Hacks Goes Out With a Bang: Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder Stage Live FYC Event as HBO Max Passes on Spinoffs
Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder are taking their Hacks characters to a Los Angeles stage for one night only — and it might be the last time Deborah Vance and Ava appear anywhere outside the show itself.
The pair will reprise their roles at "Deborah Vance & Friends & Enemies Live!," a sold-out event at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles timed to Emmy Phase 2 voting — the second round in which Television Academy members cast their final ballots. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the roughly 90-minute show starts at 7:30 p.m., with additional cast members set to make surprise appearances alongside Smart and Einbinder (Deadline).
The event is designed to support Hacks' record 24 Emmy nominations for its fifth and final season. That total is the most ever for a comedy series in a single year, eclipsing the previous record of 23 set by FX's The Bear in 2024 and matched by Apple TV+'s The Studio in 2025. The nominations include a fifth consecutive Outstanding Comedy Series nod and a fifth straight Lead Actress in a Comedy Series nomination for Smart.
Hacks' Emmy trajectory has been striking. Season 1 received 15 nominations, Season 2 drew 17, Season 3 picked up 16, Season 4 landed 14, and the final season surged to 24.
Behind the celebration, though, the Hacks universe is closing down. HBO Max has opted not to pursue any spinoffs, including a buzzed-about offshoot centred on the characters Jimmy and Kayla. The characters' stories will end with the fifth-season finale. The show's creators — Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsky — are moving on to new projects after the final season wraps (Deadline).
For a show that built its identity on a comedy partnership that refused to end quietly, the live Fonda Theatre event lands as a fitting capstone: one more performance, one last extension of the characters, staged right when Emmy voters are paying the closest attention. Whether that strategy converts nominations into wins is a question for the ceremony in September. What is settled is that Hacks is finishing on its own terms — no spinoffs, no continuation, no extra life on the schedule. The fifth season is the last one, and the Fonda Theatre stage is where the cast says goodbye.
