Andrew Rannells Returning to ‘Girls’
Andrew Rannells is coming back to Brooklyn. The actor will return to the third season of Girls as Elijah, the troublemaking, gay ex-boyfriend of Lena Dunham’s character Hannah Horvath.
Rannells is also slated to become a series regular if the show is picked up for a fourth season, Deadline reports. He appeared in eight episodes over the first two seasons of the hit HBO comedy, and broke out on Broadway before that with his Tony-nominated performance in The Book of Mormon. He also recently starred in the family sitcom The New Normal, which was canceled after its first season.
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This latest casting news comes toward the end of a busy and somewhat rocky transitional period for Girls, which began in April with the departure of Christopher Abbott, who played hangdog boyfriend-turned-tech guru Charlie Dattolo. In June the show added Michael Zegen (Boardwalk Empire, The Walking Dead) to the cast, though there’s no word yet on what his role will be. Former Sonic Youth bassist Kim Gordon is also set to make a guest appearance on the upcoming season. After coming under fire from critics for its predominantly white cast, the upcoming season of Girls will also feature appearances from two black women: Orange Is the New Black‘s Danielle Brooks and Daily Show correspondent Jessica Williams.
Dunham recently posted a photo to her Instagram account announcing that Girls would return on January 12th at 10 p.m. on HBO.