Image via HBO MaxCo-creators Jen Statsky and Lucia Aniello break down the intensely emotional ending of one of HBO's best comedies.
Published May 28, 2026, 10:18 PM EDT
Emily Bernard is a Features Editor and Peer Mentor for Collider who studied History, Playwriting, and English at the University of Scranton. She’s a proud comedy nerd who loves getting into the nitty gritty of a joke and how it came to be, and she's interviewed several of her favorite comedians, including Tig Notaro, Hannah Einbinder, John Early, Julio Torres, Patton Oswalt, Ego Nwodim, Aidy Bryant, and Please Don’t Destroy. Emily’s not totally sure how she feels about this whole "writing in the third person" thing, but it sounds more professional, so she's going to stick with it.
Editors' note: The below contains spoilers for the series finale of Hacks.
Hacks co-creators Lucia Aniello, Jen Statsky, and Paul W. Downs had the ending to their Emmy-winning HBO comedy planned from the beginning. The trio first hatched the idea for a series about an aging comedian, Deborah Vance (Jean Smart), reluctantly pairing up with Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder), a progressive, open-minded 20-something comedy writer, six years before its 2021 premiere. Over the course of five exquisite seasons, bursting with heart and, of course, hilarity, Hacks has been rightfully recognized for its sharp writing, complex storytelling, and superb performances. Though it might sound clichéd for a show with such great chemistry, it really seems like the cast and crew have become family.
As the accolades accumulated and the fanbase fervently grew, that meant more eyes — and inadvertently pressure — to keep the series at its best season to season and avoid a quality drop-off or a feeling of overstaying its welcome. Though Ava and Deborah's antics only get funnier and more meaningful the more time we spend with them, ending Hacks with Season 5 — and on the creators' own terms — was a smart move. The conclusion of the HBO hit is sure to satisfy the most diehard of fans, with callbacks and Easter eggs peppered all the way through the finale, whether it's the silly reveal of exactly how big Deborah's hands actually are in comparison to Ava's or the heartfelt return of "big, brave girl."
Statsky and Aniello don't want to say goodbye to Hacks, either, but they're very proud of how Ava and Deborah's story ends. While the finale itself is one of the most intense, emotional, and unpredictable episodes of the entire series, with Deborah and Ava confronting devastating truths that give them both a reality check, it doesn't feel like an "end," but rather, a reinforcement of the platonic soulmates' indelible bond. Ava and Deborah laughing and strolling in the City of Love right before the credits roll? It can't get any better than that. In an interview with Collider, the co-creators explain how Deborah's Season 5 storyline was teased as far back as Season 2, revealing the different ending Smart always pictured for Deborah and the big, brave way Einbinder found out how Hacks would end.
'Hacks' Was a Better Experience Than Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsky Could've Ever Imagined
"We really couldn't have dreamt it better."
COLLIDER: You two and Paul [W. Downs] gave me so much to think about. I have notes like a maniac, so I'm just going to jump in. You've been working on Hacks for over 10 years at this point. By the time this interview is out, the finale's going to be out, and the world will have finally seen it. How do you feel about that?
LUCIA ANIELLO: Really sad.
JEN STATSKY: Really wild, yeah, it's really wild and sad. It's such a huge chapter of our lives coming to an end, that it's a mix of a lot of feelings. We feel incredibly grateful, and it's been such an amazing experience that it's very hard to say goodbye.
I'm sure there's still a feeling of, "Oh, we're starting Season 6 soon…"
ANIELLO: Normally, yeah.
STATSKY: Yeah, yeah, we'd be in the writer's room and planning out Season 6, and so it's very… it's weird.
ANIELLO: It's also been such an amazing chapter of our life, and honestly, surprising. We really couldn't have dreamt it better, and so, for that chapter — of course, hopefully beautiful, amazing things coming — but it is really sad to close a chapter on a time where you got to make something that you really loved with people that you love so much, and the people that you met and fell in love with as collaborators. It's also exciting that the people are going to be able to see the finale, which we are really, really, really proud of.
Deborah's Devastating Reveal Fit Perfectly Into 'Hacks' Season 5's Funniest Episode
"It really did set up a very charged episode."
Image via HBO MaxYou should be. I rewatched it yesterday, and I was just a mess again. I feel like Ava and Deborah have a really beautiful, perfect ending, and Kayla and Jimmy, too. I'm excited to see what people think about it. The last three episodes of the season take a tonal shift, especially after "Montecito." You kind of sneak in the reveal about Deborah's mass, in the funniest episode. Was that intentional?
