--- title: Lena Dunham Loves Shonda Rhimes: Jimmy Kimmel Live! description: The Girls actress told Kimmel she had been trying to land a role on Scandal for a while before Rhimes decided there was a part for her. canonical: https://time.com/4067871/lena-dunham-shonda-rhimes-jimmy-kimmel-live/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-09T15:00:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:25:47.449Z og:title: Lena Dunham Says She Loved Being Murdered On 'Scandal' og:description: Caution: old 'Scandal' spoilers from last season ahead og:url: https://time.com/4067871/lena-dunham-shonda-rhimes-jimmy-kimmel-live/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Lena Dunham Says She Loved Being Murdered On 'Scandal' twitter:description: Caution: old 'Scandal' spoilers from last season ahead twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Lena Dunham Tells Jimmy Kimmel She Loved Being Murdered On _Scandal_  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Oct 9, 2015 3:00 PM UTC  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Oct 9, 2015 3:00 PM UTC Lena Dunham appeared on Thursday night’s episode of _Jimmy Kimmel Live!_ to talk about her love for Shonda Rhimes and her family’s reaction to her role on the ABC drama. The _Girls_ actress told Kimmel she had been trying to land a role on _Scandal_ for a while before Rhimes decided there was a part that was right for her. “I offered myself to Shonda multiple times and then finally there was something that was appropriate for me,” Dunham explained. “Which was this role of a whore who gets murdered.” Dunham also revealed that staying on good terms with Rhimes is one of her top priorities. “I’m literally more afraid of speaking words that Shonda hasn’t permitted me to speak than I would be like if Barack Obama shared a secret with me,” she said. When Kimmel asked Dunham how she felt seeing herself get murdered, she said, “I loved it. I was fascinated by the entire thing.” Her family, however, had mixed feedback. While her father decided not to watch the episode, her mother and sister critiqued her performance for being too similar to her character on _Girls_. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4067871/lena-dunham-shonda-rhimes-jimmy-kimmel-live/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4067871/lena-dunham-shonda-rhimes-jimmy-kimmel-live/"},"headline":"Lena Dunham Tells Jimmy Kimmel She Loved Being Murdered On Scandal","datePublished":"2015-10-09T15:00:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:25:47.449Z","description":"Caution: Scandal spoilers from last season ahead","url":"https://time.com/4067871/lena-dunham-shonda-rhimes-jimmy-kimmel-live/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","lena dunham","Scandal","Jimmy Kimmel","TV","shonda rhimes","jimmy kimmel live","Late Night Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4067871/lena-dunham-shonda-rhimes-jimmy-kimmel-live/","name":"Lena Dunham Tells Jimmy Kimmel She Loved Being Murdered On Scandal"}}]}] ```