Hacks Is Over: Stars on the Show’s Legacy and the Spinoff Debate

The Emmy-winning comedy Hacks ended its run on May 28 after five seasons — but the conversation about it hasn’t stopped. In a new interview, stars Hannah Einbinder and Paul W. Downs sat down to reflect on the show’s legacy, its abrupt final-act pivot, and the one question fans keep asking: which character deserves a spinoff?

The Legacy of a Modern Comedy Masterpiece

It’s hard to overstate what Hacks accomplished. Co-created by Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky, the show paired Jean Smart’s Deborah Vance — a legendary Las Vegas stand-up whose career is on life support — with Hannah Einbinder’s Ava Daniels, a millennial comedy writer who has just been canceled into unemployment. The result was the rare workplace comedy that was also a meditation on aging, art, ego, and the brutal economics of making people laugh.

The awards validated what audiences already knew. Hacks won Outstanding Comedy Series at the Emmys two years in a row, taking the trophy in both 2024 and 2025 — a feat that only a handful of shows have managed in the last decade. Jean Smart took home the Emmy for Lead Actress in a Comedy Series four times for playing Deborah, and Hannah Einbinder won her first Emmy for Supporting Actress at the 2025 ceremony. The final season kept the streak alive, earning several nominations at the 2026 Emmys — including another Lead Actress nod for Smart.

Why the Series Finale Landed So Hard

Spoilers ahead for the ending — but if you haven’t watched yet, this is your cue to catch up first. The Hacks finale sent Deborah and Ava to Paris, completing an arc that began with two people who could barely stand each other and ended with something closer to a family. It was a bold, emotionally resonant close that honored everything the show had built — and it left fans desperate for more.

In the new Variety interview, Einbinder and Downs talked about what it meant to see the show through to its planned ending. “We pitched its ending from the beginning,” Downs said, explaining why a spinoff centered on his character Jimmy and Megan Stalter’s Kayla will never happen. “The story has been very important to us.”

That hasn’t stopped fans from dreaming. Asked which character deserves a spinoff first, the pair leaned into the fantasy: “There are so many characters in the show that if we could do a universe, I want to see Mayor Jo in her first election. I want to see Marty coming to Vegas in the ’70s.” It’s the kind of half-serious wishcasting that shows how much world-building was packed into five seasons — even if the creators maintain that a spinoff isn’t “in those cards” at HBO Max.

What Made Hacks Work

Part of what made Hacks so special was its refusal to treat comedy as frivolous. Deborah and Ava’s relationship was built on sharp words and genuine wounds — a mentorship that occasionally felt more like a hostage situation. Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder had the kind of chemistry that can’t be manufactured, and the show trusted them to carry scenes that bounced between brutal and tender without missing a beat.

The writing never cheated either. Aniello, Downs, and Statsky, who had previously cut their teeth on Broad City, brought a real understanding of the comedy industry’s machinery — the club owners, the agents, the network execs, the open mics where dreams go to die. The show was funny about comedy the way The Bear is intense about kitchens: it treated the craft with respect, then tore it apart.

The Spinoff Question: Yes or No?

Here’s the thing about a Hacks spinoff: it probably shouldn’t happen — and the creators know it. The story of Deborah and Ava was always meant to end where it did. But that hasn’t stopped the wish-casting, and honestly, some of it is irresistible. A young Mayor Jo political comedy? A 1970s Vegas origin story for Marty? In the right hands, either could work.

For now, the official answer is a firm no. Downs has been unambiguous that a Jimmy and Kayla spinoff is “not happening,” and the creators told Deadline that HBO Max doesn’t really do spinoffs — pointing out that even the network’s biggest hits don’t spin off the way broadcast shows once did. The world has changed, and so has the business of TV.

That’s also part of the Hacks legacy. It was a show about the end of an era — in comedy, in entertainment, in the way we consume art — and it made peace with endings. The finale wasn’t a cliffhanger or a tease; it was a closing act, and it landed with the confidence of a show that knew exactly what it wanted to say.

Where the Cast Goes From Here

The end of Hacks didn’t end anyone’s career. Jean Smart, fresh off four Emmy wins, remains one of the most in-demand actresses working today, with a range that stretches from the grim Mare of Easttown to the operatic Watchmen. Einbinder told Variety that working with Gillian Anderson on the film Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma gave her a new perspective on acting — proof that the show’s stars are ready to do something completely different.

Downs, meanwhile, has been candid about the show’s place in the modern comedy landscape. In an era when the Emmy race is crowded with heavyweights like The Bear and Abbott Elementary, Hacks carved out its own lane — and won. That’s the kind of legacy that doesn’t need a spinoff to survive.

Where to Watch Hacks

All five seasons of Hacks are streaming on Max, and if you’ve somehow missed it, this is the perfect time to binge. Watch Deborah and Ava’s journey from reluctant partners to something like family, marvel at Jean Smart’s razor-sharp delivery, and then join the rest of us in arguing about which character should have gotten their own show. The answer is obviously Mayor Jo, but we’ll let you fight about it.