STATSKY: It wasn't necessarily like, "Oh, we'll put this in in the funniest episode," it was just very intentional in terms of arcing out the season and how information would be doled out and where it would be. It kind of felt like the perfect conflict for that episode, that Ava would come to find out Deborah was hiding something yet again, and it would trigger old wounds that she thought they were past. I think it worked out very nicely that it's in an episode that is so funny and almost kind of a farce, but we were able to put that story detail in there.
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'Hacks' Hannah Einbinder and Jean Smart Explain How Episode 7 Puts Deborah at the "Mercy" of Ava
Jean Smart reveals that Season 5 is the first time she's ever broken character while filming 'Hacks.'
How aware were you that people were going to have the lingering thought of, "Is Deborah going to die in the finale?" To me, at least, that was always in the back of my mind after Episode 7.
ANIELLO: That was very much by design. We don't get a ton of notes from the studio and network, but when we first said how the season is arcing, one thing that one of our executives, Sarah Aubrey, was saying is that you really want to make sure that when she says I'm dying and this is how I want to end it, it doesn't feel like it's out of nowhere. So I think starting at the end of Episode 7, and certainly in 8, and honestly, the way that we started the season with her angelic death idea in the driveway… we'd been playing towards this idea of Deborah's death for a long time. I think that we did that so that it would feel natural once the information came out. You're like, "Yes, I've been feeling this. I've been wondering about this." And then that leads us into an episode which is really about the right to life and dignity at the end of your life.
That is, yet again, something they would tussle with, Deborah and Ava. They both have their POVs on it. For Deborah, it's so much about control. She's loved control. She's obsessed with control over her life and her career and everything about it. And for Ava, she normally would also probably agree with people having a right to end their lives with dignity as they'd like, but she probably feels that way about anybody but Deborah just because she loves her so much and is just so devastated at the idea of losing her. It really set up a really big butting head, the classic butting of heads for them. But the stakes are so much higher than normal. This isn't just about how you should dress for a date or whatever. It really did set up a very charged episode. But yet again, if it wasn't the series finale, in a way, you could see this being a version of an episode that we would do, just the idea of them grappling with — yet again — a topic that they feel differently about.
Jean Smart Had a Different Ending in Mind for Deborah Vance
"[That ending] was not in the cards for us."
Image via HBO MaxWhen I've talked to Hannah and Jean, they said they like to be in the dark about what's going to happen. Did you have a separate conversation about the finale? Did you get their input at all? I think Jean had some reservations, right?
ANIELLO: She did, one because she was actually told by somebody else an ending that wasn't what the ending was, which was too bad, because then she kind of came into it thinking it was something that it wasn't. And also, to be frank, and she has said this — tell me if I'm out of line here, Jen — but she has said that her perfect finale would be a Marty-Deborah end game or a version of that.
STATSKY: Yes, yeah, I think she's even said that publicly, that she dreamed of a Marty-Deborah wedding.
ANIELLO: Yes, which was not in the cards for us. But that being said, she has been so complimentary about it when we actually shot it and all that, she's been so, so sweet and lovely. I think she thinks it's quite fitting for the end. Hannah just read it at the table-read cold. She didn't know what was happening until it was in a room full of people. But yeah, we don't really take input from anybody other than our writers and our executives and creative collaborators. I think we feel really, really happy. This is an idea that we've had for the ending since the beginning, and it's felt even more apropos than ever, once we filmed it.
Hannah Einbinder and Jean Smart Were Completely "Locked In" on Ava and Deborah's Tense Conversations
"We want to get their first impulse of what the scene feels like on camera."
Image via HBOAs I was watching the episode, I broke it down into three emotional gut-punch moments. The first one is when Deborah tells Ava in a very calm way — which is almost eerie, because she's made peace with it — her plan. Ava is obviously panicking, but then you can see the switch almost in Ava that she's more so panicking about life without her. What kind of direction did you give Hannah and Jean for that scene?
STATSKY: To be honest, Jean and Hannah are so locked into these characters, and Lucia — correct me if I'm wrong — but I think on the day, we started on Hannah's coverage, and she just kind of wanted to go and see where the scene took her because it was so emotional. So I don't think we spoke beforehand.
ANIELLO: No. You know, the only time I think we ever really spoke about how we were in the process of it ahead of time was with Hannah. Jean, she might ask us questions about it, but we don't generally have holistic things, especially because we want to get their first impulse of what the scene feels like on camera. But for Hannah, she wanted to, I think, do that scene in the hotel room when she confronts her, the negotiation in the Paris hotel room... that scene, she wanted to just go all the way through, not do any stops and starts. Sometimes we do stops and starts, but I was, of course, happy to do it however she wanted to. What were the other gut punches for you?
