NEW YORK – Allison Williams is calm before the news breaks.
It’s Oct. 13, and in a few hours, the internet will be abuzz with the surprising news that a “Girls” reboot is coming to HBO. But right now, in a room at 1 Hotel Central Park overlooking Manhattan’s iconic green space, Williams is laughing, seated on a plush couch with a throw blanket and flanked by Baked by Melissa cupcakes.
The actress is having a moment.
She returned for “M3GAN 2.0” in 2025, in which she reprised her role as Gemma and also served as a producer, and recently wrapped filming for “Homewrecker,” a survival thriller that has further expanded her genre canyon into sci-fi.
And as she sat down with USA TODAY to talk about her “Girls” character, friendships and her journey with eczema,
another chapter of her career was about to begin.
For the “Girls” reboot, Williams is set to reprise the role of Marnie, alongside Lena Dunham's character Hannah, Jemima Kirke's Jessa, Zosia Mamet's Shoshanna and Andrew Rannells’ Elijah, for five new episodes, with production set for 2027.
The show, which followed the lives of the group of 20-something friends as they navigated New York City, aired for six seasons, from 2012 to 2017. It was nominated for 19 Emmys and won two during its run.
“The fact that the macro things that we're dealing with in the show, the characters, the archetypes, the conversations, the conflict, the relationships, that those things are all evergreen enough to be relatable and a little bit nostalgic, is such an honor,” Williams says.
Marnie’s Gen Z character arc
Nearly a decade after “Girls” ended, its characters have found a second life online. The show has experienced a cultural resurgence among Gen Z, whose relationship with it is shaped as much by TikToks and memes as the series itself.
And, perhaps surprisingly, Marnie has gained sympathy among Gen Z, who seem to view her with more patience than their millennial predecessors did.
“Oh, let’s make fun of the girl who took a risk and put herself out there creatively,” a line Marnie initially said to defend a terrible music video she made, has taken on a new life as a popular TikTok audio. Edits of Marnie's plot line in “The Panic in Central Park” set over Charli XCX’s “Party 4 U” have racked up millions of views.
And really, is there any cringier TV character in recent memory than Marnie Michaels?
There was that time she took center stage at Hannah’s birthday party with a painful rendition of "Take Me or Leave Me." Her “Laurel Canyon classic” wedding makeup that paid homage to her “cultural heritage, which is white Christian woman.” And lest we forget when she gave us that iconic performance of Kanye West’s song “Stronger,” complete with the “I could be your white Kate Moss tonight” adlib, while tagging along to her ex-boyfriend Charlie’s company office party.
Marnie is fixated on status, chronically high strung and narcissistic.
“Honestly, it was so cathartic to play her,” Williams says. “It was so freeing to do the most embarrassing possible version of every single thing I was doing, but with 100% commitment and knowing that it was going to exist somewhere forever.”
When “Girls,” was airing, that commitment made Marnie the show’s most-hated character. The Daily Beast in 2014 titled a piece, “Is Marnie From ‘Girls’ the Worst Character on TV?” Comedian Bowen Yang shared that he and his roommate had a “Don’t be a Marnie” sign in their apartment.
Williams recalls that people used to approach her on the streets of New York to tell her how much they hated her.
“In a way it was a compliment because she felt so real to people that they had really big reactions to her,” Williams says.
These days, though, it seems like everyone is a Marnie. (Williams herself is between Marnie and Shosh, but “obviously, a lifelong aspirational Jessa.”)
Marnie’s prioritization of her own success and commitment to protecting her peace don’t feel so out of place in 2026.
Likely the most therapy and mental health literate generation in history, Gen Z has made work-life balance and self care top priorities.
“I think for [Gen Z], you're sort of like, if I'm not looking out for my best interests, I'm sorry, whose job is that other than mine?” Michaels says. “Marnie was sort of early to that party in a way that people found it hard to look at, but now is undeniable.”
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Williams sees ‘Girls,’ friendships, differently now
In the decade since “Girls” ended, OG viewers have noted that part of their distaste with Marnie may have been that she took on unlikeable traits they recognized within themselves, and in time, they’ve found themselves looking back with more empathy.
Williams has, too.
“That funhouse mirror thing is so difficult in your 20s because you're both being who you are, but also still figuring it out secretly at the same,” Williams says.
The actors from “Girls” have been open about the ways that audiences struggled to distinguish themselves from their characters during filming. Dunham wrote about it extensively in "Famesick."
“I'm more comfortable and aware of who I am now than I was when I made the show, and so I don't feel like any proximity to Marnie can hurt me,” Williams says.
Part of that journey of self awareness has included taking on new creative projects, becoming a mother – she and actor Alexander Dreymon have a son, Arlo, 4 – and partnering with Sanofi and Regeneron to speak out about her issues with eczema.
As a child, she took oatmeal baths and sometimes wore mittens to bed to stop from scratching, and as an adult, she struggled with the insecurity of having visible rashes and scratch marks ahead of public appearances. When it recently moved to her scalp, she realized she needed a new solution, and started treatment with Dupixent. She’s now a spokesperson for the brand.
“I hadn't thought about treating things that are going on with your skin, treating my eczema, from within. It always, to me, was something that I was going to treat topically. So the idea that my body is treating it from the inside was really kind of a mindset shift,” Williams says.
And the friendships that were so pivotal to “Girls” are ones that Williams holds close in her own life. She caught up with Dunham this past weekend in Connecticut with their families.
“We’re all closer now than we were in our 20s, and I think that's because our 20s were spent figuring out who we were, and now we know that we'll spend the rest of our lives getting to know ourselves and each other,” Williams says.
All adventurous women wondering how the “Girls” characters will fare in modern times will get a chance to find out.
Let’s just hope that Marnie hasn’t discovered TikTok comment sections.
Rachel Hale’s role covering Youth Mental Health at USA TODAY is supported by a partnership with Pivotal and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input. Reach her at rhale@usatoday.com and @rachelleighhale on X.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Allison Williams on why she’s reprising ‘most-hated’ Marnie character on ‘Girls’ reboot
