'Too Much' cast: All about the rising stars and reliable veterans in Lena Dunham's Netflix comedy
It stars Meg Stalter as a daffy, heartbroken twenty-something who moves to London following a breakup.
Will Sharpe, Emily Ratajkowski, Andrew Rannells, and Naomi Watts round out the star-studded cast.Girls star and creator Lena Dunham is back on the small screen as creator, writer, and director of Too Much, a 10-episode Netflix series about finding love in an unfamiliar place.
Meg Stalter (Hacks) leads the ensemble cast as Jessica, a twenty-something who makes an abrupt move to London from the U.S. after a messy breakup. Unfortunately, her troubles and insecurities follow her across the pond. Jessica's desire to move on is tested by Felix (Will Sharpe), a musician who fills her life with new possibilities (and anxieties).
'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 Vanity Fair. '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 created the series along with her husband, musician Luis Felber, and it's her most hands-on small-screen effort since 2018's Camping. She also plays a small role in the seriesWith all 10 episodes now streaming on Netflix, you may be curious about the flurry of familiar faces, including cameos from Andrew Scott, Jessica Alba, Kit Harington, and Rita Ora, among others. Below, we've assembled a guide to the main cast, who they're playing, and where you've seen them before.
After finding success in the New York City sketch comedy scene, Ohio-born Meg Stalter became a viral sensation during the pandemic by routinely trying out new characters via Instagram. But it was her supporting role as daffy assistant Kayla on HBO's Hacks (2021–present) that accelerated her onscreen career.
Over the last few years, Stalter has delivered memorable turns in movies like Sometimes I Think About Dying (2023), Problemista (2023), and Please Don't Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain (2024). She was also a guest judge on a 2023 episode of RuPaul's Drag Race.
In her most high-profile role yet, Stalter leads Too Much as Jessica, who escapes to London to heal her broken heart.
'When she does naughty things or she makes mistakes, you believe in her in this way that I certainly never was able to pull off,' Dunham told Vanity Fair of Jessica. 'It was really important to me that the character be somebody that people could root for — that she had that really beautiful openness.'
'Lena is someone I've been such a huge fan of, so it was really crazy to wrap my mind around being in the show,' Stalter told Rolling Stone. 'But then when I got to know her, she felt like a sister and a friend. So now the show feels like a play that we did for each other, and that this really contains a special thing.'
Will Sharpe is a man of many talents. Stateside, he made a splash on season 2 of HBO's The White Lotus (2022) after years appearing on U.K. series like Casualty (2009–2010) and Defending the Guilty (2018–2019). But he's also a force behind the scenes, having written and/or directed several films (The Electrical Life of Louis Wain) and series (Flowers, Landscapers).
'Felix is a grunge musician like [Felber] is, and is mixed-race British,' Sharpe told Vanity Fair of the character. 'But I definitely felt in the writing of it, he necessarily becomes his own character.'
Since debuting on a 1972 episode of The Brady Bunch, Rita Wilson has been a force in film, TV, theater, music, and even journalism, having served as a contributing editor at Harper's Bazaar.
Wilson, the wife of Hollywood dad Tom Hanks, is likely best known for her work in films such as Now and Then (1995) and Jingle All the Way (1996), as well as series like The Good Wife (2011–2014) and Dunham's Girls (2013–2017), on which she played the mother of Allison Williams' Marnie.
She's also a successful producer, having helped usher Nia Vardalos' My Big Fat Greek Wedding franchise (2002–2023) onto the big screen. Her other notable producing credits include Mamma Mia! (2008), its 2018 sequel, and the Hanks-starring film A Man Called Otto (2023).
On Too Much, Wilson plays Lois, Jessica's mother. 'I feel liberated working with Lena,' Wilson told the New York Times. 'I felt that way on Girls, and I felt that way on Too Much.'
Rhea Perlman won four Emmy Awards for her turn as brassy waitress Carla on all 11 seasons of Cheers (1982–1993).
