Lena Dunham is rebooting her acclaimed show, Girls, with all four original stars reuniting for a five-episode revival a decade after the HBO hit ended.
The creator and star announced the news in a mock Zoom call featuring co-stars Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet and Andrew Rannells, confirming that production is due to begin in 2027. Judd Apatow, who helped bring the original series to HBO in 2012, will also return as executive producer.
The reboot will come ten years after the show's finale aired in 2017, revisiting the lives of Hannah Horvath (played by Dunham), Marnie Michaels (Williams), Jessa Johansson (Kirke), Shoshanna Shapiro (Mamet). Fellow actor Andrew Rannells, who portrayed another major character, Elijah Krantz, will also return.
There was, however, no mention of Adam Driver – who went on to become one of Hollywood’s most in-demand stars following his breakout role as Hannah’s on-off boyfriend Adam Sackler in the show.
During the announcement video, Dunham asked her former castmates: “Can we still call it Girls? Because we’re old as f***.”
The joke set the tone for the revival, which will revisit the characters at a later stage in life.
Dunham, who created the series when she was just 23, said she had not always been convinced that a return was possible.
“We always said we would only return to Girls if there was a specific story we were burning to tell,” she said in a statement.
“I've missed these characters, but for a long time I couldn't quite picture them in the present day,” she added.
That changed around her 40th birthday, when, she said, the characters began coming back to her.
“[The characters] 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,” she said.
Dunham also reflected on the reunion in a post on her Substack account, writing: “It's rare in life that you get the chance to return to something you love with new knowledge and a ... ton of gratitude.
“I love these girls (and boy) and I love all the people who have reminded us afresh why we do this, which is the joy of being together and the chance to wear yellow mesh.” she wrote.
Amy Gravitt, HBO's executive vice-president of programming, said the revival would allow Dunham to explore a new chapter in the characters' lives.
Born in New York City to a Jewish mother, painter Laurie Simmons, and a Protestant father Dunham and her younger sibling Cyrus were raised in a culturally Jewish environment.
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