about all the couples that got together in college.
Adam
As the series goes on, the girls go through roommates like backless fluffy mules. First it’s Hannah and Marnie, then it’s Hannah and Elijah, then Hannah and Adam and Hannah and Elijah, again (with a bit of Fran in the middle). You know what they say: if you can’t align, don’t sign the dotted line.Courtesy of Sky Atlantic
He hasn’t quite died in a Peloton accident, but Adam is no longer a presence in the girls’ lives. We learn he is spending the summer in New Zealand going completely method whilst filming with Yorgos Lanthimos. The last person to see him in the flesh was Jessa when they crossed paths at the Russian baths in the East Village, though they didn’t speak. (Hannah is unconvinced.)