The Girls reboot is set to rebrand the midlife crisis, as creator and star Lena Dunham brings the beloved characters back for a limited five-episode run next summer.
When the HBO show premiered in 2012, it hooked a generation of 20-something women navigating life against a backdrop of Facebook, hipster coffee shops, and fourth wave feminism. The appeal didn't stop after the 2017 season six finale either, as Gen Z entering their 20s resonated just as hard with Hannah, Marnie, Shoshanna, and Jessa.
In a teaser shared online, Dunham revealed the show would return for a limited five-episode run. She said she'd 'only return to [it] if there was a specific story [she was] burning to tell'. After explaining that the characters began 'talking to [her] in the shower' just as she was about to hit 40, it appears she'll be bringing her unique brand of relatable messiness to an older demographic.
Revisiting the Foursome in Their 40s
Amid the peak of millennial optimism, viewers initially saw the foursome coming of age in refreshingly flawed, cringe, chaotic, and toxic glory. Revisiting them in their 40s, it seems unlikely they'll have fallen into the one-dimensional domestic drudgery stereotypical for female characters of a certain age, even if they face new issues from perimenopause and motherhood to the pressure to harness eternal youth.
In recent years, pop culture has seen more examples of fabulous older women rejecting the Hollywood trope that only 21-year-old girls get to have fun and that women become invisible at 35. Sharon Horgan's new TV show Youth is one example, showcasing a divorcée juggling troubled kids, confusing sex, and elderly parents succumbing to dementia. Horgan recently told Vanity Fair she wanted to capture the 'chaos of middle-aged womanhood'.
Mistakes and Messy Friendships
Girls explored themes of friendship, love, money, and trauma, but at the heart of every storyline was a big mistake. Viewers saw Hannah proposition two of her bosses, Marnie post the worst music video of all time on YouTube, Jessa pursue her best friend's ex-boyfriend, and Shoshanna date Ray. The show wasn't about depicting growth but about depicting flaws.
The idea that women have an expiration date on hitting certain milestones is very real, with a 2022 survey of 2,000 Brits finding that by 29, we believe we should have secure friendships, and 'the one' should have fallen into our laps by 31. Psychotherapist Becky Crepsley-Fox tells Metro that 'there's a widespread belief that by a certain age we should have our s*** together'. She adds, 'Many people now accept your 20s as a time to go out and live it up. After that, though, patriarchal expectations kick in: settle down, have children, run the home, take life seriously.'
Becky explains that while we might not consciously accept that reality, it's 'woven into the society we live in'. 'So,' she adds, 'a woman in her 40s or 50s who's still chaotic, outgoing and a bit all over the place gets judged for the very things we celebrate in our 20s.'
With messy middle-age comes messy friendships. Towards the end of the original series, Marnie desperately tried to prove she was the 'best best friend' Hannah will ever have, and the betrayal was palpable when Hannah spotted Jessa and Adam lock eyes across the fire escape. The show's lesson: female friendships are some of the most important relationships in your life, but they can also be incredibly traumatic.
'It's completely normal for friendships to evolve over time, because we evolve too,' Becky shares. 'One Dutch study found we replace around half our close network every seven years. Expecting to like the same people for our whole lives just isn't realistic.'
Becky continues: 'I think part of this comes from how uncomfortable society is with women thinking well of themselves. It's seen as vulgar or big-headed. If we aren't allowed to acknowledge that we've grown and changed, it's very hard to update our friendships to match.'
A Reboot That Could Rebrand the Midlife Crisis
A reboot is nerve-wracking at the best of times, with viewers desperate for creators to avoid clichés or cheap laughs. But as long as the show delivers four chaotic middle-aged women naked, sabotaging each other's love lives, or inappropriately crashing a baby's christening, it will have succeeded in bringing back the Girls we all know and love.
First time round, it gave young women permission to be rude, obnoxious, and ambitious. This new iteration could be about to rebrand the midlife crisis in the best way possible.
