In January 2025, Mindy Kaling's must-watch series The Sex Lives of College Girls wrapped up a season of big changes. Co-created by Kaling and Justin Noble for Max, season 3 of the friendship comedy set at the fictional Essex College saw the departure of a fan-favorite star (we miss you, Renée Rapp!) and the arrival of several newcomers, as Bela (Amrit Kaur), Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott), and Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet) entered their sophomore year.
By the season 3 finale, which arrived on January 23, the core threesome and their new friends Kacey (Gracie Lawrence) and Taylor (Mia Rodgers) have dealt with mental health concerns, heartbreak, revelations about their sexuality, and even a brief stint in jail. For a while, fans were clamoring for news of whether our girls would be back to finish up sophomore year. Now we finally know the fate The Sex Lives of College Girls season 4; read on for more.
Has 'The Sex Lives of College Girls' been renewed for season 4?
On March 18, 2025, Deadline reported that Max cancelled SLOCG after three seasons. According to the outlet, the streamer's decision was likely due to ratings.
At the time, the SLOCG team was "looking for ways to keep the show going" by finding a new streaming home for it, including potentially with Netflix, which release the Kaling-produced Running Point. However, one month later in April, the producing studio behind the series, Warner Bros. Television, confirmed to Deadline that their attempts to shop the show around were unsuccessful.
"We were very much hoping to find a new home for that one, and I think we’ve now come to the end of the road, which is disappointing because it’s a show that we really love,” Warner Bros. TV Group chairman Channing Dungey told the outlet. “I’m so proud of the three seasons that we did at Max, but I don’t think there’s going to be more of College Girls.”
Showrunner Justin Noble seemed to be in the dark about Max's decision. In a TVLine interview published after the release of the season 3 finale, he was optimistic about the show's renewal chances but said he knew "just as little as an audience member."
"The only thing that I see is, like, the Top 10 list in Max, and for, like, 60-something days straight, Sex Lives was either the most-watched scripted show on Max or the second-most watched scripted show for, truly, months now," he said at the time. "So I would feel good, but I can’t control anything beyond that."
He expressed further disappointment when the cult-loved show was cancelled. On Instagram, he wrote, "I can’t help but mention that it feels like there are fewer and fewer comedy series every month—and we are living in an era where we need that comedy badly...So I really hope that turns around, but I will always be proud of this show for being the things that we weren’t seeing enough of: a hard comedy ensemble where ladies get the jokes.”
Who in the cast would have returned for 'The Sex Lives of College Girls' season 4?
Based on the end of SLOCG season 3, it was likely that the entire lead friend group—Pauline Chalamet (Kimberly), Amrit Kaur (Bela), Alyah Chanelle Scott (Whitney), and new addition Gracie Lawrence (Kacey)—would have returned for season 4. There was also a good chance that Ilia Isorelýs Paulino (Lila), Christopher Meyer (Canaan), and Renika Williams (Willow) would be back, as well as newcomers Mia Rodgers (Taylor) and Ruby Cruz (Ash).
What would 'The Sex Lives of College Girls' season 4 have been about?
Spoilers for The Sex Lives of College Girls season 3 finale ahead. The SLOCG season 3 finale wraps up most girls' journeys. Whitney used her new therapy knowledge to demand better conditions for Essex's student-athletes. In addition to finding her way back to comedy, Bela came out after embracing her bisexuality. Kacey lost her virginity, and though things don't work out with Cooper (Roby Attal), her friends help her through the heartbreak enough so she can claim her Greatest Showman solo. As for fellow new pal Taylor, she ended the season happily dating Ash and embracing her sobriety.
With all these happy endings and no cliffhanger, the character who would have been set up to deal with major drama in season 4 was Kimberly. Sure, she's not in a literal jail cell by the end of the season 3 finale, but our fave perfectionist would have had to deal with the institutional and friendship fallout of her protest going too far, after stealing Bela's ID(!) to get into the server room and shut down a conservative speaker's livestream. Plus, she had two dudes on the hook: hot protest leader Noah (Trevor Tordjman) and Eli (Michael Provost), who finally apologizes for abandoning her while she was on drugs at a rave.
Speaking with TVLine post-season 3, Noble hinted at what he hoped to explore in season 4, starting with more Lila lore. "I always want to see more of Lila and where her life goes and have her interact with our girls more," he shared.
He also opened up about the main characters' journeys thus far and where that could lead them going forward. "This was a season of big growth. This was a season of challenges thrown at our girls that they probably hadn’t seen coming when they entered sophomore year with open eyes," he noted. "So I think they’re emerging much more mature than they have in previous seasons. They’ve lived a lot more life, as opposed to, like, the sheltered life of worrying about a grade or something. So I’m excited to see how they lean on each other more as they start to really tackle things that are going to be big-ticket items in helping them become the people that they are meant to be."
Noble also laid out possible storylines following season 3's finale in an interview with TheWrap. "Kimberly has the cliffhanger of this season—she thinks that the school is going to sue her for property damage. I’d love to see how that goes down and if Tig Notaro’s character would play into that if she has to come to her aid," he explained. "We have multiple new love interests that appear in these two episodes at the end of season 3, we have the closing of some doors and different extracurriculars and school things, so there’s a lot of momentum heading into a season 4, and lots of ways we can go. So pending a phone call, Mindy and I and the writers will be at the ready to decide which way to go."
We're bummed we won't be able to returned to Essex to see that through!
