The Sex Lives of College Girls is an American teen comedy-drama television series created by Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble, which premiered on HBO Max on November 18, 2021. In December 2021, the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on November 17, 2022. In December 2022, the series was renewed for a third season, which premiered on November 21, 2024. In March 2025, the series was canceled after three seasons.
Contents
Premise
The series follows the lives of four 18-year-old freshmen roommates at the fictional Essex College in Vermont, covering their sexually-active lifestyle as they deal with the struggles and hardships of college and adulthood.
Cast and characters
Main
Pauline Chalamet as Kimberly Finkle, a freshman who is a working student from Gilbert, Arizona, a small town that is predominantly white, and comes from a poor family
Amrit Kaur as Bela Malhotra, an Indian American freshman from Nutley, New Jersey, who wants to become a comedy writer and is sex-positive
Reneé Rapp as Leighton Murray, a freshman and a wealthy legacy student from New York City who is a lesbian and trying to live up to her mother's high expectations
Alyah Chanelle Scott as Whitney Chase, a freshman and wealthy star soccer player from Seattle who is having an affair with her assistant soccer coach and is the daughter of a U.S. senator
Gavin Leatherwood as Nico Murray (season 1), Leighton's older brother and Kimberly's love interest
Christopher Meyer as Canaan, Kimberly's co-worker and Whitney's love interest
Ilia Isorelýs Paulino as Lila, Kimberly's coworker
Renika Williams as Willow, one of Whitney's teammates
Lauren "Lolo" Spencer as Jocelyn, a partygoing student at Essex and housemate of the main characters
Midori Francis as Alicia (seasons 1, 3; guest season 2), Leighton's love interest
Mekki Leeper as Eric (season 2; recurring season 1), a writer for The Catullan
Mitchell Slaggert as Jackson (season 2), a new student from Kansas who bonds with Kimberly
Recurring
Rob Huebel as Henry, Leighton and Nico's father
Nicole Sullivan as Carol, Kimberly's mother
James Morosini as Dalton (season 1), Whitney's assistant soccer coach
Kavi Ramachandran Ladnier as Reena (seasons 1, 3), Bela's mother
Craig Cackowski as Dale, Kimberly's father
Stephen Guarino as Roger (season 1; guest season 2), the Sips manager
Jillian Armenante as Coach Woods (season 1), Whitney's head soccer coach
Conor Donnally as Ryan (season 1), a writer for The Catullan
Sierra Katow as Evangeline (seasons 1–2), a writer for The Catullan
Maya Rose as Jena (season 1; guest season 2), Whitney's antagonistic teammate who later becomes her friend
Sherri Shepherd as Evette (seasons 1–2; guest season 3), Whitney's mother and a U.S. senator from Washington
Betti as Trish/Travis, a gay student who lives in the dorm and later comes out as a trans woman
Cheyenne Perez as Jo (seasons 1–2), a writer for The Catullan
Scott Lipman as Frude (seasons 1–2; guest season 3), the residence director of the dorm
Isabella Roland as Carla (seasons 1–2; guest season 3), a fellow writer for The Catullan
Episodes
Production
Development
The series was first announced at the HBO Max presentation in October 2019, under the working title College Girls. It was given a straight-to-series order of 13 half-hour episodes with Mindy Kaling announced to create, write, showrun, and executive produce the series under her overall deal with Warner Bros. Television. In May 2020, the series was confirmed to be launching in 2021, under the new title The Sex Lives of College Girls. In October 2020, it was announced that the first episode would be co-written by Kaling and Never Have I Ever's Justin Noble, with Noble joining the series as a co-showrunner and executive producer. On December 7, 2021, HBO Max renewed the series for a second season. On December 14, 2022, HBO Max renewed the series for a third season. On March 18, 2025, Max canceled the series after three seasons.