While Perlman's stayed busy over the last 30 years, the actress has been especially prolific as of late, having appeared in buzzy series like Poker Face (2023–2025) and The Studio (2025). She also played a pivotal role in the Oscar-winning Barbie (2023) as Barbie inventor Ruth Handler.
Perlman plays Dottie, Jessica's grandmother. Dunham told Vanity Fair that Perlman's character was inspired by her own grandmother, whose name is also Dottie.
'Lena has a way of creating and directing that makes people feel free,' Perlman told the New York Times. 'Maybe some people would be turned off by that much sex and that much talk of sex. But she made it so funny and so real.'
Actress, supermodel, and author Emily Ratajkowski rose to international fame after appearing in Robin Thicke's much-discussed "Blurred Lines" music video in 2013. She went on to feature in David Fincher's Gone Girl (2014) and the Amy Schumer vehicle I Feel Pretty (2018), as well as Entourage (2015), in which she memorably appeared as herself.
Ratajkowski has used her profile to speak out on women's issues, and in 2021 published My Body, an essay collection that became a New York Times bestseller.
She plays Wendy, a "knitting influencer" who begins dating Jessica's ex, Zev (Michael Zegen). It's her first major role in several years. Ratajkowski said in a 2023 interview that she stepped away from acting after growing tired of making herself "digestible to powerful men in Hollywood."
"I wanted her to be somebody that women would recognize as a modern trope of social media — easy to stalk and also hate because she's cheesy, she's posting a lot — and then find out that she's actually somebody that our girl, and maybe the audience, would want to be friends with," Ratajkowski told Vanity Fair ahead of the show's release. "I really liked the idea that she's self-aware."
Janicza Bravo is first and foremost a director. In addition to directing an episode of Too Much, Bravo has also helmed episodes of hit shows like Atlanta (2016), Poker Face (2023), and The Bear (2025). She also co-wrote and directed feature films Lemon (2017) and Zola (2020).
If she's in front of the camera, it's probably in a Dunham project, as she previously appeared in her HBO series Camping (2018) and her 2022 film Sharp Stick.
In Too Much, Bravo plays Kim, a colleague of Jessica's. When pondering what "too much" means in the context of the series, she told the New York Times, 'It's just to wake up and move through the world. I did it this morning. I'm doing it now. We are all in this room because we're exactly too much. If we hadn't been a lot, then we wouldn't be here.'
Michael Zegen has played key roles in some of the most popular series of the last two decades, from Rescue Me (2004–2011) and Boardwalk Empire (2011–2014) to The Walking Dead (2012) and The Penguin (2024).
Zegen also starred on Amazon Prime's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017–2023) as Joel, the estranged husband of Rachel Brosnahan's titular comedian.
The actor appears on Too Much as Zev, Jessica's ex. Online sleuths have speculated as to whether Zev is based on Dunham's real-life ex, Grammy-winning musician and producer Jack Antonoff, though Dunham denies any explicit connection.
'That ex-boyfriend is very much an amalgamation of every ex that I've had, or that a friend's had,' Dunham told Vanity Fair in May. '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 the 42 examples?'"
Andrew Rannells won a Grammy and was nominated for a Tony for his star-making role as Elder Kevin Price in the Broadway production of The Book of Mormon. While he regularly returns to the stage — he was nominated for another Tony in 2017 — Rannells is also a consistent presence onscreen, having starred in series such as Big Mouth (2017–2025), Black Monday (2019–2021), and Girls5eva (2021–2024).
He's perhaps best known, however, for stealing scenes as Elijah on Dunham's Girls (2012–2017).
On Too Much, Rannells plays James, Jessica's brother-in-law. Last year, Dunham let it slip to the New Yorker that she plays James' wife (and Jessica's sister). "Andrew and I play spouses," she said. "I'm in the show! I think I just accidentally revealed that. But it's a smaller part. Not a walk-on, but it's not a lead."
