As the acclaimed HBO Max comedy series Hacks prepares to launch its fifth and final season, the cast and creative team gathered for an emotional and hilariously candid press conference. Reflecting on the show’s journey, creators Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello, and Jen Statsky joined stars Jean Smart, Hannah Einbinder, and Megan Stalter to unpack what lies ahead for Deborah Vance and Ava Daniels, while grappling with the bittersweet reality of bringing their award-winning series to a close.
Following the dramatic events of season four, the creators sought to explore how Deborah Vance confronts her own mortality and public image. Lucia Aniello noted that Deborah’s encounter with misreportings of her life “puts the kind of idea of legacy and how to live a life and how you want to live a life really into focus for her.” Aniello added that as the final season progresses, “we explore a lot of different ways that she wants to have the relationships she wants to have, the lasting legacy she wants to have for Las Vegas, and for her work as well.”
The final season also provided the writers room with a last opportunity to bring long-gestating bucket-list storylines to the screen. Jen Statsky shared that an episode involving The Amazing Race was “something we talked about since season one,” while Aniello highlighted storylines involving “Ava dating a magician slash sex worker” and Deborah reflecting on her past. Downs revealed another standing ambition: “We always wanted to do an autograph convention, you know, like the Hollywood show, or the night of 1,000 stars.” He also cheered a specific directorial wish, stating, “I’ve always wanted to have a camera go in the mouth, and we did it in episode seven in ‘The Nightmare’,” he laughed.
The upcoming season directly addresses contemporary entertainment industry anxiety through a storyline focused on artificial intelligence and corporate control. Addressing the industry landscape, Jean Smart remarked, “we’re going through a really strange time and upheaval in our industry where big corporations really are taking over and calling the shots. It’s very scary.” Smart noted that Deborah Vance reaches a breaking point where “she’s just been pushed to the limit, and that’s where she just [thinks] ‘that’s it!’ She just goes for it.”
Statsky elaborated on the show’s critique of AI, emphasizing the human element intrinsic to creative work: “there’s this massive push by tech to optimize every part of our lives… You don’t need to optimize everything because the grit and the struggle is part of it. That’s like part of the creative process. It’s what makes things good. It’s what makes things human.” Downs echoed this sentiment regarding creative integrity: “when it comes to the creative process, that’s something we don’t need to optimize. That’s one thing that’s like, please leave it alone.”