Lena Dunham’s New Netflix Show Is Not Girls – But It Is Drawn From Her Real Life

Netflix is Too Much's new comedyThirteen years after Girls put her on the Hollywood map, Lena Dunham is back with a new television series, Too Much, that’s once again inspired by her real-life experiences. This time around, the eight-time Emmy nominee has teamed up with British musician Luis Felber, her husband of nearly four years, to create what she describes as a classic “wherever you go, there you are” love story. The 10-episode series, which is now streaming on Netflix, follows Jessica Salmon (played by Hacks actor and comedian Megan Stalter), a New Yorker who moves to London after a painful breakup with her boyfriend of seven years, Zev (Michael Zegen). Not long after her arrival in the British capital, Jessica begins a relationship with a local punk musician, Felix (Will Sharpe of The White Lotus fame). By all accounts, Felix is dreamy, attentive and charming. Still, Jessica finds herself driven to the brink of self-sabotage by the Instagram posts of Zev’s new fiancée, Wendy Jones (Emily Ratajkowski), who happens to be a social media influencer.Megan Stalter stars as Jessica on Too Much, streaming now on NetflixThough Lena worked closely with Emily Ratajkowski to ensure Wendy would be a fully fleshed-out character, she was adamant the principal antagonist for most of the show’s first season would be Jessica’s idea of Wendy, as viewed through the filters of social media, rather than Wendy herself.“So many of us have done the classic compare-and-despair. It was always something we did, but social media has made it so much easier,” she told HuffPost in an interview. “Women in our culture ... we want to support each other, but then there’s also all of this comparison that causes you to villainise someone or think their reality is somehow easier than yours.” “Jessica’s dismissive of Wendy’s career as an influencer,” she added. “She’s dismissive of Wendy’s beauty because of stereotypes about what a conventionally attractive woman might be experiencing in her inner life. But at the end of the day, she finds that Wendy is someone she can relate to much more deeply than she could have imagined.”Actor Will Sharpe, right, gets to showcase his musical chops as Felix, Jessica's London-based love interest. Much of the early buzz on Too Much has emphasised Lena’s decision to not cast herself as the lead character. She does, however, have a supporting role as Jessica’s older sister, Nora. But before belong, Megan came to view Jessica as “a version of me and Lena together, with her own thing going on”. “I clicked with [Lena] immediately, and I just was obsessed with wanting to be around her,” she quipped. “When you spend a lot of time hanging out with someone, you start to say stuff the way they say it and have little catchphrases, so I feel like the character is [both of] us together. It’s such a beautiful, funny, serious and realistic love story.” Will echoed those sentiments, noting that Too Much gave him a rare opportunity to showcase his musical chops on-screen.“I clicked with [Lena] immediately, and I just was obsessed with wanting to be around her,” Megan Stalter, right, said.“We had a few days of rehearsal, which was when we first met in London and read the scenes, but we didn’t kind of overcook it before we started filming,” he recalled. “That meant that as the characters are sort of getting to know each other in the series, we were also doing the same thing.” He went on to note: “All of these characters are so brilliantly drawn. They all have layers to unpack, and one of the most enjoyable and rewarding things about being a part of this series, I think, was going on that journey.” It’s easy to find parallels to Lena’s off-screen life in Too Much. She relocated to London ― where she and her husband still reside ― in 2019, and was quickly taken by the idea of writing a romantic comedy with an expat character at its centre. Lena Dunham's husband Luis Felber, left, is a co-creator and executive producer of Too Much.Luis, she said, brought his talents as a musician to the series’ soundtrack and helped ensure that the show’s British-isms were accurate. He also helped flesh out Felix and other male characters on the show. “I’d always been writing male characters sort of in this bubble, and while I was really trying to tackle them, I think there are aspects of masculinity ― a concept we’re talking about a lot culturally right now ― that having [Luis’] perspective was really valuable on,” Lena explained.“He helped turn the character of Felix from someone who could have just been sort of a knight in shining armor coming to rescue a female character into someone who had his own traumas and challenges.”Watch the trailer for Too Much below:MORE NETFLIX NEWS:These Are Our 11 Top Picks Of The New TV Shows And Films To Stream On Netflix In July 2025There’s Good News And Bad News For Anyone Still Hoping For Squid Game Season 4Thought The Stars Of The Sandman Season 2 Looked Familiar? Here's Where You've Seen Them Before

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