HBO Revives 'Girls' for 5 Episodes With Lena Dunham and Original Cast

Q: What "specific story" finally convinced Lena Dunham to bring Hannah Horvath back to HBO a decade later?

Lena Dunham has not publicly revealed the exact plot, but she said the revival happened only after a “specific story” emerged for her around Hannah Horvath at 40. What she has described is less a disclosed storyline than the moment of inspiration: around her 40th birthday, she said the “Girls” characters started “talking” to her again “in the shower,” and that convinced her there was finally a story worth telling. HBO has kept the actual narrative under wraps. The clearest clue comes from HBO’s own framing and Dunham’s past comments. HBO said the new episodes would shift from the chaos of the characters’ 20s to “the milestone of turning 40.” Dunham had also previously suggested she would revisit them only for something “really specific,” such as millennial women becoming mothers, entering middle age, or confronting the next adult phase of life. So, the “specific story” appears to be Hannah and the others facing life at 40 after the upheaval of their 20s and 30s. But beyond that broad premise, Dunham and HBO have not yet disclosed the precise story details.

Q: How will the "Girls" revival explain the glaring absence of Adam Driver's character after his real-life fallout with Lena Dunham?

HBO has not said how the revival will explain Adam Driver’s absence, and no plot details have been released. The most likely approach is a simple off-screen explanation that Adam Sackler is no longer central to Hannah Horvath’s life. That would fit both the original series and Dunham’s own recent comments. In a 2025 interview, Dunham imagined Adam as “a cult theater actor” probably living in Berlin, while Hannah was teaching at Bard, raising her son and possibly in a relationship with a woman. If the revival follows that broad outline, the show can plausibly establish that Hannah and Adam drifted apart years ago, with Adam living abroad and only referenced in passing. That route would also avoid drawing attention to the real-life rupture between Dunham and Driver. Driver was notably missing from HBO’s cast announcement, and Dunham wrote in her memoir Famesick about difficult experiences working with him, including alleged on-set outbursts. But HBO has not linked his absence to any story decision on the record. The revival’s announced focus is on Hannah, Marnie, Jessa, Shoshanna and Elijah at around age 40. That suggests the writers may simply center Hannah’s present-day family, career and friendships rather than revisit Adam as an active character. In practical TV terms, the cleanest answer is likely that Adam exists in the show’s world, but offscreen, distant and no longer essential.

3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Oct 13

Five new episodes of “Girls” will begin filming next year, HBO said, reviving the millennial comedy about a decade after it ended.
Lena Dunham will return as Hannah Horvath alongside Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet and Andrew Rannells, with Judd Apatow back as an executive producer.
Adam Driver and former co-showrunner Jenni Konner were not included in HBO’s announcement; Dunham wrote in her memoir about difficult relationships with both and split professionally from Konner in 2018.
Under 1 million live and same-day viewers during its original six-season run did not stop the show from becoming a cultural flashpoint, and HBO said younger audiences have continued discovering it.
HBO has increasingly leaned on comedy revivals, including “And Just Like That…,” as it mines older franchises even when some original stars do not return.