Lena Dunham at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards in 2023If you were hoping that the ongoing wave of TV reboots might have inspired Lena Dunham to bring back her hit show Girls, we’re afraid you might be in for a bit of a wait.
During a recent interview with The Ankler, Lena was asked if she’d considered whether a Girls revival could work, eight years on from the award-winning show’s finale.
“We haven’t had a conversation about a reunion only because we always said when the show ended that if we were going to go back, it would have to be at such a different phase in their lives,” Lena explained.
Rather than revisiting the characters when they’re “at Sex And The City age”, Lena suggested: “Let’s check in when they’re 60 [and have] taken even another leap.
“Part of the goal of the show was always to lean into what was unexpected, so we want to be unexpected if we come together again.”
Lena Dunham as Hannah in Girls’ final season back in 2017Throughout its six-season run, Girls was largely revered by critics, winning two Golden Globes, two Emmys and a Bafta.
However, it was also criticised by many for a variety of issues, most notably the lack of diversity on a show set in New York in the 2010s.
Lena told The Ankler: “In terms of the characters, so much of the show was about their lack of awareness about sexual boundaries, about their own mental health, about the way that the world works and what is and isn’t appropriate to say or do.
“And I feel like in a world after Me Too, in a world after the summer of 2020 uprisings and the conversation that existed in America around race, the conversations that are happening around gender, that so much of the confusion and ignorance that the characters exhibited – which was a part of their story – would be almost impossible for people who lived in Brooklyn and were plugged into the world to really exhibit.”
Reflecting on the backlash Girls received, Lena claimed she’s “hard to imagine the show having more blowback”, quipping that it “had probably the maximum amount of blowback that a show with that number of viewers can experience”.
“It was like 800 times the blowback of the viewership,” she joked. “I feel like we had blowback from people who weren’t even watching the show; they were just wanting to join in a little bit of an internet party.
“Given the changes in the television landscape, given the changes in the political landscape, given both the positive and negative depictions of women on screen, I really wonder what we would have been able to get away with.”
She continued: “It’s fascinating because when MAGA culture really started to emerge clearly, I remember certain friends of mine being so shocked by the way that certain people spoke or thought. It was a surprise to them, and having been online in the early days of Girls, it wasn’t a surprise to me because there were those voices, they just hadn’t created a larger umbrella of identification over themselves.
“So, they were always there and I always knew they were thinking very differently than our audience was, and never the twain shall meet. But I didn’t have a word for what they were.”
After Girls went off the air in 2017, Lena has appeared in shows like American Horror Story and the film Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.
She also directed the first season of Industry, created the comedy Camping and executive produced Genera+ion.
For her next venture, Lena has created, written and directed the Netflix comedy Too Much, led by Hacks star Megan Stalter and The White Lotus’ Will Sharpe, which will premiere on the platform later this year.
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Lena Dunham at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards in 2023If you were hoping that the ongoing wave of TV reboots might have inspired Lena Dunham to bring back her hit show Girls, we’re afraid you might be in for a bit of a wait.During a recent interview with The Ankler, Lena was asked if she’d considered whether a Girls revival could work, eight years on from the award-winning show’s finale.“We haven’t had a conversation about a reunion only because we always said when the show ended that if we were going to go back, it would have to be at such a different phase in their lives,” Lena explained.Rather than revisiting the characters when they’re “at Sex And The City age”, Lena suggested: “Let’s check in when they’re 60 [and have] taken even another leap.“Part of the goal of the show was always to lean into what was unexpected, so we want to be unexpected if we come together again.”Lena Dunham as Hannah in Girls’ final season back in 2017Throughout its six-season run, Girls was largely revered by critics, winning two Golden Globes, two Emmys and a Bafta.However, it was also criticised by many for a variety of issues, most notably the lack of diversity on a show set in New York in the 2010s.Lena told The Ankler: “In terms of the characters, so much of the show was about their lack of awareness about sexual boundaries, about their own mental health, about the way that the world works and what is and isn’t appropriate to say or do.“And I feel like in a world after Me Too, in a world after the summer of 2020 uprisings and the conversation that existed in America around race, the conversations that are happening around gender, that so much of the confusion and ignorance that the characters exhibited – which was a part of their story – would be almost impossible for people who lived in Brooklyn and were plugged into the world to really exhibit.” Reflecting on the backlash Girls received, Lena claimed she’s “hard to imagine the show having more blowback”, quipping that it “had probably the maximum amount of blowback that a show with that number of viewers can experience”.“It was like 800 times the blowback of the viewership,” she joked. “I feel like we had blowback from people who weren’t even watching the show; they were just wanting to join in a little bit of an internet party.“Given the changes in the television landscape, given the changes in the political landscape, given both the positive and negative depictions of women on screen, I really wonder what we would have been able to get away with.”She continued: “It’s fascinating because when MAGA culture really started to emerge clearly, I remember certain friends of mine being so shocked by the way that certain people spoke or thought. It was a surprise to them, and having been online in the early days of Girls, it wasn’t a surprise to me because there were those voices, they just hadn’t created a larger umbrella of identification over themselves.“So, they were always there and I always knew they were thinking very differently than our audience was, and never the twain shall meet. But I didn’t have a word for what they were.”After Girls went off the air in 2017, Lena has appeared in shows like American Horror Story and the film Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.She also directed the first season of Industry, created the comedy Camping and executive produced Genera+ion.For her next venture, Lena has created, written and directed the Netflix comedy Too Much, led by Hacks star Megan Stalter and The White Lotus’ Will Sharpe, which will premiere on the platform later this year.MORE TV NEWS:Jennifer Aniston Was As Surprised As We Were By Her Appearance In The Last Of UsEmily Mortimer Gets Real About Watching Son Sam Nivola’s White Lotus Sex SceneHere’s How Black Mirror Is Messing With Fans’ Heads Like Never Before In This Season 7 Episode Entertainment, we love tv, girls, Lena Dunham, we-love-tv, lena-dunham HuffPost UK – Athena2 – All Entries (Public)
