Whatever Happened To The Cast Of Girls?

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"I think I might be the voice of my generation," Lena Dunham's Hannah Horvath said in Season 1 of "Girls" (via the Guardian). "Or at least the voice of a generation." Since the show ended in April 2017, time has proven her right... and then some. In 2023, "#girlshbo" had accumulated 51 million views on TikTok, and its viewing figures doubled between November and January that year, as per Vice. The show even has its own dedicated re-watch podcast, with over 100,000 followers on Instagram. So "Girls" is not just a sacred text for millennials, but Gen Z too.

But what's the enduring appeal? "[I] love watching girls (HBO) [because] it makes me feel better about myself," said one X user. "[A]lso while making me aware of the pathetic white girl inside me." Another user on X praised its longevity, "Girls HBO was so ahead of its time in a way I've never seen done again." The show's evergreen popularity means there's regular reunion talk. But fans may be kept waiting for a little while. "Let's check in when they're not at 'Sex and the City' age, they've taken even another leap," Dunham, also the show's creator, said in 2025 (via the Daily Beast). "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." In the meantime, let's find out what's happened to these generation-spanning voices.

For her work on "Girls", Lena Dunham won critical acclaim and a Golden Globe. But when the show finished, she decided to take a planned hiatus from public life. "I didn't really understand how to distinguish between what was and wasn't necessary for the public. I felt confused about how I was supposed to respond," the New York native told The Times, in reference to controversies that plagued her during the show. So, what is Dunham doing today?

In 2018, she broke up with her partner of five years and Taylor Swift's BFF, Jack Antonoff. After her break-up with the "Cruel Summer" hitmaker, Dunham had a stint in rehab as she struggled with a benzodiazepine addiction. "I just don't see a place for myself in the world anymore," was the phrase Dunham repeated like a mantra when she was dropped off at rehab (via Stylist). Thankfully, she was able to get sober the same year.

To add more tragedy to this tale, in 2024, Dunham spoke about her struggle with Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. A genetic condition with symptoms ranging from hypermobility to muscle and bone pain. But, although Dunham was suffering, she didn't stop working. The prolific filmmaker directed two feature films released in 2022, "Catherine Called Birdy" and "Sharp Stick". In addition to these films, the silver lining for Dunham is that she found love and got hitched to musician Luis Felber in 2021. Like "Girls," her story is laced with tragedy, heartbreak, and love.

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

If Allison Williams' "Girls" character Marnie Michaels was anything, she was type-A. It seems in Williams' case, art imitated life or vice versa, at least when it came to her relationship with ex-husband Ricky Van Veen. "Allison really is Type A, a real go-getter. while Ricky is far more relaxed and laid-back," a source told Page Six regarding the pair's split in 2019. "Things just haven't been going well recently." In a style befitting her proactive tendencies, Williams began dating Alexander Dreymon at the end of 2019, after meeting on a film set. The couple then gave birth to a son in November 2021 and married in an under-the-radar ceremony.

Unlike her father, the former NBC newsman Brian Williams, the actress has eschewed controversy. Instead, Williams has starred in multiple films and become somewhat of a modern scream queen. She drew plaudits for her role as Rose Armitage in Jordan Peele's Oscar-winning psycho-thriller "Get Out". She then followed in Dunham's footsteps, working as executive producer and star on the cult horror "M3gan". Not to mention, outside of her scream queen oeuvre, she also started a mom podcast. The devil works hard, but Williams works harder.

When asked what advice she had for unconfident young women via her regular Instagram story Q&As, Jemima Kirke answered, "I think you guys might be thinking about yourselves too much" (via Refinery29). It was an answer that could have come straight from the mouth of her "Girls" character Jessa Johansson. Kirke's blunt and to-the-point advice has made her loved in chronically online circles.

"She's surprisingly funny," said one commentator on a Reddit post displaying her Insta-advice oeuvre. "Probably not everyone's cup of tea but love the dry snarky wit." Indeed, Kirke has had quite the esoteric career after the end of "Girls". After the show wrapped, Kirke dove headfirst into her career in art. During the show's production, she had not allowed her paintings to be featured on camera. But it's a vocation that Kirke sees as her main job, above acting. So in a studio in Brooklyn, again very "Girls"-coded, she entered her portrait painting era.

