Girls Returns to HBO for Five-Episode Season with Original Cast Lena Dunham announced that Girls will return to HBO for a five-episode season next year, with the original core cast reprising their roles a decade after the series ended. Lena Dunham announced on Tuesday that Girls is returning to HBO for a five-episode season next year. The original core cast members Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet, and Andrew Rannells are all returning alongside Dunham. The group revealed the news in a joint Zoom call, which was recorded and posted to their respective Instagram accounts. Millennials rejoiced because Girls is officially returning exactly one decade after it aired its final season. Girls originally premiered on HBO in 2012 and became an instant phenomenon, winning critical acclaim and sweeping awards shows. The series ran until 2017 and chronicled the lives of a group of 20-something friends in New York City.The show was later ranked as one of the greatest television shows of all time by The Guardian, Variety, BBC, Rolling Stone, and the New York Times. Fans have long begged Dunham to create or even hint at a potential spinoff based on the beloved character Shoshanna Shapiro, played by Zosia Mamet. Dunham wrote about the return in her memoir Famesick, which was released earlier this year.She said the cast always agreed they would only return if there was a specific story they were burning to tell. She missed the characters but for a long time could not picture them in the present day.Then, around her 40th birthday, the characters started talking to her in the shower. As fans may remember, once this fivesome starts talking it is pretty hard to get them to stop, she added. Dunham called it rare to return to something that changed her life with hindsight, gratitude, and understanding. She said she loves these girls and boy, their friends at HBO, and everyone who has discovered the show.Dunham Addresses Rift With Co-Showrunner Jenni KonnerDunham also addressed the creative team behind the original series. Since the show ended, she has revealed that she no longer speaks to Jenni Konner, who was co-showrunner and a close creative partner. Dunham claimed she felt pressured by Konner, 55, to negotiate equal salaries even though she was the sole creator of the show. Konner has not publicly responded to the claims.HBO executives expressed enthusiasm for the project. An executive vice president and head of HBO and HBO Max comedy programming said the network is thrilled to have Dunham turn her gaze from the tumult of one's twenties to the milestone of turning 40.The statement noted that the world has changed since viewers last saw Hannah, Marnie, Shoshanna, Jessa and Elijah, but fans old and new will be happy to see how they have grown and relieved that they are still the Girls they knew. Dunham also spoke about the cast on the Today show in April 2026, referring to her Famesick memoir.Dunham Discusses Magical Cast Bond And New BabyShe said she really shares in the book that there were a lot of magical moments and that the entire cast has a special bond. In personal news, Dunham revealed last month that she welcomed a baby girl with her husband Luis Felber. The actress gave up any possibility of carrying her child after electing to undergo a total hysterectomy in 2018 because of years of endometriosis-related pain.Fans were surprised when she revealed that she and Felber had brought a daughter into the world with the assistance of a surrogate. Earlier this year she spoke about coming to terms with not being able to carry her own children, which had always been her dream.Dunham Shares Details On Hysterectomy And CannesShe made the decision to have her womb, cervix and an ovary removed after enduring chronic health issues and acknowledged it was only in the aftermath of the surgery that she fully processed the loss. Dunham also addressed accusations at the Cannes Film Festival in May, telling reporters she had no comment on any of that and was saving it all for her book.The new season will mark a major reunion for the cast and a return to the characters that defined a generation of television.