Lena Dunham was surprised by fan response to Adam Driver’s “Girls ”character: 'That is “not” what I was going for'

Shania RussellSun, April 12, 2026 at 8:09 PM UTC

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Lena Dunham and Adam Driver on 'Girls' in 2014 season 3 premiereCredit: Jessica Miglio / HBO / Courtesy: Everett Collection

Lena Dunham says the reaction to Adam Driver's controversial Girls character was not what she expected.

While reflecting on some of the discourse surrounding her hit 2010s dramedy series, the Girls creator and star opened up about being unable to control the way that her writing will be received.

"It’s like the girl in the horror movie where you’re like, 'Don’t go down the stairs!' She’s going down the stairs," Dunham said in a recent chat with The New York Times. "You know why she’s going down the stairs? Because she’s a slut and she’s going to get killed. And what was interesting was that those dynamics, which in life were scary and lonely, would be recreated on television and people thought they were funny and sexy!"

Her primary example? The way people responded to the central romantic relationship in Girls, between Hannah (Dunham) and Adam (Driver), who were dysfunctional in myriad ways. A lot of it came down to Adam, a brooding alcoholic, who was often unpredictable in his behavior. But while this was a flaw Dunham was exploiting, some fans saw it as a virtue.

Adam Driver in 'Girls' season 2Credit: Jessica Miglio / HBO / Courtesy: Everett Collection

"I didn’t write Adam’s character to be a romantic hero," Dunham lamented. "By the end, everyone was like: I want a boyfriend like that! I want a boyfriend who throws two-by-fours and spanks me.'"

She clarified, "That is not what I was going for."

Ironically, by the time the show came to a close, not even Dunham's Hannah wanted a partner like Adam — which ended up marking a moment of major character growth.

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When the show first began, Adam served as the perfect boyfriend to introduce the audience to Hannah's character flaws. Their on and off-again relationship — which persisted throughout the show's six season run — often saw Adam unleashing his frustration on Hannah, while she poured her insecurities into their relationship.

Lena Dunham and Adam Driver in 'Girls' season 1Credit: Ali Paige Goldstein / HBO / Courtesy: Everett Collection

Following the show's 2012 premiere, Dunham unpacked their messy dynamic during a South By Southwest conversation with TV critic James Poniewozik.

"You don’t stay because there’s never a sweet moment. You stay because there’s these hints that something could be greater, and you're kind of reaching for it," Dunham said, referencing the good moments between the couple, often sandwiched between their toxic behavior. "I think Hannah has this sense that below it all, Adam cares about her, and I think he does. And I didn’t want to see a one-dimensional relationship where he's a dick and she has low self-esteem. She’s sort of implicit in her own treatment and he is sort of doing what he thinks he’s supposed to."

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Dunham added that she "fell in love" with the character, who Hannah sees as a "poetical" figure in the vein of Walt Whitman or David Thoreau.

"[He's] talked and lived his life in his own way and sees beauty in odd things—even though he’s lived in the shitty apartment and has no job, he’s about as liberated as a person can be," Dunham observed. "And I think there’s a lot of qualities in him that she wants for herself, like she’s partially sleeping with him because she wishes she was him."

on Entertainment Weekly

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