However, that doesn't mean she stepped away from acting completely. Since "Girls" left our screens, Kirke has starred in "Conversations with Friends" and the Netflix hit "Sex Education". In a world of multi-hypenates, perhaps Kirke is the first agony aunt-artist-actress?

Much like in Allison Williams' family, showbiz runs in the Mamet genes. Zosia Mamet's father, David Mamet, is the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of "Glengarry Glen Ross" and "Oleanna." So, after "Girls" ended, Mamet followed the path laid out for her by her father: writing and acting.

In 2025, Mamet released her debut book as a writer, "Does This Make Me Funny?" (she has also edited the essay-n'-recipe book "My First Popsicle: An Anthology of Food and Feelings"). The book features stories from the life of a self-proclaimed "B-minus nepo baby" (as per People). "I think this book is a little bit like a charcuterie platter," Mamet continued. "[O]f the inside of my brain." She also kept her foot in TV, starring in the middling "The Decameron" and critically lauded "The Flight Attendant." However, one black mark against her CV is that she featured in the much-memed and critically panned "Madame Web". 

A shadow looming over the final season of "Girls" was rumors of a dispute between Mamet and her three female co-stars. "I have always wondered if she wasn't as close to the other 3 girls and she and Lena maybe had a weird thing with each other," said one commentator on Reddit. But in 2024, Mamet quashed any rumors of beef. "I have nothing but love and admiration for all of them," she told the Guardian. "And if I got the chance to work with any of them again, I would absolutely love that." Here's hoping.

Like any TV show, some "Girls" cast members lasted longer than others. But when Christopher Abbot left "Girls" for pastures new, it came as a shock. Not least because Abbott's character had just committed to his relationship with Alison Williams' Marnie. Sadly, IRL, Abbott wasn't in it for the long haul.

"The world that Lena [Dunham] wrote was very real, especially in New York," the "It Comes at Night" star told the New York Times in 2013. "But it wasn't as relatable for me on a personal level. It's not that I only like to play roles I know to a T, but there's something satisfying about playing parts where you really relate to the characters." However, his reasoning didn't impress fans. "Sorry this just sounds so arrogant to me," said one on the dedicated "Girls" Reddit page. The characters that Abbot went on to play include, but are not limited to: a film director with wandering eyes, a man possessed, and a hotel heir. 

"I've got to be honest: usually when I'm done with something I don't think about it," Abbot told the Guardian in 2021. "It feels a little bit like a checklist: I've had that experience, I've had that feeling, now move on, now do something different." Despite Dunham informally pitching a "Girls" film to HBO, it sounds like Abbot won't be a part of it. Not that he needs to, he's had plenty of eclectic work since leaving the show.

Adam Driver was on "Girls" from the first season to the last,but that didn't stop him from becoming best-known for his work outside of the show. Driver landed a starring role in 2019's "Rise of Skywalker," playing the baddie Kylo Ren. He also starred in two more films in the franchise and, fittingly, his star had risen to the stratosphere by the end of the trilogy.

But Driver didn't become a blockbuster journeyman, say, in the mold of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson or Jason Momoa. Instead, the San Diego native became a muse for art-house directors. Since "Girls", Driver has worked with Michael Mann, mumblecore maestro Noah Baumbach, and French enfant terrible Leos Carax. With the latter's, "Annette", Driver also served as producer and sang in the film. It showed his full range and just how far he'd come in his career. "I totally get lost in the minutia of filmmaking, the technical aspects of it," he told The Independent. Like his former co-star Alison Williams, it seems that Driver has taken a page out of Lena Dunham's book and become a multi-hyphenate.

In his personal life, Driver has remained with his long-term wife Joanne Tucker as of this publication, whom he has been married to since his time in "Girls". In 2023, the couple welcomed their second child. From where we're standing, it's all coming up Adam.

