NEW YORK (AFP) - US cable network HBO has announced it will run a sixth season of Girls in 2017, but it will be the final one for the award-winning hit series created by writer and actress Lena Dunham.

The show, which follows the lives of a group of young adults in New York, was a sensation when it debuted on HBO in 2012.

Created by a woman, with women in lead roles, the series also drew attention for its distinctive tone - one that was very realistic and often crude.

In just four seasons, the programme has been nominated 14 times for Emmy Awards, US television's top honours, winning once in 2012 for best casting.

It won two Golden Globes in 2013 - for best comedy series and best comedy actress for Dunham.

The series also introduced actor Adam Driver, who played the disturbing character of Kylo Ren in the seventh installment of the Star Wars saga, The Force Awakens - which hit theatres worldwide at the end of December.

The fifth season of Girls is scheduled to begin February 21 on HBO.

"I conceived of Girls when I was 23 and now I'm nearly 30 - the show has quite perfectly spanned my 20s, the period of time that it's about - and so it feels like the right time to wrap our story up," Dunham said.

Dunham is already at work on a new project for HBO - a series called Max which takes place in 1963 and evokes the emergence of a new generation of feminists. HBO has ordered a pilot.

The multi-talented Dunham has also had success as a writer with her best-selling 2014 memoir, Not That Kind Of Girl.