Hannah Horvath is about to become the voice of a new generation.
In a surprise announcement Tuesday, HBO shared that it has greenlit a five-episode revival of the beloved millennial-focused series “Girls,” which ended in April 2017 after six seasons. Production is scheduled to begin in 2027.
Created by Lena Dunham, the series stars Dunham alongside Allison Williams, Zosia Mamet and Jemima Kirke as women on the brink of career, love and many poor choices in New York City. All will return for the revival, with Dunham serving as showrunner, star, and producer. Andrew Rannells will also reprise the role of Elijah Krantz, Hannah’s (Dunham) gay bestie and ex-boyfriend from college.
Judd Apatow, Dunham, Ilene S. Landres will return as executive producer through Apatow Productions, alongside Michael P. Cohen of Dunham’s Good Things Going organization. Williams, Kirke, Mamet and Rannells will also serve as co-executive producers. The returns of Adam Driver (who played Hannah’s on-and-off actor boyfriend Adam) and former co-showrunner Jenni Konner (with whom Dunham had a constructive breakup after the show ended) have not been announced.
Neither came across in a particularly good light in Dunham’s best-selling memoir “Femstruck,” published earlier this year. Dunham alleged friction with Driver over the show, which led to several confrontations, while she and Konner had a long-standing and intense personal and professional relationship, which deteriorated amid the release of the follow-up miniseries “Camping” in 2018.
“We always said we would only return to ‘Girls’ if there was a special story we wanted to tell,” Dunham said in a statement shared by HBO. “I’ve missed these characters, but for a long time I couldn’t picture them in the present moment. Then, right around my fortieth birthday, they started talking to me in the shower. And, as you may remember, once these five people start talking it’s very difficult to stop them. … It’s rare that you get a chance to return to something that changed your life with the gift of foresight and a new level of gratitude and understanding. I love these girls. (and the boys), our friends at HBO and all the people who have continued to reinvent the show and remind us anew why we do it, which is the joy of being together… and the chance to wear yellow gauze…”
The main cast includes Williams as Hannah’s neurotic art-world (but hardly an artist) turned musician friend, Marnie Michaels as Mamet’s grumpy, pragmatic corporate climber, Shoshana Shapiro, and Kirke as Shoshana’s bohemian, drug-prone cousin, Jessa. The series, which Gen Z has recently taken up as a social media obsession, follows the quartet’s rise and fall as a friend group through countless breakups and breakdowns.
Amy Gravitt, executive vice president, head of HBO and HBO Max comedy programming, said in a statement: “We’re thrilled that Lena turns her focus from the tumult of the twenties to the milestones of turning forty. To say that the world has changed since we last saw Hannah, Marnie, Shoshanna, Jessa and Eliza is a huge understatement, but we know fans — old and new — are happy to see. Will be surprised at how they have grown up and are relieved to see that they are still the same ‘girls’ we knew from so long ago.
“Girls” received 19 Emmy nominations and two wins during its six-season run, including Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series.
Dunham recently directed the Netflix film “Good Sex,” starring Natalie Portman. It was pulled from the streamer’s 2026 release calendar because Portman couldn’t participate in promotion due to her recent pregnancy, IndieWire heard from a source.
Diversity Gave the news first.
Additional reporting by Brian Welk.