Andrew Rannells' Elijah Krantz was a recurring character on "Girls". But since then, he has pivoted and stepped away from the camera and onto the stage. It was something he had been planning since his time on the show. "I love doing both theater and television," he told Interview Magazine in 2013. "I definitely foresee more Broadway, but I think I would like to keep the singing and the TV separate."

While shooting the fourth season of "Girls" in 2014, he took over the lead role in Broadway's "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" from How I Met Your Mother star Neil Patrick Harris. Rannells' on-stage career then went from strength to strength. He starred as King George III in "Hamilton," Whizzer in "Falsettos," and Larry in 2018's revival of "The Boys in the Band" on Broadway. Like his character on "Girls", Rannells certainly found himself.

Rannells has also been giving back. In 2021, he began making short-form videos on Cameo to raise money for the Actors Fund in the midst of the pandemic. The video messages, which cost $100 a pop, feature Rannells affirming and encouraging actors. Phrases like "You are enough," and "You are going to be all right," were common (via the New York Times). Rannells claims these positive phrases also gave him comfort. Props to Rannells for making a positive change in a very negative time.

Alex Karpovsky played the no-nonsense Ray in "Girls", and since the series, he has wasted no time in honing his comedy chops. Not did he appear in an episode of the legendary show "Curb Your Enthusiasm", but Karpovsky also turned his hand to directing. This was something he'd gained experience in before "Girls" ended, having directed both "Red Flag" and "Rubberneck". After the HBO show wrapped, he directed an episode of Netflix's dramedy "Love" and absurdist FX mini-series "Oh Jerome, No". He also brought his talents to the silver screen in Jason Reitman's political scandal flick "The Front Runner".

"I really enjoy acting, very much, but the semi-surrender of control and the waiting around sometimes gets me down," the actor-slash-director told Filmmaker Magazine in 2012. "When it reaches a point that begins to scrape at something that feels unbearable, I like to try and think about making something small and loose that nurtures spontaneity and affords me full control." So, judging by his work post-"Girls", Karpovsky is exactly where he wants to be.

When speaking to Vanity Fair in 2022, Elon Moss-Bachrach had high praise for "Girls." "It's an incredibly important show," he said. "There's so many shows that we never would've had had it not been for 'Girls.' I'm so proud and so grateful to have been a part of that." He also had positive things to say about castmates Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner, both of whom he counts as friends even all these years later. We're glad these co-stars are still in touch. But "Girls" was just the tip of the iceberg for Moss-Bachrach's career. Soon, he would star in a show that also captured the zeitgeist.

"The Bear," debuting in 2022 on FX, did for chefs what "Drive to Survive" did for Formula 1 or "Friends" did for women's haircuts. The show even spawned an internet obsession over plain white tees; with a Twitter user even tracking down the exact shirt. Trends aside, the story centered on the travails of a pokey family-owned sandwich joint in Chicago and gained praise for its razor-sharp dialogue and adrenaline-pumping pace. Moss-Bachrach played a crucial role as Richie, a chaotic yet charming chef. It was so popular that, in 2024, the premiere of Season 3 broke streaming records and was viewed by 5.4 million in four days (as per the Mirror). It sent Moss-Bachrach into the A-list, and he became The Thing in Marvel's "The Fantastic Four: First Steps". It's quite the arc, from softboi to superhero.

If any member of the "Girls" cast was going to take an unexpected career path, it was going to be Gaby Hoffmann. She grew up as an actor and before she was 10 years old had worked with the likes of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Prior to her role in "Girls", Hoffmann had taken a 15-year sabbatical from the screen. "I've always looked the same, and every 10 years I'm a little bit in fashion," Hoffmann told the Evening Standard. On the subject of revolving trends and how they reflect on feminism, Hoffman said: "'You know what's great for feminism? Respecting everybody's own choice'."

Thankfully for fans, it didn't take another 15 years or trend cycle for Hoffman to return to the screen again. In fact, she has been somewhat prolific since her appearance on "Girls". She's appeared in starry HBO production "Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty" and Netflix's "Zero Day". But, she's doing things on her own terms. "I really love my job so much. I feel like the luckiest person in the world that I get to do this for a living," she told the Guardian. "[B]ut I don't want to do it that often."