HBO's Girls to return as Lena Dunham fans declare it "best news of the century"

HBO Max has confirmed that it is bringing back the hit TV series Girls for a limited run of five episodes.

On Tuesday 13 October, the streaming service shared a video announcement on Instagram which showed Girls creator Lena Dunham on a call with her three original costars; Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, and Zosia Mamet.

Dunham will reprise her role as Hannah, Williams as Marnie, Kirke will return as Jessa, and Mamet is reprising her character Shoshanna.

"Sorry have you been waiting a long time?" Dunham began the call before saying: "Okay, we used to spend every summer together doing this thing that we do, making this show, is it something that you'd want to do again? Are you free next summer?"

Kirke replied sarcastically: "I mean, as long as it's not too much of a commitment. I'm not doing like a year..." as Dunham replied: "Yeah one summer's worth."

Andrew Rannells, who played the role of Elijah Krantz in the series, then hopped on the call and asked: What's up ladies? What are we doing next summer?"

"Girls. Would you wanna do Girls again next summer?" Dunham told him as he replied: "I'm in but only because you trash cans need constant supervision!"

Dunham then said: "I have a question though, seriously, can we still call it Girls? Coz we're like old as f..." before the call cut off.

The teaser announcement confirmed that the limited run will be in production in 2027, so it's unclear when the five episodes will be available to watch.

Fans were quick to comment on the Instagram post as one person said: "This is the best news of the century my god!!!!!!" while another wrote: "This will heal the world."

A third fan commented: "OMG IM CRYING MY EYES OUT," and a fourth added: "Oh I can’t emphasize enough how much we, collectively, need this."

One star of the show who was noticeably absent from the video call was Adam Driver, who played Dunham's love interest in the series, Adam Sackler.

Girls was originally released back in April 2012 and ran for a total of six seasons. It followed four young women living in New York City and the show's premise was drawn from Dunham's own life, including financial isolation from her parents, becoming a writer, and making unfortunate decisions.

Girls ended in April 2017, and received various awards while it was on air. In 2021, BBC placed Girls 30th on its list of the best series of the century, and in 2022, the series was ranked 65th on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest TV shows.

Girls seasons 1-6 are available to stream on HBO Max.

Kirsty is a freelance writer and editor specialising in all things entertainment. Over the past 16 years, she has worked on showbiz desks at various national newspaper websites in London, including Express.co.uk, The Sun, and MailOnline.

More recently, she spent three years living in New York City writing celebrity and lifestyle news for DailyMail.com, The Mirror US, and Daily Express US. Kirsty graduated from Southampton Solent with a BA in Magazine Journalism and Feature Writing. When she's not watching reruns of Sex and the City, you'll find her listening to David Bowie and daydreaming about an espresso martini.