Casting
On October 14, 2020, the lead cast, made up of Pauline Chalamet, Amrit Kaur, Reneé Rapp and Alyah Chanelle Scott, was announced. Kalissa Persaud was the runner-up for Kaur's part. Dylan Sprouse joined the main cast in December 2020, but was replaced by Gavin Leatherwood on March 12, 2021, who was cast alongside Midori Francis, Chris Meyer, Ilia Isorelýs Paulino, Lolo Spencer, and Renika Williams in starring roles. On May 19, 2021, Sherri Shepherd, Maya Rose, Rob Huebel, Nicole Sullivan, Conor Donnally, Sierra Katow, Mekki Leeper, and James Morosini joined the cast in recurring capacities. On August 16, 2021, Izzy Roland, Kavi Ladnier, Stephen Guarino, Matt Maloy, Donielle Nash, and Najee Muhammad joined the cast in recurring capacities. On June 3, 2022, Mitchell Slaggert was cast as a new series regular for the second season. On August 15, 2022, Charlie Hall joined the cast in an undisclosed capacity for the second season. On July 10, 2023, it was announced that Rapp is only set to recur for the third season, and depart the series after that to focus on her music career. In April 2024, it was reported that Gracie Lawrence and Mia Rodgers were cast as series regulars for the third season. In May 2024, it was announced that Nabeel Muscatwalla, Rebecca Wisocky, and Michael Hsu Rosen were cast in recurring roles for the third season. On June 18, 2024, it was reported that Devin Craig, Ruby Cruz, Michael Provost, and Roby Attal joined the cast in recurring capacities for the third season.
Filming
The series began filming on November 20, 2020, in Los Angeles. Filming also took place at Vassar College in mid-2021. On June 19, 2021, recurring cast member Sherri Shepherd posted a behind-the-scenes video of her character in costume and revealed that the series was scheduled to premiere in late 2021. Filming for the second season began in late April 2022, some of which took place on the University of Washington's Seattle campus. Filming for the third season began on March 4, 2024, and wrapped up on June 10, 2024.
Release
The Sex Lives of College Girls premiered on November 18, 2021, with the first two episodes available immediately, followed by three new episodes on November 25 and December 2, and the final two episodes of the first season on December 9 on HBO Max. The second season was released on November 17, 2022, with two episodes available immediately and two more episodes available weekly on Thursdays until the season finale on December 15. In November 2023, HBO CEO and Chairman Casey Bloys announced that the third season of The Sex Lives of College Girls is set to debut in spring 2024. The third season premiered on November 21, 2024, with a new episode on a weekly basis until the season finale on January 23, 2025.
On July 5, 2022, the series became available on the RTÉ Player in the Republic of Ireland with some episodes also airing on RTÉ2. The two seasons are available in the United Kingdom via ITVX. In Belgium, the show can be watched via Streamz.
Reception
Critical response
For the first season, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 97% approval rating with an average rating of 7.6/10, based on 30 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "While The Sex Lives of College Girls doesn't rewrite the syllabus for Anthropology 101, it succeeds gracefully as a warm-hearted romp on campus." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 72 out of 100 based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Saloni Gajjar of The A.V. Club gave the first season a B+ and wrote, "The way the show tackles how teens cope with sudden freedom is both funny and truthful." Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter, said that it is "nothing novel or fancy [but] warm and gooey enough to satisfy."
On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season holds an approval rating of 93% with an average rating of 6.6/10, based on 15 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus states, "Bawdy and sweet as ever, The Sex Lives of College Girls continues to excel as a refreshing twist on youthful indiscretions." On Metacritic, it has received a score of 83 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
On Rotten Tomatoes, the third season has an approval rating of 33%, with an average rating of 5.9/10, based on 6 critic reviews. Taylor Gates of Collider gave the season a score of 8 out of 10, praising the writing, soundtrack, costumes, new characters, and performances of Kaur, Paulino, and Scott.
Accolades
The Sex Lives of College Girls was nominated for the Outstanding New TV Series category for the 33rd GLAAD Media Awards in 2022. For its casting department (Elizabeth Barnes and Jennifer Euston), the series was nominated for an Artios Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy Pilot Casting. The series was awarded the "Seal of Female Empowerment in Entertainment" (SOFEE) by the Women's Committee of the Critics Choice Association, for its outstanding work in "[illuminating] the female experience and perspective through authentically told female-driven stories."