'It's not Girls, but it's Lena and it's me — so it's sort of Girls-adjacent,' Rannells told Us Weekly.
French actress Adèle Exarchopoulos found fame starring alongside Lea Seydoux in the Palme d'Or-winning film Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013). She was nominated for a César, France's national film award, for her turn in the boundary-pushing romance, and won another in 2024.
In recent years, she starred in Ira Sachs' acclaimed Passages (2023) and voiced Ennui in Pixar's Inside Out 2 (2024).
Exarchopoulos plays Polly, Felix's intimidating ex-girlfriend.
The daughter of actress Joely Richardson and producer Tim Bevan, Daisy Bevan has been acting on both the screen and stage for most of her life, with notable turns in The Two Faces of January (2014), The Outcast (2015), and The Alienist (2018).
Bevan plays Josie, a coworker of Jessica and Kim.
Richard E. Grant was nominated for an Academy Award for his turn in Marielle Heller's 2018 drama Can You Ever Forgive Me?, but the English actor first gained prominence in the U.K. comedy classic Withnail and I (1987).
A prolific performer, Grant has appeared in dozens of film, TV, and theatrical productions over the last four decades. Highlights include Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1991), Robert Altman's Gosford Park (2001), and Pablo Larrain's Jackie (2016), as well as series such as Doctor Who (2012–2013), Girls (2014), and Game of Thrones (2016).
In recent years, he appeared in blockbuster projects like Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) and Loki (2021), not to mention the much-memed Emerald Fennel thriller Saltburn (2023).
Grant plays Jonno Ratigan, Jessica's boss at the London ad agency where she finds work. "I worked with Lena on a few episodes of Girls in the noughties & delighted to be reunited with her again," he wrote in an Instagram post promoting the series.
Naomi Watts broke out with a surreal leading turn in David Lynch's Mulholland Drive (2001). She later received Academy Award nominations for Alejandro González Iñárritu's 21 Grams (2003) and J. A. Bayona's The Impossible (2012).
While Watts parlayed her critical success into roles in The Ring (2002–2005) and Divergent (2015–2016) franchises, she's also worked with many of the best living filmmakers, including David Cronenberg (Eastern Promises), Clint Eastwood (J. Edgar), Michael Haneke (Funny Games), Peter Jackson (King Kong), and Gus Van Sant (The Sea of Trees), among many others.
She also re-teamed with Iñárritu for the Oscar-winning film Birdman (2014), and with Lynch on Inland Empire (2006) and Twin Peaks: The Return (2017).
Watts has pivoted to TV in recent years, leading Netflix's hit series The Watcher (2022) and playing magazine editor Babe Paley in Ryan Murphy's Feud: Capote vs. The Swans (2024), the latter of which landed her Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Next up is another Murphy series, All's Fair.
Watts plays Ann, Jonno's glamorous wife.
