The Sex Lives of College Girls is an American teen comedy-drama streaming television series created by Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble that premiered on HBO Max on November 18, 2021. In December 2021, the series was renewed for a second season.

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 different struggles and hardship that college brings.

Cast and characters

Main

• Pauline Chalamet as Kimberly, a new work-study student who comes from Gilbert, Arizona, a small town that is predominantly white
• Amrit Kaur as Bela, an Indian-American student from Nutley, New Jersey, who wants to become a comedy writer and is sex-positive
• Reneé Rapp as Leighton, an affluent legacy student from New York City who is a closeted lesbian
• Alyah Chanelle Scott as Whitney, a 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 (season 1), Leighton s older brother and Kimberly s love interest
• Chris Meyer as Canaan, Kimberly s coworker
• Ilia Isorelýs Paulino as Lila, Kimberly s coworker
• Renika Williams as Willow, one of Whitney s teammates
• Lolo Spencer as Jocelyn
• Midori Francis as Alicia, Leighton s love interest
• Mitchell Slaggert as Jackson (season 2)

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, Bela s mother
• Stephen Guarino as the Sips manager
• Jillian Armenante as Coach Woods, Whitney s head soccer coach
• Mekki Leeper as Eric, a writer for The Catullan
• Conor Donnally as Ryan, a writer for The Catullan
• Sierra Katow as Evangeline, a writer for The Catullan
• Maya Rose as Jena, Whitney s antagonistic teammate
• Sherri Shepherd as Evette, Whitney s mother and a U.S. senator from Washington
• Betti as Travis
• Isabella Roland as Carla
• Amanda Ripley as Ginger
• Vico Ortiz as Tova

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date	Prod. code
1	Welcome to Essex	David Gordon Green	Mindy Kaling & Justin Noble	November 18, 2021	T40.10301
2	Naked Party	Zoe Cassavetes	Ali Liebegott & Caroline Goldfarb	November 18, 2021	T40.10302
3	Le Tuteur	Zoe Cassavetes	Rupinder Gill	November 25, 2021	T40.10303
4	Kappa	Kabir Akhtar	Charlie Grandy & Beth Appel	November 25, 2021	T40.10304
5	That Comment Tho	Rachel Raimist	Matt Warburton & Sheridan Watson	November 25, 2021	T40.10305
6	Parents Weekend	Meredith Dawson	Mindy Kaling & Justin Noble	December 2, 2021	T40.10306
7	I Think I m a Sex Addict	Lila Neugebauer	Rupinder Gill & Vanessa Baden Kelly	December 2, 2021	T40.10307
8	The Surprise Party	Maggie Carey	Charlie Grandy & Kristen Zublin	December 2, 2021	T40.10308
9	Cheating	Kabir Akhtar	Caroline Goldfarb & Beth Appel	December 9, 2021	T40.10309
10	The Truth	Liza Johnson	Justin Noble & Rupinder Gill	December 9, 2021	T40.10310

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 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 executive producer. On December 7, 2021, HBO Max renewed the series for a second season.

Casting

On October 14, 2020, the lead cast, made up of Pauline Chalamet, Amrit Kaur, Reneé Rapp and Alyah Chanelle Scott, was announced. 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.

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.

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. From July 5 2022 it is available on the RTÉ Player in the Republic of Ireland with some episodes airing on RTÉ2. The whole first season is available in the United Kingdom on ITV Hub.

Reception

Critical response

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 series 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 warm and gooey enough to satisfy.

Accolades

The Sex Lives of College Girls was nominated for the Outstanding New TV Series category for the 33rd GLAAD Media Awards in 2022.

