
Light spoilers for Too Much ahead.
Lena Dunham spent the majority of the Girls run (and even the years after) insisting that her breakout HBO sitcom was not autobiographical — she was not Hannah Horvath, the show was a satire, and none of this was meant to be taken all that seriously. Looking back on Girls and knowing all that we know about infamous oversharer Dunham, that’s true: It’s hard to see where the show mirrors the life of its creator. Her tune is a little different when it comes to Too Much, Dunham’s first semi-autobiographical work. “The character’s based on 18 of my friends,” Dunham told Interview when asked about Megan Stalter’s Jessica. Like Dunham and her husband, Luis Felber, Jess and Will Sharpe’s Felix have a whirlwind romance despite cultural and lifestyle differences. Though Dunham has emphasized the semi in semi-autobiographical, references to Dunham’s real life abound, from the disastrous breakup that launched Dunham across the Atlantic to the little hairless dog, Astrid. Here, what we found so far, though tell us if you know whom (if anyone) Andrew Scott’s moody, wanton director is based on.
A big breakup

Jess begins the series in a state of hysterics: Her ex-boyfriend Zev (Michael Zegen) proposed to his new girlfriend, Wendy (Emily Ratajkowski). With no romantic future in New York, she takes a job opportunity in London for a chance to start anew. Zev and Jess were together for six years; Dunham and ex-boyfriend Jack Antonoff were together for five. Their split coincided with the end of Girls, and three years later, Dunham relocated to the U.K. to direct the pilot of HBO’s Industry. While Zev isn’t one-to-one with his Bleachers counterpart — for one, the former is a writer, not a guy who may or may not ruin Taylor Swift songs — he does seem like a more comparable avatar than, say, Adam Driver ever did.
A trendy new girlfriend
Ratajkowski’s Wendy Jones is described as a “knitting influencer,” which briefly summons the image of Antonoff settling down with actual textiles influencer Ella Emhoff. It’s hard not to see Zev’s young trendy girlfriend as a possible confluence of a couple of Antonoff’s post-Dunham relationships: model Carlotta Kohl and actress Margaret Qualley (and maybe also Lorde, if you believe a certain PowerPoint). A lesser show would make Wendy a punch line, but Jess grows to see that Wendy is so much more than a person on a screen. Ratajkowski grants Wendy such a warmth and self-awareness that it allows Jess and the viewer to unite in ire toward a common villain: Zev.
A little hairless dog

There’s no greater scene-stealer in Too Much than Jess’s dog, Astrid (played by Mia, a Chinese crested). Dunham has a dog of equal charm and amount of hair named Ingrid along with a coterie of fellow dogs and cats and pigs. In Too Much, however, Astrid becomes a point of conflict between Jess and Zev — a step too far in their already crumbling relationship. Dunham aficionados may remember the star’s onetime dog named Lamby. Dunham detailed Lamby’s troubles in The New Yorker, writing that then-boyfriend Antonoff (allergic to dogs) was not especially keen on the pup’s presence in their home. Lamby was eventually rehomed owing to behavioral issues, though Dunham thanked Antonoff at the time for “loving him even when he ruined floors and couches and our life. Jack knows what Lamby means to me and he let me come to the decision in my own time even when it made his days challenging.” Astrid, however, has a much sweeter disposition and looks really good in all her costumes.
A fire fiasco
“Has she set herself on fire? Yes. She being me, and it wasn’t on purpose and I was sober — just need to state that for the record,” Dunham said in Interview.
A Luis Felber cameo

Dunham’s real-life husband, Felber, upon whom Sharpe’s Felix is based, does pop up briefly as the DJ at the disastrous wedding Jess and Felix attend in the back half of the series. The song performed at the reception — the succinctly titled “I’m Horny” — was written by Felber.
A quickie wedding
Dunham and Felber got married after less than a year of dating; so do Jess and Felix. In both instances, the decision feels random and like the only possible thing that could make sense for these people.
A super-niche cameo
Rita Ora is one of Too Much’s many celebrity cameos, playing herself as Santa Claus in a commercial Jess directs in the penultimate episode. The Dunham and Ora collaboration might seem a bit random — like the brief Jessica Alba cameo at the series’ start — but real heads might remember when Dunham called into the podcast Who? Weekly, revealing herself as a rare celebrity listener of a celebrity-focused podcast. Ora is a longtime fascination of Who? Weekly, and it’s hard not to see Dunham’s casting of the singer as a way to answer the question “What’s Rita Ora up to?”
Related
- Too Much Series-Premiere Recap: New Girl in Town
- Too Much, But Not Enough
- Lena Dunham’s Characters Are Growing Up (But Still Sound Like Messes)
All the Easter eggs and references we could find.