The world might be going to hell in a handbasket, but there’s at least one little bitty thing to keep us going: Max announced this week that Hacks has been renewed for a fifth season. I’m not crying; you’re crying.
Over its first three seasons, the comedy-drama, which centers on legendary comic Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and her behind-the-scenes writer Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder), has been nominated for 48 Emmy Awards and won six, including Outstanding Comedy Series. And Deborah and Ava’s love-hate relationship has only gotten deeper, funnier, and more complex over the past four years.
The announcement comes on the same week that the Season 4 finale will air on Max.
When will Hacks Season 5 air?
Since the renewal announcement is so recent, we have no idea when the fifth season of Hacks will air. However! Every other season of the show has aired one year apart, sometime between mid-April and mid-May, with only one exception that involved a surgery for Smart and a writer’s strike.
Showrunner Lucia Aniello even told Deadline, “We really like having the show out every year.”
So if we had to bet, we’d say that you can look for new episodes in spring 2026 unless something unexpected happens.
Is there a Hacks Season 5 trailer?
That is negatory! The series is likely being written now and will go into production in the fall before being edited in the spring. Last season, we didn’t get a trailer until mid-March.
Who will return for Hacks Season 5?
Truly, we know absolutely nothing about Hacks Season 5 at this point — but nothing will stop us from speculating.
We’re going to make an informed guess that co-stars Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder will be returning to their roles, for what even is Hacks without those two babes?
Things are less certain for the other series regulars, who include Carl Clemons-Hopkins (Marcus), Paul W. Downs (Jimmy), Megan Stalter (Kayla), Mark Indelicato (Damien), and Rose Abdoo (Josefina). But so far, all of the above have appeared in most of the episodes so far.
One hint we have is that Clemons-Hopkins might return to having a bigger role than in Season 4 as the show shifts from the late-night focus and back to the home (we think!).
What will happen in Hacks Season 5?
Warning: Possible spoilers!
At the end of Season 4, Deborah is reeling from the loss of her late-night show, and the future is very uncertain — and that’s all we know!
Though one thing we do know for sure is that Hacks has always been planned as a five-season show.
“We pitched five seasons. Even in the pitch of the whole series, we pitched the very last scene, the finale,” Aniello told Fast Company.
However… these things do sometimes change, especially if a show is wildly popular and successful as this is. And now, four years after the premiere, the showrunners admit that while they are still happy with the last scene and the arc of the story, it might take them longer to get there than they initially thought.
“We are now breaking up season 5, and we have to see how many episodes it will take us to get to where we know we’re going to go,” fellow showrunner Downs explained to Variety. “The final scene of the final episode has been in our minds since 2015, and we’re excited to get there. But that may take more episodes than we can fit in the season.”
Another thing that’s pretty for sure for Season 5 is that Deborah and Ava have thrown in together and will stay that way — it might have taken four seasons, but in Season 5, the pair looks like they will hit the ground running together.
