HBO’s award-winning comedy-drama Girls will return for a five-episode revival, a decade after the original series ended in 2017.

Lena Dunham, who created the series and starred as Hannah Horvath, announced the revival in a mock video call with original cast members Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet and Andrew Rannells.

The five actors will return for the limited series, with production scheduled to begin in 2027. Judd Apatow, who helped bring the original show to HBO, will also return as an executive producer.

“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,” she added.

Dunham said the characters began to take shape again around her 40th birthday. She joked that, once the group started talking, it was difficult to get them to stop.

HBO’s ‘Girls’ Revival Will Revisit the Characters at 40

Girls ran for six seasons from 2012 to 2017. The series followed four friends navigating relationships, careers and adulthood in New York City during their twenties.

Dunham played Hannah, Williams portrayed Marnie Michaels, Kirke played Jessa Johansson, and Mamet starred as Shoshanna Shapiro. Rannells played Elijah Krantz, a recurring character who became an important part of the group’s story.

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The show earned 19 Emmy nominations and won two awards, including one for casting. It received praise for its portrayal of young adulthood while also attracting controversy during its run.

The BBC later ranked Girls at number 30 on its list of the 100 Greatest TV Shows of the 21st Century.

Amy Gravitt, HBO’s executive vice-president of programming, welcomed Dunham’s return to the characters.

“We’re thrilled to have Lena turn her gaze from the tumult of one’s twenties to the milestone of turning forty,” Gravitt said.

She added that the world had changed considerably since viewers last saw Hannah, Marnie, Shoshanna, Jessa and Elijah. However, she said HBO expected longtime fans and new viewers to enjoy seeing how the characters had grown.

HBO has not yet announced the revival’s official title. During the mock video call, Dunham jokingly asked whether they could still call the series Girls, adding that the cast was now older.

Adam Driver and Jenni Konner Not Mentioned in Announcement

Adam Driver, who played Hannah’s on-and-off partner Adam Sackler, was not mentioned in HBO’s revival announcement.

In her 2026 memoir Famesick, Dunham alleged that Driver sometimes behaved in a verbally aggressive and physically imposing manner on set. Driver has not publicly commented on those allegations, according to the source report.

Dunham also wrote about the breakdown of her professional relationship and friendship with Jenni Konner, her co-showrunner and an executive producer on the original series. Konner was not named in HBO’s announcement.

Dunham later reflected on the revival in a post on Substack, describing the opportunity to return to a project she loved with greater knowledge and gratitude.

Since Girls ended, Dunham has continued working in television and film. Her more recent projects include the Netflix series Too Much, released in 2025, and the independent film Sharp Stick.