Lena Dunham Has One Condition To Revive HBO's Girls

2012 was a different time. Barack Obama was the U.S. President, "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen and "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye (featuring Kimbra) topped the Billboard charts, and "Gangnam Style" was, like, a thing. Also, "Girls," the comedy series created and helmed by writer, director, and actor Lena Dunham, stared airing on HBO and inspired literal decades of discourse.

Dunham is returning to the small screen with Netflix's new original series "Too Much," which premieres on July 10 — and in a feature in Variety, she admitted that she would consider a revival of "Girls" (sort of like the "Sex and the City" reboot "...And Just Like That," except hopefully a "Girls" reboot would be good). It would be tricky, though.

"If we had something to say that was really specific and it was a moment in their lives where we felt like revisiting it — like millennial women becoming mothers or stepping into menopause or going to live at old-age homes — I would always want to work with those people again," Dunham explained. This makes sense, because "Girls" featured an incredible ensemble, all of whom played now-beloved characters ... and Dunham did take some time to weigh in on their fates, as she imagined them in real time.

"Shoshanna was married to, then divorced from, the mayor of New York City, and she runs an athleisure startup that's zero-waste," Dunham said of Zosia Mamet's high-strung Shoshanna Shapiro. So, what about Marnie Michaels (Allison Williams), the eminently meme-able type-A singer whose rendition of "Stronger" still haunts fans of the show? "Marnie — it's third marriage," Dunham mused. "She still sings, but I think Marnie really needs to take it to sex and love addicts anonymous."

As for Jemima Kirke's frankly obnoxious free spirit Jessa Johansson, Dunham was quite clear: "Jessa is unvaccinated and lives on a boat in Croatia." So, what about the men on the series — specifically, Adam Sackler (Adam Driver), Ray Ploshansky (Alex Karpovsky), and Elijah Krantz (Andrew Rannells)? According to Dunham:

"Adam is a cult theater actor, and he's probably living in Berlin, and Ray is still on city council and running his coffee shop and doing better than anyone. Elijah is the fourth lead on a sitcom, making a good amount of money and still looking for love in all the wrong places."

Hilariously, Dunham saved her own character, Hannah Horvath, for last. "Oh my God, I forgot about her!" Dunham exclaimed. "She teaches at Bard [College] and loves raising her son. She probably has a girlfriend who's, like, a chef. And she's less obsessed with being famous. That is where I feel that she would land."

When "Girls" first came out, it was met with immediate backlash, not all of which was in good faith (to put it lightly). There was, just to get this out of the way, an inordinate amount of body-shaming directed at Lena Dunham — who, as Hannah Horvath, frequently bared it all on the series, and people also seemed to think that Dunham's central women were meant to represent reality. As a longtime fan of "Girls," I'm happy to see the culture pivot back around and reassess "Girls," which, if I may be so bold, is a really good show! Dunham is an excellent and extremely funny writer, and she, Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, and Zosia Mamet were perfectly cast as Hannah, Marnie, Jessa, and Shoshanna. Whereas "Sex and the City" was meant to represent some idealized version of New York City where writers like Sarah Jessica Parker's Carrie Bradshaw could somehow afford a luxurious studio on the Upper East Side despite writing an infrequent column in a third-rate local newspaper, "Girls" did, whether the critics want you to believe this or not, show a very different side of the city.

Yes, Hannah and her friends are undeniably privileged, but we're also watching them suffer physically, emotionally, and mentally throughout "Girls." Hannah notably deals with mental health issues throughout the show, Jessa is a cocaine and heroin addict in varying degrees of recovery, and Shoshanna and Marnie both have genuine commitment issues and troubled relationships. Underneath all of the bluster — like the now-famous line where Marnie opines, "Like, oh, let's make fun of the girl who took a risk and put herself out there creatively" — there's real pathos and true human emotion, and it's thanks to Dunham's vision that "Girls" does stand the test of time.

In the profile, Dunham addresses the fact that people are finally starting to appreciate "Girls" to the fullest, and it speaks to her personal and professional growth that she's taking the whole thing in stride. "Whatever the immediate response is feels so big and all-consuming, [but] it will change and grow and shift over time — and that part isn't about you," Dunham said. So, what about her next project, "Too Much?"

Unlike "Girls," Lena Dunham's series "Too Much" doesn't feature the writer and director front and center; though she plays the supporting character Nora on the show, the series is led by Meg Stalter, a YouTube darling and standout on the HBO comedy "Hacks." (She plays Kayla Schaeffer, the big-hearted but deeply erratic agent who works alongside Paul W. Downs' Jimmy LuSaque Jr.) According to the profile, while Dunham was directing her 2022 Amazon film "Catherine Called Birdy" (which stars Bella Ramsey and is based on the best-selling young adult novel of the same title), one of her other stars, Andrew Scott, showed her some of Stalter's videos. From there, Dunham started writing "Too Much" specifically for Stalter, and eventually, Will Sharpe, a standout star of "The White Lotus" season 2, joined the series as well. As Jessica, Stalter plays a woman who leaves New York for London to start a new life after going through a horrible breakup ... when she meets Sharpe's Felix, a struggling musician.

Dunham was quick to clarify to interviewer Ellise Shafer that, while the story bears some similarities to her own life, it's not fully autobiographical. (Dunham moved to London in 2021 to shoot "Catherine Called Birdy" and met her now-husband Luis Felber, who's also a musician; the rest is history.) "It's certainly not quote-unquote based on a true story, but like everything I do, there is an element of my own life that I can't help but inject," she explained.

Elsewhere, Dunham said that she's not as interested in acting these days ... but could be convinced. "I'm not retired!" Dunham told Shaffer, adding that acting is "not where [her] head is right now." Still, she knows her audience, as always: "I'm available; I'm considering. I know this is an industry magazine — listen, guys, I'm considering! But I'm not thinking that way."

Dunham's certainly not retired in general. Besides "Too Much," she also has a Netflix romantic comedy starring Natalie Portman called "Good Sex" in the pipeline. And speaking of Carly Rae Jepsen, the two are teaming up to write a musical based on the teen comedy "10 Things I Hate About You." So maybe, just maybe, Dunham will also find time to get the gang back together and stage a "Girls" revival.

"Girls" is available to stream on HBO Max right now.