The Girls HBO revival has been picked up for five episodes, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The limited run brings the comedy back roughly a decade after it ended, and it reunites creator and star Lena Dunham with much of the original cast.

What do we know about the revival so far?

The outlet reports that Dunham will return alongside castmates Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet and Andrew Rannells, all of whom are set to come back. Beyond the cast and the episode count, most details are being kept quiet for now, so storylines and other specifics remain unannounced.

The characters Amy Gravitt, HBO’s head of comedy programming, named in her statement are Hannah, Marnie, Shoshanna, Jessa and Elijah, the group fans followed through the show’s six seasons.

“We always said we would only return to Girls if there was a specific story we were burning to tell,” Lena Dunham said in a statement.

Dunham said the characters were hard to picture in the present day for a long time. Then, around her 40th birthday, they began talking to her again. She joked that once they start, it is hard to get them to stop, and she described the return as a rare chance to revisit a show that changed her life, now with more hindsight and gratitude.

She also thanked HBO and newer fans who keep discovering the series, saying the response reminds the team why they do this work.

One name is missing from the returning list. The Hollywood Reporter notes that Adam Driver, who played Hannah’s on-and-off boyfriend in the series, is not mentioned among the returning cast. The outlet also points to Dunham’s memoir, Famesick, published earlier this year, in which she detailed incidents of Driver’s temper on set, including one where he threw a chair at a wall near her.

Dunham will executive produce the five-episode revival with Judd Apatow, who also served as an executive producer on the original series. Ilene S. Landress and Michael P. Cohen of Good Thing Going are also executive producers, and Williams, Kirke, Mamet and Rannells are co-executive producers.

Jenni Konner, who was co-showrunner with Dunham during the show’s 2012 to 2017 run, is not involved in the revival. According to the report, the two announced in 2018 that they were splitting as producing partners.

Girls was never a giant hit for HBO, but it arguably generated as much discussion as any TV show of its era. Critics, viewers and pundits treated it as a key text for understanding the millennial generation, though the series itself has Hannah say in its premiere that she is probably only ‘a voice of a generation.’

Over six seasons, Girls won two Emmys and earned 17 more nominations, including two for best comedy series. The series and Dunham won Golden Globes for season one, and the show also earned Writers Guild and Directors Guild awards.

“We’re thrilled to have Lena turn her gaze from the tumult of one’s twenties to the milestone of turning 40,” Amy Gravitt, executive vice president and head of HBO and HBO Max comedy programming, said.

Gravitt acknowledged that the world has changed a great deal since viewers last saw the characters, and she said HBO expects fans, old and new, to enjoy seeing how they have grown.

Production on the revival is scheduled to begin in 2027. HBO has also released a video promoting the show’s return.

Quick answers

When does production on the Girls HBO revival begin?
Production is scheduled to begin in 2027, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Is Adam Driver in the Girls HBO revival?
The Hollywood Reporter does not list Adam Driver among the returning cast, though he played Hannah’s on-and-off boyfriend on the original series.

Is Jenni Konner involved in the revival?
No. Jenni Konner, who was co-showrunner during the 2012 to 2017 run, is not involved in the revival, according to the report.

Related on this site

Source: The Hollywood Reporter