Nearly a decade after it went off the air, HBO announced Tuesday that "Girls," Lena Dunham's cult hit series, will return for a five-episode revival. Dunham will reprise her role as Hannah, alongside most of the original cast, including Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet and Andrew Rannells.
Production is expected to begin next year, 15 years after the series premiered and a decade after its sixth and final season ended. Dunham, who created, wrote and directed the original series, will serve as an executive producer of the revival alongside Judd Apatow, Eileen S. Landress and Michael P. Cohen of Good Thing Going. Williams, Kirke, Mamet and Rannells will serve as co-executive producers.
Jenni Konner, Dunham's close creative partner who helped develop and run the original series, will not return for the revival. In her recent memoir, "Famesick," Dunham revealed that the two have not spoken since 2018.
Adam Driver, who played Hannah's boyfriend, is also notably absent from the list of returning cast members. In the same memoir, Dunham alleged that Driver had been "verbally aggressive" toward her during filming.
"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. "I've missed these characters, but for a long time I couldn't quite picture them in the present day. Then, right around my 40th 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 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."
From 'Girls'
(Photo: HBO)
Amy Gravitt, head of comedy at HBO and HBO Max, added: "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."
Created by Dunham, "Girls" aired on HBO for six seasons from 2012 to 2017. The series followed the lives of four women in their 20s navigating relationships, careers and friendships in New York City.
The show earned critical acclaim, won Emmy and Golden Globe awards and became one of the television series most closely associated with the millennial generation.