Year	2021
ReleaseDate	2021-11-18
Plot	Four 18-year-old freshman roommates at Essex College in Vermont. A bundle of contradictions and hormones, these sexually active college girls are equal parts lovable and infuriating.
Awards	Awards, 1 win & 2 nominations
Stars	Pauline Chalamet, Amrit Kaur, Reneé Rapp
Series Produced by	Kabir Akhtar,Rupinder Gill,Caroline Goldfarb,Charlie Grandy,Mindy Kaling,Howard Klein,Eric Koljan,Ali Liebegott,Bonnie Munoz,Justin Noble,Daphne Raves,Jessica Kumai Scott,Matt Warburton,David Gordon Green
Series Music by	Joseph Stephens
Series Cinematography by	Chuck Ozeas,Rick Page
Series Film Editing by	Mat Greenleaf,Kyla Plewes
Series Casting By	Elizabeth Barnes,Jennifer Euston
Series Production Design by	Susie Mancini,Angelique Clark
Series Art Direction by	Suzan Wexler
Series Set Decoration by	Alison Korth
Series Costume Design by	Salvador Pérez Jr.,Glinda Suarez,Phoenix Mellow
Series Makeup Department	Leslie D. Bennett,Aria Ferraro,Carleigh Herbert,Donyale McRae,Maria Elena Pantoja,Toni Roman,Sioux Sinclair,Roxanne N. Sutphen,Devan Weitzman,Marcos Santos Diaz,Fernando Santaella Navarro,Barbara Roman,Wendy Evans,Jeong-Hwa Fonkalsrud,Lisa Harrell,Marissa Lafayette,Levi Vieira,Lauren Ernsdorf,Ashley Tarver,Sabrina Ziomi,Roxana Grande,Erin Harding,Stacey Hummell,Thea Samuels,Michele Tyminski Schoenbach,Lorena Zamora,Zulma Zamora,Andrea Garcia
Series Production Management	Jennifer Anderson,Chris B. Banks,Amy Overzet,Nathan Kelly,Erik J. Carpenter
Series Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Chandra M. Alexander,Jennifer Herman,Laura Sylvester,Jenna Kehrli,Emily Hogan,Peter Etzweiler,Nicole Treston Abranian,Victoria Bronner,Daniela Giraldo,Kelly Cantley-Kashima,Graham Geraghty,Jon Recher,Christian Sampson,Tim Neven
Series Art Department	Corey A. Doyle,Jesse Hegney,Sarah Michael Hickman,W. Rick Nichol,Lindsay Stephen,Marissa Zajack,Garrett Brown,Michael F. Loomer,Sarah Snyder,Emily Sarah Miller,Brandon Smith,Duke Tomasick,Lindsey Cantrell,Alex Guardado,Jeremy E. Goldstein,Kate Messig,Mike Schenk,Casey Margaret Craig,John Pullano,Blair Strong,Gary Trought,Michael Keith Aleshire-Rezendez,Michael Budge,Aquila Chase-Daniel,Darian Dominguez,Tom Hargreaves,Johnny Krauss,Ezekiel Middleton,Chris Nuccio,Courtney Schmidt,Josh Smith,Aaron Sowd,Payton Stafford,Julianna Castigliego,Denilson Dias,Ola Farrag,Brennyn Kilby,Caitlin Miller,Nancy Lowry
Series Sound Department	Paul Drenning,Alex Parker,Andrew Benz,Julian Townsend,Patrick Christensen,Steve Morantz,Anthony Nolan,Eric Stolberg,Dirk Stout,Timothy P. Salmon,Andrew Adams,Mitch B. Cohn,Brandon Loulias,David Lynch,Peter Nusbaum,Whitney Purple,Julio Oscar Ruiz,Knox White,Brian Wittle,Lauren E. Price
Series Special Effects by	Maggie Anne Goll,Eugene Hitt,Lauren Anderson,Jeremy Hays
Series Visual Effects by	Elle Sassenrath,Summer Bethanie Allen,Kyle Gordon,Davy Saunders,David Nieman,Alexander Luloff,Garrett Wycoff,Daphne Bichler,Bennique Blasini,Steven M. Blasini
Series Stunts	Tracey Ruggiero,Jessica Harbeck,Alex Dell Aquila,Dartenea Bryant,Ebony De La Haye,David Armstrong,Jen Egan,Marissa Labog,Scott Burik,Wyatt Carnel,Blaise Corrigan,Mike Dempsey,Seth Duhame,Casey Geraghty,Chelsey Goldsmith,Reef Graham,Niahlah Hope,Kurt Nelson,Ashley Pynn,Travis Quist,Kelli Victoria Scarangello,Olivia Summers,Valisa Tate,Ashlei Tave,Charlotte Townsend,Emily Tung,Shawn Balentine,Aimey Beer,Duke Conrad,Marie Fink,Jovani Ridler,Chris Silcox,Elan Simon