The club scene is so beautifully done, and it's great to see Deborah wearing Ava's clothes. But the next gut punch is when Ava's basically like, "I hear you, but you're not going to do that, and I have a whole binder full of reasons why you're not going to do this." It was interesting to me to see them both use each other's words against each other. I thought that was really smart, Ava saying, "Your first offer is not your final," and then Deborah saying to Ava, "For someone who always says listen to women, you're really not hearing me." What was it like writing that conversation? Did you go through a couple of different iterations of it?
STATSKY: The club scene is one of my favorite moments we've ever done in the whole show, and that's honestly a credit to Lucia's direction, because when we wrote that club scene, we actually didn't… that's such a turning point "gut punch" moment for Ava where she realizes, "Oh my God, I can't let this person go," and we, on the page, hadn't really put it in as that. Lucia, as she was prepping and directing, sort of realized that that should be another, like you said, "gut punch" moment. It's incredibly impactful, and Hannah plays it so well. Also, credit to Adam Bricker, our cinematographer, because the way it's shot and lit is just incredible.
He's amazing.
STATSKY: And then, writing the hotel scene, it actually stayed pretty close to, I think, to what we originally wrote.
ANIELLO: I think it did.
STATSKY: Obviously, on the day we adjust things, but Hannah and Jean, their performances were so, so strong and incredible in that. There wasn't really a lot to adjust because they were so good. And really what's written, we stuck pretty closely to what that was.
ANIELLO: I think a lot of the last couple episodes of were really pretty close to what... when you kind of know the ending the whole time, you're oftentimes seeding so many things to come back later. The progesterone packets from Season 2, we knew that because we knew the ending, so we wrote that in and kept that in. When so much of it is building towards something that you've been planning for so long, it's really easy to write the end because so much of it is the answer to a question you asked earlier.
The 'Hacks' Creators Reveal the Key Series Finale Moment That Made Deborah Change Her Mind
"That little spark is the identical spark from the pilot."
Image via HBO MaxYes, exactly. I thought bringing back the "you're a big brave girl" line was so beautiful. You guys are so good at bringing stuff back. Of course, the bread and the hands had to be done.
ANIELLO: The hands! Did you see the hands coming? [Laughs]
The third gut punch was the train station. That felt like another shift. Ava's made peace with Deborah's plan as best she can, but now Deborah is sort of going, "Wait, is this what I want to do?" I thought that when Ava left to go to the bathroom, Deborah was going to leave without her. That made me very nervous. But I want to know what made Deborah scrap her plan. Who wrote the line, "I might not have another 30 years, but do you think I have another hour"? Because that shattered me.
STATSKY: One of the three of us. It's hard for us to remember. We can give credit to our other writers when we're like, "Oh, that was such a funny joke that, for example, Joe Mande or Ariel Karline pitched, but when it's the three of us, sometimes it gets.
ANIELLO: We all share one brain, so it's kind of hard to remember.
Your one brain is great.
ANIELLO: [Laughs] I think the moment that Deborah, the real "big change" moment for Deborah, is the moment she impulsively writes down a joke. That moment when she just, "Oh, I'll write that down." That's what she's done her whole life. Her whole career is, "Oh, that's a funny idea. I'll write that down." After she writes that down, there's that moment where she's like, "I just wrote that down. Why did I just write that down?" And that little spark has returned. And that little spark is the identical spark from the pilot when she realizes that when she laughs with this girl and makes jokes and pitches on ideas with her, it excites her, it turns her on, and it makes her happy.
For her to realize in that moment, "I'm not done writing, and I'm not done writing with this person, and there's actually a lot of new material that's about to happen. Wouldn't it be a waste if I didn't enjoy getting those laughs about it?" That's really, I think, the big inflection point for the end of the season, which is really our point of the whole series. For us, at least, and then for Deborah Vance, life is worth living if you are having fun and laughing with your friends and the people that you're working with. Especially over food and croissants. [Laughs] That's a bonus.
STATSKY: In Europe.
ANIELLO: In Europe, that's a bonus. But yeah, for us and I think for these characters, they just love creating together and they love laughing together, and it's really fulfilling. It's life-affirming. And that's what Deborah realizes.
There were a couple of moments towards the end where I was like, "I hope the credits don't hit yet," and then it just ended perfectly with them, in Paris, just loving each other. It's so beautiful. I also love that Kayla wanted her old desk back, and I could tell Jimmy kind of knew and let her go with it. I thought that was very cute.
ANIELLO: He wanted her to. He wanted her to come back out. Once he realized what she was really asking, he was like, "Yeah, I think that's good." Don't you love them?
I do! I know there are always rumors about a spin-off, but are you guys open to that?
ANIELLO: We're open, but I don't think it's happening.
STATSKY: Thank you for writing so beautifully about the show and watching it and supporting it.
ANIELLO: We always read it.
All five seasons of Hacks are available to stream on HBO Max.
Hacks
Release Date 2021 - 2026-00-00
English (US) ·