Girls revival with original cast confirmed by HBO 9 years after finale

In surprise news, HBO has announced a five-episode revival of Girls, the hit comedy created by and starring Lena Dunham, who played Hannah.

Girls originally ran for six seasons between 2012 and 2017, and also starred Allison Williams as Marnie, Jemima Kirke as Jessa, Zosia Mamet as Shoshanna and Andrew Rannells as Elijah, all of whom are returning for the revival.

Other stars across the show's first run included Adam Driver, Christopher Abbott, Alex Karpovsky, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Jake Lacy, although none of them have yet been confirmed in the cast for the new episodes.

Production on the revival which will once again be produced by Judd Apatow, will begin in 2027 – 10 years after the show's original finale.

The news was revealed in an announcement video, featuring Dunham asking the other returning cast members to come back and film for a summer.

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On the news being announced, Dunham said in a statement: "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, 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."

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Meanwhile, Amy Gravitt, executive vice president and head of HBO & HBO Max comedy programming, added: "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."

Dunham recently created the Netflix romcom Too Much, which ran for one season in 2025, and will soon be seen in Channel 4 comedy It Gets Worse. She has also written and directed the upcoming Netflix film Good Sex, which will star Natalie Portman, Mark Ruffalo, Tucker Pillsbury, Tramell Tillman, Rashida Jones and Meg Ryan.

The Girls revival will stream on HBO Max. Subscribe to HBO Max from £5.99 a month.

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