He’s just a boy, dangling his hand over a filthy punk pub bathroom stall, asking her for “bog roll” (read: toilet paper). This is the meet-cute in Too Much, Lena Dunham’s triumphant return to television, and it’s emblematic of how the 10 episodes depict what it’s really like dating and falling in love: At times it’s messy, and sometimes it feels like you’re speaking different languages. 

Too Much follows Jessica (Hack’s Megan Stalter), a workaholic New Yorker who, in the wake of a devastating breakup, leaves the country and heads across the pond only to meet her unexpected match in sleep-until-noon musician Felix (The White Lotus’ Will Sharpe). Over 10 episodes, Jess learns that London — and love — are less like Notting Hill than she thought. “When I first started coming to the UK for work … I thought to myself, ‘I want to write something about the experience of being a foreigner here, and the fantasies we have of [London] versus the realities,’ ” says Dunham. “Then when I met my husband, Luis, I felt like I was experiencing all of that, but in the context of a relationship.”

For Stalter, it was the way Too Much subverted tropes about both London and the rom-coms that entice her character Jess to move there that made the series so grounded: “The show does a really good job of knowing what it is, but then also flipping it on its head,” the actor says. Sharpe agrees, adding, “It has such an awareness of rom-com … but it also does have some rougher edges,” the actor says. “That makes the sweeter aspects all the more powerful, because there's an honesty to it.”

Grab your passport and head to Netflix to meet the veritable who’s-who cast joining Stalter and Sharpe — including show-stopping cameos from Andrew Scott, Kit Harington, Jessica Alba, Rita Ora, and Jennifer Saunders.

It makes sense that Too Much feels so grounded: Dunham co-created it with her husband, musician Luis Felber, and teamed up with actors she’s worked with for years. “This is a show that is very close to my heart, created with my husband Luis, cast with my favorite actors — the geniuses that are Meg and Will, along with a bevy of friends — and partnering again with Working Title, who are behind the romantic comedies that formed me,” she says. “Netflix has been so deeply supportive of the vision, which is to create a romantic comedy that makes us root for love, brings joy but also has the jagged edges of life.”

For Stalter, the project was also personal, considering how much she saw herself in the character from the jump. “Jessica and I both wear our hearts on our sleeve,” says the series’ star. “We’re emotional, we’re dramatic, we’re weird, and remain that way as adults.”

Stalter and Felber are joined by a hilarious and stylish cast of actors and comedians, some of whom have worked with Dunham for years: Andrew Rannells and Rita Wilson starred in Dunham’s Emmy-nominated series Girls, Janicza Bravo worked with Dunham on the comedy Sharp Stick, Dunham co-starred in Treasure with Stephen Fry, and Andrew Scott had a memorable turn in Catherine Called Birdy. Since you can never know too much about Too Much, keep reading for the lowdown on the rom-com, including the plot, cast, the first-look photos, songs, filming locations, and the slew of actors making surprising cameos. 

What is Too Much about? 

New York workaholic Jessica is left reeling after the relationship she thought would last forever suddenly and unexpectedly shatters. In a bid to get over her ex Zev (Michael Zegen) — and avoid his influencer fiancée Wendy Jones (Emily Ratajkowski) — she takes a job in jolly old London. While she plans to live a solitary life like the Brontë sisters, everything changes when she meets Felix, who the show describes as, “less Hugh Grant in Notting Hill and more Hugh Grant’s drunken roommate.” 

Jessica and Felix’s impossible-to-ignore connection creates more problems than it fixes. “[Rom-com] was probably the genre that made me want to make movies,” says Dunham. “The movies [by] Nora Ephron, Mike Nichols, Nancy Meyers, Elaine May, Penny Marshall … They were aspirational, but there was also just a grain of honesty about what it is to be a woman and to navigate the world. I thought, ‘Is there a way for us to really layer in the baggage that people experience as they try to fall in love in their 30s?’ Because, unlike in your 20s, you have this trail of complexity behind you. When you react to the person that you’re falling in love with, you’re not just reacting to them; you’re reacting to everybody and everything that’s come before them.”

Stalter shares Dunham’s love of rom-coms and her multifaceted take on telling a love story, noting, “I love the show because it shows that when you fall in love, it can be awkward and kind of embarrassing.” This approach is what drew Sharpe to the project, because unlike many traditional rom-coms, the leading couples’ baggage is woven throughout in a thoughtful, realistic way — raising the show’s narrative stakes, but also enriching their relationship. “One of the first conversations I had with Lena was about how the two characters have this baggage from their lives and previous relationships,” says Sharpe. “And it’s like, ‘But can you shed that baggage in order to feel free in this relationship and commit to this relationship?’ ”

Who is in the Too Much cast? 