Too Much is currently available to stream on Netflix.Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
33 minutes ago
- CNN
‘We're creating an illusion for ourselves': Photographer explores how humans have lost touch with nature
Visual artsFacebookTweetLink Follow Zed Nelson spots the painting on the wall behind me almost as soon as we begin our interview. 'It's perfect,' he said. The canvas depicts a sleeping tiger draped across a velvet cushion, floating among pastel-shade leaves and flowers. The London-based photographer doesn't mean 'perfect' as in 'masterfully painted;' he means it's the perfect metaphor for the idealized, human-centric relationship we've cultivated with nature. The painting reminds him of another artwork, 'A young Tiger Playing With Its Mother,' by the French Romantic artist Eugene Delacroix, who used a captive tiger at a zoo and his pet cat as models. 'The Romantic movement in painting began with the human divorce from the natural world. As we removed ourselves from nature, and it receded from our imagination, we reenacted these hyper-romantic versions of nature,' said Nelson. It's the central thesis of his latest project, 'The Anthropocene Illusion,' which earned him Photographer of the Year at the 2025 Sony World Photography Awards. Captured across 14 countries and four continents over six years, the images show nature as imagined by humans: staged habitats in zoos, manufactured ski slopes, indoor rainforests, and artificial beaches. In his previous project, 'Love Me,' Nelson explored the homogenization of beauty standards. 'There's some echo of that here. It's about how this artificial, idealized version of nature is being — I mean, I want to say sold back to us, but we're willing participants in it, too,' Nelson explained. 'While we destroy the real thing, we seem to be creating more and more artificial or choreographed, curated versions of nature.' It's this 'psychological disconnect' that Nelson is most interested in exposing. The collection is equal parts ironic (a Maasai tribesman posing beside a picnic blanket for an 'Out of Africa' champagne brunch in Kenya) and dystopian (a child perched on a fiberglass rock at a beach in the world's largest indoor rainforest, the canvas of the sky slightly ripped behind him). 'That's very sort of Truman Show-esque. He's gone to the very edge of that artificial world,' said Nelson of the photo. More than anything, though, there's a feeling of sadness that permeates the collection: taxidermied museum dioramas of endangered species; vibrant fish shoals swimming in dark aquariums with plastic pipes, captive elephants paraded to a bathing spot for the benefit of flocks of Instagram influencers; a caged polar bear crouched beside a mural depicting an Arctic landscape it will never know. 'What we replaced real nature with becomes an unwitting monument, really, for what we've lost,' Nelson observed. The term 'Anthropocene' refers to the age of humans. It's not an official epoch — yet. But Nelson believes firmly that, in years to come, today's society will mark the beginning of this new era, evident in elevated carbon dioxide levels from fossil fuels, an abundance of microplastics, and layers of concrete. 'The usefulness of renaming an epoch, in this instance, would be to focus people's attention on our impact on the planet,' said Nelson. As he sees it, 'the language of (environmental action) has become sort of tired or stale; you become kind of immune to it.' He wanted to counter this collective numbness with visuals that 'make you think or feel differently.' Bleak but beautiful, his photos reveal a paradox. Less than 3% of the world's land remains ecologically intact, according to a 2021 study, yet nature-based tourism and biophilic architecture, a design philosophy that mimics nature, are surging in popularity. Global wildlife populations have dropped by an average of 73% in the last 50 years; meanwhile, there are more tigers in captivity than in the wild, globally. Arctic ice sheets are on course for catastrophic 'runaway melting' that would see rising sea levels devastate coastal communities. But at the same time, cocktail bars in Dubai are importing ancient glacier ice from Greenland to provide the wealthy with pollution-free drinks. 'We're engaged in creating an illusion for ourselves; either to hide what we're doing, or as something that we can retreat into for reassurance, because we crave the very thing that we've lost,' said Nelson. There's a spectrum to the illusion, ranging from managed outdoor landscapes to contrived scenes that simply evoke the idea of nature. Nelson likens it to fast food: 'We don't want to grow it and prepare it; we just want it delivered to us with no thorns, no danger, with a nice walkway in a car park. We want to consume it and then come home. We are complicit in it.' Despite his criticisms of the 'consumerist' qualities of today's manufactured natural experiences, Nelson emphasizes that he's not necessarily against any of these things: people should enjoy safaris, be awe-inspired at aquariums, relish their time in a local park, and not 'destroy ourselves with guilt.' 'We have this enduring craving for nature, for a connection to the natural world. That's real,' he observed. There's a limit to what the individual can do, too: the kind of sweeping change required to protect the environment needs to come from major corporations and political leaders, which, in Nelson's view, is sorely lacking. 'It's important to remind ourselves, it's not that we don't have ideas for things that can be done,' he said, reeling off a long list of environmental policies that could change the course of climate change. Perhaps this book, with its stark juxtaposition of astonishing wildlife and human interference, can be a reminder of just how in control of the world we are — with the power to remodel it in our own image, or protect and restore the landscapes we feel so connected to. 'When you're surrounded by something so much, it can become utterly invisible,' Nelson said. 'Photography is a way of trying to make it visible again, trying to expose it for what it actually is.' After the call ends, I can't unsee the Anthropocene illusion in my home. It's not just the anthropomorphic tiger on the wall. It's a Himalayan rock salt lamp, a plastic monstera plant and paper carnations. A cockatoo-shaped ceramic jug next to pine-scented candles and an aluminum 'lemon-wedge' bottle opener. Floral-print cushions and a jungle-themed throw. It's hard to shake Nelson's words about our collective complicity; our willingness to participate in reconstructing the natural world, instead of saving it.
