It’s official: Lena Dunham’s Girls is making a comeback, five episodes at a time. The show, which first aired in 2012, has been given a new lease of life by Gen Z, who have been proselytizing it through memes, clips and podcasts. As if by collective manifestation, the show is being rebooted.

The revival of Girls coincides with the cultural and critical resurgence of the show, which has seen its viewership double between November 2022 and January 2023. Amelia Ritthaler and Evan Lazarus, Brooklyn comedians, launched the Girls Rewatch podcast in 2023, which has allowed them to have guests like Dunham and cast members on the show. The show’s redemption arc coincided with Dunham’s memoir, Famesick, which was an instant New York Times bestseller.

The show’s return also falls neatly into the new world we’re building, based on ‘Obama first-term joy.’ Nostalgia for the mid-2010s has been cropping up online, with people posting photos of themselves in 2016, longing for fixed gear bikes, sepia-toned photos, and stomp-clap music. It’s a chance for Gen Z to experience the millennial optimism they never got to experience.

‘I feel like reading Famesick felt like getting a director’s cut of Girls,’ says Peyton Dix, who hosts the podcast Lemme Say This with Hunter Harris. The book was an instant New York Times bestseller and caught the attention of HBO execs, thanks to the tenacious Gen Zers who spread the good word online. In a Substack post, Dunham credited the fans for helping her be ready to return to the series.

The revival of Girls is a reminder that everything has come back, from Gossip Girl to Too Much. It’s nostalgia-core for sure, but it’s also a chance for Gen Z to experience the millennial optimism they never got to experience.