Here’s Why One of HBO’s ‘Girls’ Went Missing All Season
The “Goodbye Tour” for HBO’s Girls was an unusual one, in that the final few episodes of the farewell season were notably devoid of major characters. The penultimate outing even introduced a major twist to one character’s absence, which executive producer Jenni Konner explains was intentional.
You’re warned of Girls spoilers for the final season, but even as ninth episode “Goodbye Tour” made a point of Zosia Mamet’s Shoshanna having been on the periphery long enough to gain a fiancée no one met, it seemed notably odd of one of the show’s most memorable characters to be so marginalized in a final season. The point of “Goodbye Tour” was to dissolve the core four friends (who had only ever shared about twelve scenes in total), and producer Jenni Konner tells TVLine that Shosh’s exit had to make sense early on:
The whole point of the ending for Shosh is that Shosh is on her own and doesn’t want to be with these people, so it wouldn’t really make sense to have her around that much [after episode 2’s ‘I picked the wrong friends’ epiphany]. Every season someone is missing somewhere. We’re not a show that says, ‘OK, here are our four characters — what are they all doing?’
If anything, Shoshanna’s exit reflects the character’s original conception, which was that of a much smaller role until Zosia Mamet impressed everyone with her performance. Amy Schumer even auditioned for the role, but was considered better-suited to a Season 2 role as Natalia (Shiri Appleby)’s best friend.
Season 6 offered at least some resolution for every character, but was poor Shosh unfairly sidelined for the final Girls?