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
‘Fortnite' Is Down: Here's When Servers Come Back Online For Season 4 And Power Rangers
It's official, Fortnite Chapter 6 season 3 is over, and Chapter 6 season 4 is on the verge of starting right after servers come back online. That's going to be a bit of a wait, but depending on when you read this, it's possible you may have woken up in the morning and can download and play. But you really should probably go to work or school. Or just call in sick. With server downtime starting in the middle of the night EDT time, and running about 2-6 hours on average, we can estimate when Fortnite season 4 will launch, and you can see those ranges below: Once you start heading over the Atlantic and get to the UK and beyond, we're no longer talking about an early morning play sessions, but rather the afternoon or evening. Fortnite has unloaded a whole bunch of information about its 'Shock and Awesome' season which will feature new Halo skins, free for everyone if you hit rank 100 (where you do not actually need to buy the battle pass). We have six colors of Power Rangers. We have Megazord. And we have a bunch of other crossovers that have been rumored or are totally secret so far. But it's a long season, so we'll see who Epic adds to its multiverse down the road here. Fortnite Chapter 6 season 4 will have us dealing with a bug invasion that was sparked by the events of the season 3 finale, and it's going to be a lot of fighting NPC insects on the map. Fortunately we have new wild weapons like the airstrike gun and a triple barrel gatling gun to help thin the ranks of the bug invaders. So, Helldivers skins? Starship Troopers skins? I guess the Flood are almost bugs so that connects to Halo. Power Rangers uh, have fought monster bugs…sometimes? Sure why not. See you in a few hours when servers are back online. Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
‘We're creating an illusion for ourselves': Photographer explores how humans have lost touch with nature
Visual artsFacebookTweetLink Follow Zed Nelson spots the painting on the wall behind me almost as soon as we begin our interview. 'It's perfect,' he said. The canvas depicts a sleeping tiger draped across a velvet cushion, floating among pastel-shade leaves and flowers. The London-based photographer doesn't mean 'perfect' as in 'masterfully painted;' he means it's the perfect metaphor for the idealized, human-centric relationship we've cultivated with nature. The painting reminds him of another artwork, 'A young Tiger Playing With Its Mother,' by the French Romantic artist Eugene Delacroix, who used a captive tiger at a zoo and his pet cat as models. 'The Romantic movement in painting began with the human divorce from the natural world. As we removed ourselves from nature, and it receded from our imagination, we reenacted these hyper-romantic versions of nature,' said Nelson. It's the central thesis of his latest project, 'The Anthropocene Illusion,' which earned him Photographer of the Year at the 2025 Sony World Photography Awards. Captured across 14 countries and four continents over six years, the images show nature as imagined by humans: staged habitats in zoos, manufactured ski slopes, indoor rainforests, and artificial beaches. In his previous project, 'Love Me,' Nelson explored the homogenization of beauty standards. 'There's some echo of that here. It's about how this artificial, idealized version of nature is being — I mean, I want to say sold back to us, but we're willing participants in it, too,' Nelson explained. 'While we destroy the real thing, we seem to be creating more and more artificial or choreographed, curated versions of nature.' It's this 'psychological disconnect' that Nelson is most interested in exposing. The collection is equal parts ironic (a Maasai tribesman posing beside a picnic blanket for an 'Out of Africa' champagne brunch in Kenya) and dystopian (a child perched on a fiberglass rock at a beach in the world's largest indoor rainforest, the canvas of the sky slightly ripped behind him). 