Every Celeb Who Was Almost Cast In Girls, According To Lena Dunham

Lena Dunham spilled plenty of tea in her new memoir, Famesick, which came out on April 14. She didn’t only delve into her personal life (including those rumors surrounding her longterm ex Jack Antonoff and Lorde). She also shared behind-the-scenes details about Girls — including the impressive list of celebrities who auditioned for the hit show.

These days, it’s hard to imagine anyone else taking on the iconic roles of Hannah Horvath (Dunham), Marnie Michaelson (Allison Williams), Jessa Johansson (Jemima Kirke), and Shoshanna Shapiro (Zosia Mamet). But apparently, there were quite a few recognizable actors who almost got cast.

Dunham had specific vision in mind when selecting the Girls cast. “Our goal was to show a cool cross-section of girls who felt like they would know each other and who would be close but have enough varying viewpoints for it to really feel like we're getting four different perspectives on what life at this time would be like,” Dunham told Backstage in a 2019 interview. “I wrote [Kirke's] role with her in mind ... She was in Tiny Furniture, [and] we've known each other since high school. Allison and Zosia were people who just have wowed me in audition contacts, and it was amazing to see people who I was so inspired by just walk into a room and amaze me like that.”

Before the final four was set, however, there were a few people Dunham saw “several times,” while searching for the perfect Girls quartet though she didn’t reveal which part they were each up for. Here’s the list — plus, some other deets fans have learned over the years.

Elizabeth Olsen

Elizabeth Olsen was up for a part in Girls. Though the HBO show was not her big break, she eventually went on to play Wanda Maximoff (aka Scarlet Witch) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Dakota Johnson

Fifty Shades and Materialists star Dakota Johnson was another big name in the running for Girls.

Amy Schumer

Amy Schumer auditioned for Shoshanna. Back in 2016, Dunham shared details of Schumer’s audition in her since-archived Lenny newsletter, per Forward. “Everyone in the room was stunned by the detail and skill of her improv, the wild talent radiating off her (and I was personally intrigued by her breasts),” she wrote at the time.

“It was clear Amy wasn’t meant to play an innocent Juicy Couture lover obsessed with emoji — even if her Meatpacking District club lingo was the funniest sh*t I had ever heard,” Dunham wrote. “But when she left the room, the vibe was very ‘Someone give that lady a show, STAT!’”

Though she wasn’t a lead, Schumer wound up showing up in several Girls episodes as Angie, a close friend of Adam’s ex-girlfriend.

Cristin Milioti

Cristin Milioti — who has had roles in How I Met Your Mother, Palm Springs, and more — also auditioned for the show.

Jenny Slate

Though Jenny Slate does appear in Girls as author Tally Schifrin, she almost had a much larger role. Dunham didn’t mention Slate in her memoir, but the acot revealed she auditioned for Marnie during an appearance on the Las Culturistas podcast in 2022. “At the time the show Girls was being cast, and I went in a bunch of times for the role of Marnie and thought maybe I’d get it,” she said at the time.