The voice of a generation is back: Lena Dunham is rebooting Girls. The coming-of-age drama which saw its four central characters – Hannah, Jessa, Shoshanna, and Marnie – navigate their twenties, will now tackle the girls approaching a new milestone, turning 40.
To announce the news that has millennials everywhere giddy with excitement, Lena appeared on a fake Zoom call alongside Girls’ central cast of Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, and Zosia Mamet. Andrew Rannells, a close friend of Lena's who played Elijah in the series, also appeared on the call.
Fans might have noticed that one major star from the series was notably absent from HBO's announcement. Adam Driver shot to fame after his performance as the on-again-off-again toxic boyfriend of Hannah (played by Lena), also named Adam. According to Lena’s memoir Famesick, which she released earlier this year, her real-life relationship with the House of Gucci actor wasn’t much better than that of their on-screen characters.
So, what allegedly took place between the two stars? And will Adam feature in the Girls' reboot? Here's what we know.
What happened between Lena Dunham and Adam Driver?
Lena alleges that things got off to a rocky start during filming for the first season of Girls, claiming that her ‘careful blocking went out the window and [Adam] hurled me this way and that’ during their first sex scene.
Elsewhere in the book, Lena wrote that Adam walked out of the room after she showed him the pilot episode and didn’t answer any of her calls for the following three weeks. When he finally answered, Lena anticipated that he was ready to quit the show - only for Adam to say he simply didn’t enjoy watching himself act.
After Girls hiked in popularity, Lena wrote how the anxieties and pressures of running a TV show at just 24 years old left her disassociating. She went on to recall an instance where she alleged Adam grew frustrated with her for forgetting her lines during rehearsals. According to Lena, the actor ‘hurled a chair at the wall next to me,’ yelling ‘f*cking say something’ and ‘wake the f*ck up.’
After the chair incident, Lena alleges that she didn’t tell anyone what had happened- with her and Adam continuing to work together as ‘partners’, but adding they would fight often. She later claimed that Adam once ‘punched a hole in his trailer wall’ because he ‘hated his new haircut.’
However, Lena does also recall some fonder memories with the actor within the pages Famesick. Describing that he could be ‘protective, loving even,’ she reportedly writes how Adam came over to her apartment every night during one particularly rough week where she was suffering from anxiety.
Later, Lena details how she was left ‘heartbroken’ when Adam announced he was engaged to Joanne Tucker (who he has been married to since 2013.) Describing their emotional final scene together in Girls, Lena shared that the pair ‘kept crying’ in between takes.
‘It felt, for just a moment, like he was saying sorry,’ she continued. ‘Maybe I was, too - for never knowing how to manage him, what he needed, how to avoid making his face contort with frustration and rage.’ Since then, Lena says she's ‘never heard from him again.’
What has Adam Driver said about Lena Dunham's memoir?
Naturally, during a press conference for Adam's film Paper Tiger at the Cannes film festival, he was asked about Lena's memoir. 'I have no comment on any of that,' he said, before quipping, 'I'm saving it all for my book.'
How did Lena Dunham and Adam Driver meet?
Dunham and Driver first met in a casting director's office during the auditions for Girls. Dunham says she knew immediately that he was right for the part. The show made breakout stars of both of them.
Did Lena Dunham and Adam Driver ever date?
No, despite each potentially toying with the idea (Lena wrote 'I spent an inordinate amount of time wondering if Adam liked me'), nothing romantic ever happened between the co-stars.
Are Lena Dunham and Adam Driver still friends?
No, according to Lena, they have not spoken since the show wrapped in 2017.
Why did Lena Dunham write about Adam Driver in her book?
'For better or worse, it was all of our first jobs. I think Adam went on a very specific ride because he had the ride of the show and then also the ride of becoming a major movie star at the same time. So he was on these two tracks, and he's a very, very serious work-focused private person. So I have a lot of empathy for that,' Lena told People when asked why she wrote about Adam. 'And again, the goal was never to make Adam seem like he was in any way the outlier of the show, but just to talk about how complex and confusing those first experiences of trying to be a boss were.'
'I was also, at that point in my life, extremely intimidated by men. And so there was a really challenge to me in trying to be a leader when it came to men,' she continued. 'And I learned on that job, and luckily, I don't feel those same kinds of fears anymore.'
Is Adam Driver in the Girls reboot?
Adam was not included in HBO's statement about the Girls reboot. Given Lena and Adam haven't been in touch since the show ended (according to Lena's memoir), we can assume that it's very unlikely that Adam will feature in the new five episodes coming out in 2028.
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Charlotte Roberts is a writer at Grazia UK, specialising in SEO. She spends her days covering everything celebrity, culture, and entertainment - from film review roundups to cast explainers.