'That's very sort of Truman Show-esque. He's gone to the very edge of that artificial world,' said Nelson of the photo. More than anything, though, there's a feeling of sadness that permeates the collection: taxidermied museum dioramas of endangered species; vibrant fish shoals swimming in dark aquariums with plastic pipes, captive elephants paraded to a bathing spot for the benefit of flocks of Instagram influencers; a caged polar bear crouched beside a mural depicting an Arctic landscape it will never know. 'What we replaced real nature with becomes an unwitting monument, really, for what we've lost,' Nelson observed. The term 'Anthropocene' refers to the age of humans. It's not an official epoch — yet. But Nelson believes firmly that, in years to come, today's society will mark the beginning of this new era, evident in elevated carbon dioxide levels from fossil fuels, an abundance of microplastics, and layers of concrete. 'The usefulness of renaming an epoch, in this instance, would be to focus people's attention on our impact on the planet,' said Nelson. As he sees it, 'the language of (environmental action) has become sort of tired or stale; you become kind of immune to it.' He wanted to counter this collective numbness with visuals that 'make you think or feel differently.' Bleak but beautiful, his photos reveal a paradox. Less than 3% of the world's land remains ecologically intact, according to a 2021 study, yet nature-based tourism and biophilic architecture, a design philosophy that mimics nature, are surging in popularity. Global wildlife populations have dropped by an average of 73% in the last 50 years; meanwhile, there are more tigers in captivity than in the wild, globally. Arctic ice sheets are on course for catastrophic 'runaway melting' that would see rising sea levels devastate coastal communities. But at the same time, cocktail bars in Dubai are importing ancient glacier ice from Greenland to provide the wealthy with pollution-free drinks. 'We're engaged in creating an illusion for ourselves; either to hide what we're doing, or as something that we can retreat into for reassurance, because we crave the very thing that we've lost,' said Nelson. There's a spectrum to the illusion, ranging from managed outdoor landscapes to contrived scenes that simply evoke the idea of nature. Nelson likens it to fast food: 'We don't want to grow it and prepare it; we just want it delivered to us with no thorns, no danger, with a nice walkway in a car park. We want to consume it and then come home. We are complicit in it.' Despite his criticisms of the 'consumerist' qualities of today's manufactured natural experiences, Nelson emphasizes that he's not necessarily against any of these things: people should enjoy safaris, be awe-inspired at aquariums, relish their time in a local park, and not 'destroy ourselves with guilt.' 'We have this enduring craving for nature, for a connection to the natural world. That's real,' he observed. There's a limit to what the individual can do, too: the kind of sweeping change required to protect the environment needs to come from major corporations and political leaders, which, in Nelson's view, is sorely lacking. 'It's important to remind ourselves, it's not that we don't have ideas for things that can be done,' he said, reeling off a long list of environmental policies that could change the course of climate change. Perhaps this book, with its stark juxtaposition of astonishing wildlife and human interference, can be a reminder of just how in control of the world we are — with the power to remodel it in our own image, or protect and restore the landscapes we feel so connected to. 'When you're surrounded by something so much, it can become utterly invisible,' Nelson said. 'Photography is a way of trying to make it visible again, trying to expose it for what it actually is.' After the call ends, I can't unsee the Anthropocene illusion in my home. It's not just the anthropomorphic tiger on the wall. It's a Himalayan rock salt lamp, a plastic monstera plant and paper carnations. A cockatoo-shaped ceramic jug next to pine-scented candles and an aluminum 'lemon-wedge' bottle opener. Floral-print cushions and a jungle-themed throw. It's hard to shake Nelson's words about our collective complicity; our willingness to participate in reconstructing the natural world, instead of saving it.
