How Closely Does ‘Too Much’ Follow Lena Dunham’s Real-Life Love Story?

Lena Dunham probably won’t love where this article is headed. “My least favorite thing would be if people were to try to Baby Reindeer it,” she previously told Vanity Fair of her semi-autobiographical fresh Netflix series, Too Much, “because it would be impossible. It’s so many influences, so many stories from friends. I would like 34-year-old women anywhere to be able to look at [Megan Stalter’s leading lady] Jessica and—while of course they won’t all connect to every aspect—see something of themselves in her.”

But that’s the tricky nature of basing art on a true story. Once audiences learn what inspired Too Much, it’s impossible for them to ignore the bits of Dunham scattered throughout the 10-episode series. There are plenty of callbacks to Dunham’s last major TV series, HBO’s Girls: Rita Wilson, who played Marnie’s mom on the first series, was cast as the mother of Jessica and her older sister Nora, portrayed by Dunham. Andrew Rannells, who once played Hannah Horvath’s gay ex, Elijah, on Girls, is Nora’s estranged husband in Too Much. Each episode of the fresh show also has a punny name riffing on a romantic comedy beloved by Dunham—with titles ranging from “Nonsense & Sensibility” to “Notting Kill.”

Jessica has those same British love stories in mind when she moves from New York City to London, where she falls for both the city and one of its inhabitants—an indie rocker named Felix (Will Sharpe). But their blossoming romance doesn’t stop Jessica from fixating on the end of her last relationship with Zev (Michael Zegen), who is newly engaged to an influencer named Wendy Jones (Emily Ratajkowski).

“She’s in a love triangle with her past—with someone who probably has her blocked on his phone and with her new boyfriend,” Dunham told VF in May. “It’s about how hard it is to accept the joyful thing that’s in front of you as you’re seductively brought back to the painful thing that’s behind you.” Dunham herself went through a break up with New York and a longtime boyfriend, Grammy-winning music producer Jack Antonoff, before going overseas to meet her now-husband: British Peruvian musician Luis Felber, who is a credited cocreator of Too Much.

Dunham insists that the show is only “about 5% autobiographical,” but there are plenty of nods to her real-life relationships in there for those with eyes to see it. Ahead, a tongue-in-cheek guide to all the ways Too Much may have been inspired by its creator’s actual breakups, friendships, and eventual marriage.

The Split From Jack Antonoff

To be clear: Dunham has already told VF that Zegen’s character, Zev, is not directly based on Antonoff. “That ex-boyfriend is very much an amalgamation of every ex that I’ve had, or that a friend’s had,” Dunham explained. “It’s this quotidian acceptance of unkindness that eats away at a person over a long period of time and degrades their sense of self. If someone were to say, ‘Who inspired that character?’ I’d be like, ‘Do you have time for me to give you 42 examples?’”

Yet Zev also bears similarities to Antanoff specifically. He and Dunham met in 2012 after being set up on a blind date by Antonoff’s sister Rachel and comedian Mike Birbiglia. They announced their split in January 2018 after more than five years of dating. “We fell in love when I was really young,” Dunham told Cosmopolitan UK two years later. “I was 25. I look back and we had a great ride, we cared for each other, but you know what? We were both starting our careers and that was our true passion.”