HBO Greenlights 'Girls' Revival: Five Episodes, 2027 Production Start

HBO has ordered a five-episode revival of "Girls," with production set to begin in 2027 — a full decade after the Season 6 finale. Lena Dunham returns as creator, showrunner and star, and all four core cast members are back: Dunham as Hannah Horvath, Allison Williams as Marnie Michaels, Jemima Kirke as Jessa Johansson and Zosia Mamet as Shoshanna Shapiro. Andrew Rannalls reprises Elijah Krantz.

Judd Apatow executive produces through Apatow Productions, alongside Dunham, Ilene S. Landress and Michael P. Cohen of Dunham's Good Thing Going banner. Williams, Kirke, Mamet and Rannalls serve as co-executive producers. The original ran on HBO from 2012 to 2017.

Dunham framed the return in personal terms. "We always said we would only return to 'Girls' if there was a specific story we were burning to tell," she 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 fortieth birthday, they started talking to me in the shower." She added: "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."

Amy Gravitt, executive vice president and head of HBO & HBO Max comedy programming, said: "We're thrilled to have Lena turn her gaze from the tumult of one's twenties to the milestone of turning 40." She promised fans "old and new" would see how the characters have grown.

That promise carries a caveat, as they tend to. No scripts exist yet, and HBO's announcement offers no premiere date beyond the 2027 production start.

Who is missing — and why it matters?

Two names from the original series are absent from HBO's press release: Adam Driver, who played Hannah's on-and-off love interest Adam, and co-showrunner and executive producer Jenni Konner. Dunham wrote about negative experiences with both in her memoir "Famesick," released in April of this year.

In the book, she alleged Driver was "verbally aggressive, condescending and physically imposing," and recounted an incident in which he threw a chair at a wall next to her because she had forgotten her lines. She also wrote that Konner pressured her to negotiate equal salaries despite having created the series, and that Konner grew cold as Dunham's health problems affected her work schedule. Neither Driver nor Konner has responded within the announcement itself, and the press release does not address their absence.

What does the revival change for the show's legacy?

"Girls" earned 19 Emmy nominations and two wins during its run. Variety named it one of the greatest television shows of all time in 2023, crediting its "closely observed cringe" as a counterpoint to "Sex and the City" — though Dunham, the source notes, was frequently conflated with her character, a product of misogyny as much as a testament to her performance.

Dunham has already sketched possible futures for the characters. Speaking to Variety in 2025, she offered one scenario: "Shoshanna was married to, then divorced from, the mayor of New York City, and she runs an athleisure startup that's zero-waste." She placed Jessa "unvaccinated" on a boat in Croatia and Hannah teaching at Bard, raising her son, "less obsessed with being famous." She stressed the condition attached to any return: "I would always want to work with those people again" — if the story was specific enough.

Those outlines remain speculative. What is confirmed: five episodes, the core cast, Dunham in charge, and a 2027 shoot. The rest — including whether the revival earns the reappraisal the original now enjoys — waits on the scripts.