Five episodes to be shot next year

Lena Dunham is bringing back Girls.

A new limited series of five episodes is set to go into production next year, ten years after the season 6 finale.

As well as Dunham herself, the returning cast includes  Allison Williams as Marnie, Jemima Kirke as Jessa, Zosia Mamet as Shoshanna and Andrew Rannells as Elijah. 

And movie director Judd Apatow will return as executive producer for the show, which will again air on HBO.

Dunham, who writes and directs the series, said: ‘We always said we would only return to Girls if there was a specific story we were burning to tell. 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 [in May], 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…’

Girls originally ran from 2012 to 2017, following Dunham’s character Hannah Horvath, a 20-something writer struggling to get by in New York City. Some of the storylines —including being Cut Off financially from her parents, becoming a writer and making unfortunate decisions—were inspired by Dunham's real-life experiences.

Dunham in the original Girls

She went on to write and direct the 2022 films Sharp Stick and Catherine Called Birdy.  And last year she created the Netflix series Too Much starring Megan Stalter and featuring British comic Leo Reich.

She co-created that series with her English-Peruvian musician husband Luis Felber. Last month Together the became parents to a  daughter, born using surrogacy. 

Of the return of Girls, HBO’s head of comedy programming, Amy Gravitt, said: ‘We’re thrilled to have Lena turn her gaze from the tumult of one’s twenties to the milestone of turning 40. 

‘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.’

Published: 14 Oct 2026