Series Camera and Electrical Department	Ryan DeGrazzio,Luke Deikis,Steve Domini,Christopher Eng,Scott G. Fitzgerald,Jon Graham,Alex Hanini,Dexter Kennedy,Gareth Manwaring,Tricia Mears,Dustin Lloyd Miller,Andrew Nelson,Jon Purdy,Eric Robertson,Christopher Roman,Carlos M. Torres,Ronnie Wrase,Kevin Kerwick,Katrina Marcinowski,Yen P. Nguyen,Lauren Gadd,David Berryman,Jack Nagle,John Conquy,Brian Garbellini,Erik Kasson,Peter Ramos,Litong Zhen,Dan Bernard,Kenny Brown,Bill Fine Jr.,David Giesbrecht,Jay Levy,Skip Ratner,Grant Culwell,Tyler Denering,Tom Gleason,Glen Hodson,Jose Ibarra,Donald Jones,Kurt S. Levy,Scott Allen Martinez,Shannon O Barr,Alex Sethian,Kevin W. Skaggs,Grace Thomas,Steve Trainor,Jay Feather,Jeremy Hill,John Schwartz,Michael Anthony Ashe,Jessica Brooks,Danny Brown,John Brunold,Christopher Carlson,Jeff Chassler,Eric M. Davis,Tim Davis,Twojay Dhillon,Jeff Gatesman,John M. Greenwood,Lisa Guerriero,Jacob Hellinga,Robert Ikeda,Nick Kolen,Nicholas Limina,Alexander Macat,Ama MacDonald,Ryan Marsh,Philip Mastrella,Collin Morrison,Tyler Ojala,Mick Pacifici,Terry Ruffner,Kyle Simmons,Charles R. Sorenson,Larry Sushinski,Michael Trobisch,Vance Trussell,James D. Wickman,Nico Bally,Ryan L. Johnson,Rachel S. Mangum,Nicholas McIntosh,Robert McTyre Jr.,Matthew Pearce,Colin Senior,Jay Sheveck,Emily Tapanes,Brian Tebbets
Series Casting Department	Georgia Simon,Selima Smith-Dell,Elizabeth Ayoob,Claire Benjamin,Kimberly Hope,Jonathan Avila,Elizabeth Barnes,Jennifer Euston,Kimberly Hollon,Maria Smal,S.J. Allocco,Morgan Redfield Smith
Series Costume and Wardrobe Department	Fiorella Aller,Alberto D Fonseca,Briana C. Moya,Michelle Mo Ojeda,Paola Serrano,Jasmine Patel,Natalie Arango,Erin Wrinkle Siegel,Karen Macias Lopez,Gia Jimenez,Jessica Marie Schneider,Giovanni Aller,Natasha London,Becky Rossiter-Moon,Maya Brayton,Matthew Carey,Alexandra Kelly,Jonathan Parra,Ysabel Riina,Katharina Siebenthal,Jessica Huerta,Rebecca McCabe,Meg Schmitt,Sarah Wallner
Series Editorial Department	Jim Garrow,Isabella Locatelli,Lauren Brown,Kelsey Myers,Karina Routchka
Series Location Management	Michael G. Cruz,Kevinn Li,Chancelle Mafoua,Veronica Rioseco,Matt Taylor,Noah Vock,Christian A. Fechser,Leopoldo Ramos,Daniel Dawson
Series Music Department	Brienne Rose,Jackie Westfall,Michael Brake,Akrivi,Vincent Alfieri,Alex Britten,Jarrett Johnson,Baraka May
Series Script and Continuity Department	Sarah Mickelson,Susan Youngman Hoen,Genie Babcock
Series Transportation Department	Rita Lundin,Michael Sean Ryan,Richard Norton,Kip Fazzone,Ron Quitevis
Series Additional Crew	Kelley Flynn,Dylan Bringman,Emily Dorothy Cappello,Allison Carr,Joseph Anthony Davis,Marge Glaser,Lindsay Heiman,Mark Hochman,Britt Larimore,Brian Manning,David G. Palmer,Carlos Pantin,Jim Revis,Shawn Sugasawara,Damian Terriquez,Justine Walker,Kayla Griffin,Matthew Norman,Kylie Anderson,Sam Dodd,Danica Jensen,Mathias Luque,Timothy Gerstner,Luke Lasher,Jamie LaSorsa,Valerie Milenka Repnau,Bryon Dormandy,Alex Feinstein,Lauren Meltzer,Jeffrey M. Paal,Luke Lowrey,DeVante Waugh,Will Ammann,Devon Elora,Carina Glasser,Maya Kanga,Andrew McCulloch,Chris Nguyen,Leigh Poindexter,Maria Termanini,Anna Christine Turner,Evan Jackson
Genres	Comedy
Companies	3 Arts Entertainment, Kaling International, Warner Bros. Television
Countries	USA
Languages	English
ContentRating	TV-MA
ImDbRating	7.8
ImDbRatingVotes	15660
Keywords	college,teenager,school,girl,high school