Jean Smart plays Deborah Vance, a Las Vegas stand-up who needs to reinvent an aging act to avoid losing her residency at the Palmetto Casino. Hannah Einbinder plays Ava Daniels, a 25-year-old comedy writer who cannot find work after an insensitive tweet. Ava’s agent sends her to work as Deborah’s new head writer. That is the setup for Hacks, a series that drew critical acclaim and a stack of major awards.
Trailer, via HBO Max Asia.
A Casino Residency and a Tweet
The engine of Hacks is a mismatch that refuses to stay one. Deborah needs a new act. Ava needs any job at all. Neither wants the other.
Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky created the series, which premiered May 13, 2021, on HBO Max. It follows the two women as they work through a professional partnership that keeps turning personal.
The show is billed as a dark mentorship, and that is accurate. Ava pushes Deborah to take risks. Deborah, in turn, helps Ava start to work through her own problems. Both are stubborn about it.
Jean Smart Wins Everything
Smart’s performance is the reason Hacks works. She won five Primetime Emmy Awards for it, the first actress in history to win for every season of a multi-season show.
Her trophy case does not stop there:
- Three Screen Actors Guild Awards
- Four Critics’ Choice Awards
- Two Television Critics Association Awards
- Three Golden Globe Awards
Einbinder was nominated five times for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and won in 2025.
The Ensemble Behind the Two Leads
The supporting cast is not filler. Carl Clemons-Hopkins plays Marcus, Paul W. Downs plays Jimmy, Megan Stalter plays Kayla, Mark Indelicato plays Damien, and Rose Abdoo plays Josefina.
Downs received two Emmy nominations for his work. Clemons-Hopkins received one.
Explore a dark mentorship that forms between Deborah Vance, a legendary Las Vegas comedian, and an entitled, outcast 25-year-old.
Five Seasons, 47 Episodes
Hacks ran five seasons and 47 episodes. It concluded May 28, 2026.
That is a clean run by modern standards. The show ended on its own schedule, with its awards record intact.
The awards followed it the whole way. Hacks received five nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series and won that award for its third season.
What the Awards Record Actually Says
The first and third seasons won the Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Comedy Series. Both also won the Golden Globe for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy. The third season took the Television Critics Association Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy.
That is a show the industry kept rewarding. Season three is where the recognition peaked.
Where Hacks Stands
The premise sounds small: two women in a Las Vegas house, arguing about jokes. Hacks turns that into a study of two careers at opposite ends of the same industry, and it never lets either character off easy.
What matters most is Smart. Five Emmys for five seasons is not a sentimental vote. It is a record of a performer who held the center of a series for its entire run. Einbinder matching her is the other half of the trick.
The weaker stretches come when the industry satire crowds out the two-hander at the center. Hacks is best when it is just Deborah and Ava in a room, working.
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