Lena Dunham Strikes Netflix Deal, Talks Rom-Com Series ‘Too Much’
Netflix has struck a creative partnership with multi-hyphenate Lena Dunham (Girls) and her production company Good Thing Going “to develop and create serialized first-look projects for Netflix.” The news comes as the creator is ready to return to the small screen with Netflix rom-com series Too Much this year, which she discussed during a Netflix event in London on Wednesday evening.
The show, on which Dunham functions as creator, writer, director and executive producer, marks her first scripted comedy series with Netflix and predates the newly unveiled partnership.
Before getting down to Netflix business at the London event, Scottish radio DJ and TV host Edith Bowman asked if due to the time she has spent in the U.K., Dunham could already be considered an honorary Brit. “I just got my five-year visa,” the creator shared, earning applause. “It did come with the damehood,” she then quipped.
Of the deal, Jinny Howe, Netflix’s vp drama series, said, “Lena’s authenticity and singular voice have redefined storytelling for this generation. She’s a creative powerhouse, weaving together complex and nuanced narratives that are as thought-provoking as they are entertaining. We look forward to delighting audiences with more of the deeply relatable stories they love from Lena.”
Added Dunham: “Working with Netflix to bring Too Much to life has been a dream; the trust, support and creative freedom they offer are rare and precious. My producing partner Michael P. Cohen and I are deeply excited to begin the next phase of Good Thing Going with Netflix as our home, one that supports artists and makes so many of the shows that we love as viewers. From the first chat with our Netflix team, we have been aligned in the vision to lean into classic genres and serve them up with a twist, always informed by surprising points of view.”
Starring The White Lotus season two star Will Sharpe and comedian Megan Stalter (Hacks), the ensemble cast of Too Much also features Adèle Exarchopoulos, Richard E. Grant, Rita Wilson, Stephen Fry, Emily Ratajkowski, Andrew Rannells, Rhea Perlman, Adwoa Aboah, Daisy Bevan, Dean-Charles Chapman, Janicza Bravo, Kaori Momoi, Leo Reich, Michael Zegen and Prasanna Puwanarajah.
Stalter portrays New York workaholic Jessica, who struggles after a break-up. “Every block in New York tells a story of her own bad behavior,” the synopsis reads. She shakes things up by taking a job in London and meets Felix, played by Sharpe. “Jessica and Felix’s impossible-to-ignore connection creates more problems than it fixes. Soon the pair must ask themselves if Americans and Brits actually speak the same language — particularly when it comes to the mysteries of the heart.”
Dunham told the Netflix event in London about the series’ origins. “I co-created the show with my husband, Louis Felber, who’s a large part of why I stayed in this country – besides, also crumpets and rain,” she said. “… Of course, some of my own experiences did kick start the concept for the show.”
Dunham also lauded Stalter. “I also fell in love with her work on Instagram during the pandemic, when all we needed was to be entertained,” she shared. “And what I love about her is she is truly an old-fashioned physical comedian in the vein of Carol Burnett or Elaine May but she has something really modern and also really sweet about her, and she can move between intense comedy and heavy drama with ease. She just felt like the perfect foil to feel how Americans contrast against the people of this nation. Because it didn’t take very long for me to realize that while we do technically speak the same language, there are some vast differences that I am still coming to understand.”
Dunham also gushed about Sharpe. “My first exposure to him was on the Netflix Giri/Haji. And I thought, ‘Who is this person?’ And what’s amazing is that, whether you’re watching him on Giri/Haji or White Lotus or Flowers, everything he does, he completely transforms. And this is no different.”