Stalter and Sharpe lead as Too Much’s romantic heroes. The rest of the cast is an embarrassment of riches: “I honestly can’t believe it happened,” says Dunham of Too Much’s assemblage of actors, many of whom she has worked with previously.  For this series, she sought to create distinct multidimensional storylines for each character over the course of the 10 episodes. “There were so many actors that I respect that I was like, ‘Even if the character is in one episode or four episodes, I want to give them something to grab onto.’ ” Keep reading to learn who else stars in Too Much:

• Adèle Exarchopoulos (Passages)
• Adwoa Aboah (Top Boy)
• Andrew Rannells (GIRLS5EVA)
• Andrew Scott (Ripley)
• Daisy Bevan (The Alienist)
• Dean-Charles Chapman (1917)
• Emily Ratajkowski (Gone Girl)
• Janicza Bravo (Sharp Stick)
• Jennifer Saunders (Absolutely Fabulous)
• Jessica Alba (Fantastic Four)
• Kaori Momoi (The Brightest Roof in the Universe)
• Kit Harington (Game of Thrones)
• Leo Reich (Leo Reich: Literally Who Cares?!)
• Michael Zegen (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)
• Prasanna Puwanarajah (The Crown)
• Rhea Perlman (Cheers)
• Richard E. Grant (Saltburn)
• Rita Ora (Fifty Shades of Grey)
• Rita Wilson (Sleepless in Seattle)
• Stephen Fry (The Dropout)

Who is behind Too Much? 

Dunham and Felber are executive producers, along with Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Michael P. Cohen, Surian Fletcher-Jones, and Girls writer and executive producer Bruce Eric Kaplan; Bevan and Fellner previously produced the touchstone British rom-com Love Actually. Camilla Bray is also a Too Much producer. 

The series is a Working Title Television and Good Thing Going production from Universal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group.

What songs are in Too Much?

Too Much’s track list charts the joyful highs and painful lows of Jess’ new life in London. Felber’s band, Attawalpa, debuts songs “Always the Girls” and “True Love Trajectory.” Jensen McRae’s “Massachusetts,” Suki Waterhouse’s “Dream Woman,” Waxahatchee and Kevin Morby’s “You Found Me,” Misty Miller’s cover of Kesha’s “Praying,” and Sleaze’s “Push Tuck” also premiere in the series.

Keep reading for the full list of songs you’ll still be singing along to long after finishing Too Much.

• “London Bridge” by Fergie
• “Dead or Alive” by Cam'Ron
• “Always the Girls” by Attawalpa
• “Slow Like Honey” by Fiona Apple
• “In Spite of Ourselves” by Viagra Boys with Amy Taylor (John Prine cover)
• “Farewell Transmission” by Songs: Ohia
• “Maggot Brain” by Funkadelic
• “Falling Apart” by Slow Pulp
• “Anything” by Adrianne Lenker and Beggars Group
• “Tap In” by Saweetie
• “Butterflies” by Kacey Musgraves
• “Green Girl” by Misty Miller
• “Push Tuck” by Sleaze
• “Greek Tragedy” by The Wombats
• “Dream Woman” by Suki Waterhouse
• “Massachusetts” by Jensen McRae
• “Sister You Said” by Sarah Meth
• “Praying” by Misty Miller, with backing vocals by Luis Felber
• “You Found Me” by Kevin Morby and Waxahatchee
• “True Love Trajectory (Solo Piano Version)” by Attawalpa
• “Run for Cover” by Sugababes
• “I Want to See The Bright Lights Tonight” by Richard and Linda Thompson
• “True Love Trajectory (band version)” by Attawalpa

Where is Too Much filmed?

London is its own character in Too Much, but the show goes beyond Jess’ wide-eyed Anglophile expectations. “You see it from Jess’s point of view as this kind of dreamy other place, a new start with endless possibilities and Jane Austen romance,” says Sharpe, who lives in London in real life. “But you also see the kind of scuzzier reality of the city. It was nice to film on location. London feels like a character in the show.” 

Too Much also filmed in New York, for flashbacks of Jess’s past life. Keep reading for some of the memorable places Too Much filmed. 

ENGLAND

• Jess’ flat, which is less Jane Austen estate and more council estate, was shot in St Peter’s Estate in Hackney.
• Jess and Felix meet in the bathroom stalls of The Ivy House in Nunhead.
• Jess’ ketamine-fueled fever dream at the donkey fest in Episode 5 takes place at Hackney City Farm.
• Rita Ora stars in a Christmas ad, in the spirit of Love, Actually, at the Village of Hambledon.
• Felix’s takes the train out to his family’s home in Hayes (west London) but his flashbacks to his childhood home were filmed in Oxfordshire (in South East England).
• Episode 8’s chaotic and opulent wedding unravels at Englefield Estate Hall, where Black Mirror and The Crown have both filmed scenes.
• When Jess and Wendy finally meet IRL, it’s at a café on Lauriston Road in Victoria Park.
• Felix’s ex turned friend Polly lives in De Beauvoir Town, Hackney, where she makes delicious-looking omelets.

The production also filmed at:

• Parliament Hill
• Regent’s Canal, Maida Vale
• Shoreditch Town Hall
• Hoxton Square
• Hackney Road
• Shoreditch High Street
• Dash The Henge, Camberwell
• Soho
• Notting Hill
• London Bridge
• Tower Bridge

New York

• Zev and Jess’ apartment is in Brooklyn and the production filmed scenes in the park and around the borough.
• Jess’ office is on Broadway and Canal Street in Manhattan.

When does Too Much come out?

Catch feelings for Too Much, streaming now, and read more about the series on Tudum.