An HBO show that was a huge hit back then is returning for a surprise revival, Variety reports.
Girls, a comedy-drama helmed by Lena Dunham, is returning for a revival on the network, not a spinoff. The revival will also star former co-stars Alison Williams, Zosia Mamet, and Jemima Kirke. They will reprise their roles: Dunham as Hannah Horvath, Williams as Marnie Michaels, Kirke as Jessa Johansson, and Mamet as Shoshanna Shapiro.
The series is set to return in 2027 with a five-episode run, about a decade after the season 6 finale (which aired in 2017). The original series followed a group of women living in New York City in their twenties, each with their own issues in their personal and professional lives.
Andrew Rannells, who played Elijah Krantz, will also reprise his role in the revival. Judd Apatow will also return as an executive producer on the series.
As to why Dunham is creating this revival now, it’s because they have a very specific story to tell that works at this moment.
“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 fortieth 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.”
Dunham also specifically went to her Substack and posted a whole entry, talking about what the girls were most likely doing in their forties and how right now, this is the best moment to tell this story:
“There was a long period in which it was impossible to imagine reconvening Girls- it felt so recent and so big, like a glacier we were sailing away from. Then, I turned forty. I thought about the distance I felt- having not yet had a child, having come “later” to marriage, having gone very fast in certain ways and still having some challenges with the washing machine- from the woman I thought I’d be and so many women I know. Maybe there was once a part of me that wanted to outrun Hannah and her ladies. Seeing the love you’ve so generously shared for it helped to turned me around. We are not, strictly speaking, girls anymore. We couldn’t be called precocious, coquettish or fawn-like. We are older than notorious literary spinsters Bridget Jones, Miss Havisham and Blanche DuBois. And I couldn’t stop thinking about where our Girls would be, and how they’d meet this milestone.”
Why Girls might not be the best show to bring back
Girls was a big show in its time, and it was sort of the counterpoint to another big HBO series, Sex and the City. While the latter glamorized city life, romance, and everything else, Girls took the opposite approach. They showed the cringe of everyday life, the problems and issues young people in the city run into.
It makes sense this would happen now, as Sex and the City had its revival, And Just Like That…, so of course, another show that takes place in New York City would get a chance to return at HBO.
With that said, there’s been a lot of drama around this show, whether it’s the material or the actors involved. Most notably, a series of allegations surfaced against former co-star Adam Driver, claiming he was “verbally aggressive, condescending, and physically imposing” on set, and Dunham stated this in her memoir (via Variety).
Dunham has also said things in the past that haven't necessarily sat right with fans, including that the show wasn't demographically diverse enough for something set in New York City, among other criticisms.
Even so, this series did have quite the audience. While live viewings never really counted for much, many people streamed the series online via HBO Go (before HBO Max existed) and HBO On Demand, so it’s clear it had a fanbase, and plenty of people rewatch the series now. The show also earned plenty of awards.
With that all in mind, I’m not entirely sure if this is the right time for a Girls revival, just because I don’t there's a huge audience waiting for a revival of this particular show. Will enough fans actually care enough to tune in to make this revival worthwhile? The world is so busy. Why should fans care how these forty-somethings live when they never really had to struggle before anyway?
It’s an interesting time to announce something like this, especially given the original series' history. But I’ll still be interested to see where this goes.
You can check out all six seasons of Girls on HBO Max.
Add us as a preferred source on Google