Hannah Horvath is about to be the voice of a new generation.
In a stunning announcement on Tuesday, HBO shared that it has greenlit a five-episode revival of the beloved millennial-centric series “Girls,” which ended in April 2017 after six seasons. Production is set to begin in 2027.
Created by Lena Dunham, the series starred Dunham, along with Allison Williams, Zosia Mamet, and Jemima Kirke, as women on the verge — of career, love, and many poor choices — in New York City. All will be returning for the revival, along with Dunham as showrunner, star, and creator. Andrew Rannells will also be reprising the role of Elijah Krantz, Hannah’s (Dunham) gay bestie and college ex-boyfriend.
Judd Apatow will return as executive producer via Apatow Productions, along with Dunham, Ilene S. Landress, and Michael P. Cohen of Dunham’s Good Things Going outfit. Williams, Kirke, Mamet, and Rannells will also serve as co-executive producers. Not heralded as returning are Adam Driver (who played Hannah’s on-and-off actor boyfriend Adam) and former co-showrunner Jenni Konner (with whom Dunham had a creative breakup after the show ended).
Neither came out in an especially good light in Dunham’s smash-hit bestselling memoir “Famestruck,” published earlier this year. Dunham alleged friction with Driver over the show that led to several confrontations, while she and Konner had a prolonged and intensely personal and professional relationship that fizzled in 2018 amid the release of follow-up miniseries “Camping.”
“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 by HBO. “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. … It’s rare that you get the chance to return to something that changed your life with the gift 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…”
The core cast includes Williams as Hannah’s neurotic art-world (but hardly an artist) turned musician friend, Marnie Michaels, with Mamet as the garrulous, pragmatic corporate climber, Shoshanna Shapiro, and Kirke as Shoshanna’s bohemian, substances-prone cousin, Jessa. The series, which Gen Z has recently taken for a first spin as obsessed over on social media, follows the quartet’s rise and fall as a friend group through myriad breakups and breakdowns.
Amy Gravitt, executive vice president, head of HBO & HBO Max comedy programming, said in a statement: “We’re thrilled to have Lena turn her gaze from the tumult of one’s twenties to the milestone of turning forty. 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.”
“Girls” received 19 Emmy nominations and two wins over the course of its six seasons, including Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series.
Dunham most recently directed the Netflix movie “Good Sex,” which stars Natalie Portman. It was pushed off the 2026 release calendar by the streamer, as Portman could not participate in promotion due to her recent pregnancy, as IndieWire heard from a source.
Variety first reported the news.
Additional reporting by Brian Welk.
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