HBO confirms Lena Dunham’s ‘Girls’ to end run after Season 6

Gone “Girls� -- not today, but soon.

HBO confirmed Wednesday that Lena Dunham’s breakout comedy about the travails of 20-something women in Manhattan will end its run with a sixth and final season. The news had leaked out Tuesday, but network executives had previously declined to make it official.

“Girls� starts Season 5 on Feb. 21. A news release did not specify when the sixth season would start.

“I conceived of ‘Girls’ when I was 23 and now I’m nearly 30 -- the show has quite perfectly spanned my 20s, the period of time that it’s about -- and so it feels like the right time to wrap our story up,� Dunham, who stars in and executive produces the series, wrote in a statement.

Controversial for its dark view of city life and often uncomfortable treatment of sex, “Girls� made Dunham a major pop-culture figure, although the ratings have never been huge. The series has averaged well under 1 million total viewers on the nights that original episodes air, according to Nielsen. And Season 4 episodes dipped to some series-record lows, pulling in fewer than 500,000 total viewers.

What do you think of “Girls�?

Twitter: @scottcollinsLAT

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