‘Girls’ Season 5: HBO Renews for 2016, Unsurprisingly

Hey, remember ‘Girls’? That HBO Lena Dunham dramedy that always seems to stir the ol’ conversation pot, come January? The one that’s coming back for a fourth season, this very Sunday? HBO remembers. And they’ll even remember it next year, for an official fifth season. Adjust your lives accordingly.

The network made the rather ho-hum announcement (it’s no ‘Game of Thrones,’ but they’d have to be crazy to decline a fifth year) during the ‘Girls’ season 4 premiere party in New York, even confirming that early work had already been done on the first two scripts. “No one has seen them, but they exist,” Dunham said of preliminary writings, noting that she and co-showrunner Jenni Konner would return to work as early as this week.

Elsewhere, we know of ‘Girls’ season 4 that production will return to the 10-episode format over season 3's elevation to 12, while series star Andrew Rannells will enter season 4 promoted to series regular, and Adam Driver will remain a regular despite his ‘Star Wars’ casting. ‘Community’ star Gillian Jacobs will recur in a season 4 role, joining ‘American Horror Story’ and ‘Heroes’ veteran Zachary Quinto, as well as ‘Orange is the New Black’’s Natasha Lyonne, Maude Apatow, Spike Jonze (acting) and ‘Obvious Child’ star Jake Lacey.

Additionally, ‘Parenthood’ star Jason Ritter will play a small part, while Marin Ireland of ‘Homeland,’ filmmaker Desiree Akhavan and actor Peter Mark Kendall have been given recurring roles as fellow students in the writing program. ‘SNL’ alum Ana Gasteyer will also play Shoshannah’s mother, alongside ‘E.R.’ veteran Anthony Edwards as her father.

We’re only a few days out from the season 4 premiere on January 11, but in the meantime check out the latest previews and trailers below, and give us your predictions in the comments!