Lena Dunham is bringing back Girls after having a eureka moment in the shower.

The 40-year-old star has announced a revival of her classic comedy drama - which ran from 2012 to 2017 - after HBO greenlit a new five-episode run with the original cast returning.

Lena will reprise her role as Hannah Horvath in the new episodes, alongside Allison Williams as Marnie Michaels, Jemima Kirke as Jessa Johansson, and Zosia Mamet as Shoshanna Shapiro.

The original show, which ended almost a decade ago after six seasons, followed a group of friends getting through life in their 20s in New York City.

Lena said in a statement: "We always said we would only return to Girls if there was a specific story we were burning to tell.

"I've missed these characters, but for a long time I couldn't quite picture them in the present day.

"Then, right around my fortieth birthday, they started talking to me in the shower. And, as you may remember, once this fivesome starts talking it's pretty hard to get them to stop…"

As well as the four core cast members, Andrew Rannells will also be back as Elijah Krantz.

With production set to get underway next year, Lena - who served as creator, showrunner and star for the original show - is excited to bring back the show "with the gift of hindsight".

She added: "It's rare that you get the chance to return to something that changed your life with the gift of hindsight and a whole new level of gratitude and understanding.

"I love these girls (and boy), our friends at HBO and all the people who have continued to discover the show and remind us afresh why we do this, which is the joy of being together… and the chance to wear yellow mesh…"

Meanwhile, HBO hyped up the prospect of seeing the characters approaching their 40s.

Amy Gravitt, EVP and head of HBO and HBO comedy programming, said: "We're thrilled to have Lena turn her gaze from the tumult of one's twenties to the milestone of turning 40.

"To say the world has changed since we last saw Hannah, Marnie, Shoshanna, Jessa and Elijah is a massive understatement, but we know fans -- old and new -- will be happy to see how they've grown and relieved to see that they're still the Girls we knew way back when."

Last year, Lena told Variety that a revival could only happen if the new episodes "dad something to say that was really specific and it was a moment in their lives where we felt like revisiting it".

In a new Substack reflecting on the new Girls miniseries, she admitted "there was a long period in which it was impossible to imagine reconvening Girls".

She wrote: "It felt so recent and so big, like a glacier we were sailing away from.

"Then, I turned forty. I thought about the distance I felt - having not yet had a child, having come 'later' to marriage, having gone very fast in certain ways and still having some challenges with the washing machine - from the woman I thought I'd be and so many women I know.

"Maybe there was once a part of me that wanted to outrun Hannah and her ladies. Seeing the love you've so generously shared for it helped to turned me around."