--- title: Girls: Lena Dunham Reveals Jemima Kirke Tried to Quit description: During a recent interview with Lena Dunham, the Girls creator and star revealed that costar Jemima Kirke once tried to quit the show. canonical: https://time.com/4620850/girls-lena-durham-jemima-kirke-jessa-quit/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-03T18:46:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:39:51.201Z og:title: Lena Dunham Reveals Girls Star Jemima Kirke Tried to Quit Before Season 2 og:description: But what would Girls be without Jessa? og:url: https://time.com/4620850/girls-lena-durham-jemima-kirke-jessa-quit/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt204869bac7015d1c/6988b446f887dc7bfbe98980/jemima-kirke.jpeg?branch=production&width=660&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 660 og:image:height: 371 og:image:alt: jemima-kirke og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Lena Dunham Reveals Girls Star Jemima Kirke Tried to Quit Before Season 2 twitter:description: But what would Girls be without Jessa? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt204869bac7015d1c/6988b446f887dc7bfbe98980/jemima-kirke.jpeg?branch=production&width=660&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Lena Dunham Reveals _Girls_ Star Jemima Kirke Tried to Quit Before Season 2 > Sponsored content. 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There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=a88d34e0-27bc-4b8a-9206-0bed8b54f2c2&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jan 3, 2017 6:46 PM UTC  Jemima Kirke on Girls Jemima Kirke on Girls HBO  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jan 3, 2017 6:46 PM UTC The sixth season of [_Girls_](http://time.com/4519925/lena-dunham-breakfast-club/) is set to debut [Feb. 12](http://tvline.com/2016/11/17/girls-season-6-premiere-date-final-episodes-february-2017-hbo/), meaning the final 10-episode installment of the popular HBO dramedy about four female friends living in New York City will come to a close mid-spring. But during a recent [Glamour interview](http://www.glamour.com/story/the-cast-of-girls-glamour-february-cover-interview) with creator/star [Lena Dunham](http://motto.time.com/4608914/lena-dunham-abortion-apology/) (Hannah Horvath) and costars[ Jemima Kirke](http://motto.time.com/4466581/lena-dunham-photoshop-campaign/) (Jessa Johansson), Allison Williams (Marnie Michaels) and Zosia Mamet (Shoshanna Shapiro), Dunham revealed why the series was almost very different. While discussing the least and most satisfying thing about their time on the show, Dunham divulged that Kirke tried to end her role after just one season. “I think it’s time for us to disclose to the world that, like, three days before season two, Jemima tried to quit,” Dunham said. “I remember being in a cab. And Jemima called me. She was like, ‘I have to tell you something. It’s not a big deal. I don’t want you to freak out. I want to quit the show.'” Kirke then explained why she had been on the verge of this decision. “My sense of who I was and what I wanted was really thin,” she said. “I really wasn’t sure what the f—k I was doing.” However, she went on to reveal that she would’ve missed out on her favorite on-set experience had she left. “My best day was the day that I experienced what it’s like to be picked up \[in the air\] by Adam Driver,” she said. Read more at [Glamour.com](http://www.glamour.com/story/the-cast-of-girls-glamour-february-cover-interview). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4620850/girls-lena-durham-jemima-kirke-jessa-quit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4620850/girls-lena-durham-jemima-kirke-jessa-quit/"},"headline":"Lena Dunham Reveals Girls Star Jemima Kirke Tried to Quit Before Season 2","datePublished":"2017-01-03T18:46:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:39:51.201Z","description":"But what would Girls be without Jessa?","url":"https://time.com/4620850/girls-lena-durham-jemima-kirke-jessa-quit/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt204869bac7015d1c/6988b446f887dc7bfbe98980/jemima-kirke.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt204869bac7015d1c/6988b446f887dc7bfbe98980/jemima-kirke.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"jemima-kirke","caption":"Jemima Kirke on Girls","creditText":"HBO","representativeOfPage":true}],"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":"https://time.com/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4620850/girls-lena-durham-jemima-kirke-jessa-quit/","name":"Lena Dunham Reveals Girls Star Jemima Kirke Tried to Quit Before Season 2"}}]}] ```