HBO series "Hacks" will conclude after its upcoming fifth season, co-star Hannah Einbinder said while speaking to reporters on the red carpet at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday.
"We’re going to start next week, and knowing it’s the last season is really bittersweet," Einbinder, 30, told E! News. She added that ending after five seasons "feels right" and said it is "nice to do something as many times as it should be done. Not overstay your welcome. Rip it and do it and laugh and cry."
"Hacks" first premiered on HBO in 2021. A fifth season was announced in May, two days before the fourth season was released on the streaming service. The series, created by Jen Statsky, Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs, has earned 62 Emmy nominations over its run and has won 10 awards.
The show's creators have long suggested they envisioned a five-season story. Earlier this year, Statsky said the writers "know where the series ends," while also noting that the creative process can change elements along the way. "We’re just at this point, listening and figuring out and really doing gut checks on where we want the story to go," she said, declining to confirm whether the fifth season would be the final one at the time.
Jean Smart, who stars as comedy legend Deborah Vance, won her fourth Emmy at Sunday night’s ceremony for the role and used her acceptance speech to praise the cast and crew, calling Einbinder "incomparable." Einbinder won her first Emmy that night for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy, after three prior nominations. In her acceptance remarks she thanked Smart and the show’s cast and crew and concluded with a political exclamation that included a censored profanity and the phrase "free Palestine."
Einbinder plays Ava Daniels, a young comedy writer who forms a fraught mentorship with Deborah Vance. The series blends dark humor with character-driven storylines and has been widely lauded by critics and awards voters. Creators Aniello, Downs and Statsky have emphasized allowing the characters and story to guide the show’s trajectory rather than stretching it beyond its natural conclusion.
Production timing announced by Einbinder indicates filming for the fifth season is imminent. HBO and the series’ creators have not issued an additional statement about the show’s end beyond prior comments that suggested a finite story arc.
The fifth season will close out a series that has become a mainstay during awards seasons and has drawn sustained attention for its performances, particularly by Smart and Einbinder, and its creative team. With production set to begin, viewers and industry observers will look to the upcoming season for how the series wraps its central relationship and narrative threads.