Lena Dunham Says She’s Not Starring In Her Own Netflix Show Because She Doesn’t Want Her Body “Dissected Again” After ‘Girls’

Lena Dunham, who made her name helming the love-it-or-hate-it comedy Girls on HBO, is set to return to the small screen in 2025 with a new, autobiographical series on Netflix.

The autobiographical romantic comedy, called Too Much, stars Hacks actress Meg Stalter as a woman who moves to London after suffering a messy break up, where she ends up falling for a musician, played by White Lotus actor Will Sharpe.

Dunham recently confessed it was “a hard choice” to cast Stalter in the project after previously writing, directing and starring in her own work, including Girls.

Speaking to The New Yorker, Dunham explained that she was not willing to face the same level of backlash about her body that she received while starring in Girls.

“I was not willing to have another experience like what I’d experienced around Girls at this point in my life,” Dunham said. “Physically, I was just not up for having my body dissected again.”

She continued, “It was a hard choice – not to cast Meg [Stalter], because I knew I wanted Meg — but to admit that to myself.”

Dunham was subject to heavy criticism for her body and her appearance while on Girls, so much so it spawned several think pieces and an internet-wide debate. One episode in particular that sparked heavy debate came in a Season 2 episode where Dunham’s character, Hannah, has a steamy affair with a handsome doctor played by Patrick Wilson.

Dunham fought through it all, however, and Girls finished in 2017 after six seasons on HBO.

While discussing Too Much, Dunham candidly reflected on her choice to cast another actress instead of herself.

“I used to think that winning meant you just keep doing it and you don’t care what anybody thinks. I forgot that winning is actually just protecting yourself and doing what you need to do to keep making work,” she said.

She also confessed that she will no longer be making Mattel’s Polly Pocket movie after seeing Greta Gerwig‘s colorful take on Barbie.

“I felt like, unless I can do it that way, I’m not going to do it. I don’t think I have that in me. I feel like the next movie I make needs to feel like a movie that I absolutely have to make. No one but me could make it. And I did think other people could make ‘Polly Pocket,'” she said.

A premiere date for Too Much has not been announced yet, but it’s expected to premiere on Netflix in 2025.