Elijah Krantz

Elijah Krantz is Hannah's college boyfriend, the one she once assumed she'd marry, before he came out as gay. Now he drifts back into her orbit as a sharp-tongued friend and occasional roommate, quick with a cutting joke, comfortable stirring drama, and never quite done needing her attention as much as she needs his.

Andrew Rannells plays him with a bitchy exuberance that cuts through the show's earnest self-absorption, delivering one-liners with theatrical precision honed from his Broadway background. Elijah is funny because he refuses to coddle Hannah, and Rannells finds the loneliness underneath the camp without ever softening the edges that make him entertaining.