'Hacks' Season 4: Everything We Know
Will Deborah and Ava's careers survive their new rivalry in the next installment of the Max comedy?
On May 30, 2024, television history was made, as the Hacks season 3 finale went full Succession, and stand-up legend Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and her writer Ava Daniels' (Hannah Einbinder) friendship was changed forever. The Emmy-winning Max original comedy spent its third season reuniting Deborah and Ava in pursuit of one goal: making Deborah the host of a major late-night show. They succeeded, but a pair of double crossings turned their often-contentious relationship on its head, as Ava fully embraced the ruthless lessons she has learned from the veteran comedian.
So, what's in store for the must-watch TV comedy duo after that frosty, jaw-dropping final scene? Read on for everything we know so far about Hacks season 4.
Deborah (Jean Smart) and Ava (Hannah Einbinder) in a first-look at Hacks season 4.
Has 'Hacks' been renewed for a fourth season?
Yes! Max announced the good news in late May 2024, the same day the Hacks season 3 finale dropped. The streamer also revealed in a press release that season 3's seventh and eighth episodes gave the comedy its best single-day viewership thus far.
“We congratulate Hacks' brilliant cast and crew, and our partners at Universal Television,” Sarah Aubrey, head of Max Original Programming, said in a statement. “Hacks is a masterfully crafted comedy delivering laughs and sharp insights about the vulnerability and joy of sharing a dream. The creative team behind this singular show is not only brilliant but also a joy to work with. We couldn’t be happier to give viewers another season with Deborah, Ava and the rest of the Hacks family.”
Ahead of the season 4 renewal, show creators Lucia Aniello, Jen Statsky, and Paul W. Downs opened up about their plans for the series in an interview with Deadline. The trio shared that they had always planned for Hacks to be a five-season arc and are still headed down that path.
“That’s still our plan,” Aniello told the outlet. “We started pitching the show in 2019, but we’ve been thinking about it since 2015, so we’ve had a great time to plot out and talk about where we wanted the show to go.”
When will 'Hacks' season 4 come out?
Deborah and Ava will be back on our screens sooner than expected! Max has announced that Hacks season 4 will premiere on Thursday, April 10, 2025, at 6 p.m. PT/9 pm ET, with a two-episode season premiere.
Episodes 3 through 6 will air weekly, followed by a special double release for episodes 7 and 8 on May 15. The season will wrap up with episode 9 on May 22, and the season 4 finale on May 29.
The Emmy-winning comedy entered production in late September last year. On September 30, 2024, the show's official Instagram shared a heartwarming shot of stars Smart and Einbinder, co-creator/star Downs, and the series' other writers back on set at none other than a Vegas casino. "Let’s roll. Hacks Season 4 is now in production," the caption said.
Einbinder also posted a selfie on her Instagram Story of herself in "Ava mode," wearing a blue, striped buttoned-down top and her hair cut into a bob.
Deborah (Smart) and Ava (Einbinder) walking through the studio of their new late-night show in season 4.
Is there a trailer for 'Hacks' season 4?
On March 11, 2025, Max teased the start of the Deborah v. Ava war, with the official season 4 trailer picking up right after their intense showdown. In addition to preparing for Deborah's late-night premiere, the new season will see the duo taking on DJing, race-car driving, trust falls, and home renovations. Things are sounding rough for Ava, with Jimmy (Paul W. Downs) warning her, "She's been doing this for 50 years. You're not gonna beat her at her own game. Nobody beats Deborah."
Before the official trailer dropped, HBO shared a sneak peek of Hacks season 4 in its 2025 sizzle reel, which was released in November 2024. The brief clip (seen at 0:38 below) shows another Deborah-Ava face-off moments after the big season 3 finale (judging by the pair wearing the same clothes).
Deborah mocks Ava, saying, "Aren’t you a big, brave girl," while Ava responds, "I guess I am."
“We’ll see,” Deborah says.
What will 'Hacks' season 4 be about?
The official season 4 logline reads, "Tensions rise as Deborah and Ava endeavor to get their late-night show off the ground and make history doing it." So, while being heartbreaking for Deborah-Ava-bestie-shippers, their relationship becoming a full-out rivalry behind the scenes of their new show will undoubtedly make for excellent TV.
The season 3 finale set up what's to come when Ava went behind Deborah's back to snag the head writer role on her new late-night talk show. Originally, Deborah had asked her right-hand writer to come with her to the network show—which she instantly agreed to and quit her other TV writing job in the process, even after they offered her a promotion. However, after the comedy icon tells her mentee that the network bosses told her she couldn't make her mentee the head writer—which Ava finds out is a complete lie—she goes behind her back to secure the job and threatens her with blackmail if she disagrees.
Now that Ava has leveled the power dynamics between the two, we can expect them to one-up each other next season, while trying to make their new late-night show successful. If Ava leaks to the tabloids that her boss hooked up with network executive Bob Lipka (Tony Goldwyn) before she landed her new job—the information she threatened to release, should she not fill the head writer position—that, of course, would make for another publicity blunder to navigate.
After Hacks' win at the 2025 Golden Globes, co-creator Jen Statsky teased that season 4 will be brand-new territory for the show's central relationship. "Definitely in season 4 you see them butting heads in ways they never have while also trying to get a show off the ground, which is very, very complicated," she explained in an interview with Deadline.
Fan-favorites Kayla (Meg Stalter) and Jimmy (Paul W. Downs) will return in season 4.
Following the Emmys in September 2024, Hacks' co-creators also celebrated their win for Best Comedy Series by dropping a new hint at season 4's plot. Speaking with the press after the team's acceptance speech, as reported by TheWrap, Aniello said, "I think the tease that I can give legally is that we pick up 20 minutes or so after where we left off. The tension is still high, and there’s still a lot of fallout to explore."
In a May 2024 interview with Deadline, Hacks' cast and crew teased even more about that dynamic, and what it'll be like to see Ava come into her full power.
"What we’re setting up is that Deborah is now on the biggest stage of her career," said Statsky. "She's got this huge gig that she now has to make work because it's what she’s wanted more than anything. But now she’s at odds with her closest collaborator—and closest friend, to be honest—because she has betrayed her."
Smart has also shared how she interprets her character's reaction to Ava's decision to defy her, and what she expects the upcoming new season to look like. "Much to Deborah’s dismay...Ava has learned the lessons she taught her a little too well," she said.
She added of the final season 3 scene, "It's a mixture of rage with some admiration; almost pride. And then, at the very last moment, it’s like, 'Oh, this will be fun.'"
Ahead of the show's premiere, the showrunners and cast teased more explicitly what fans can expect in season 4. In an interview with Deadline, Aniello described Ava and Deborah's relationship like a marriage on the rocks but trying to stick together for the sake of their late-night show. She said, "It just felt natural that the reality of the fallout of that would be that they would be on the brink of divorce this whole time. The only thing that’s keeping them together is 'the kids,' the show. It’s like they know they have another thing to take care of, so they have to deal with each other. So, this magical thing that binds them yet again is comedy. Even if they want to kill each other, they can’t."
She added, "It does set up this different dynamic for the season that is, in some ways fun, and in some ways painful...But I think that because it’s evolving and moving as the season goes on, it doesn’t hopefully feel like it’s ever treading water, which is always the fear. It was something we were very, very cognizant of the whole time."
Smart herself noted she was shocked by some of the writers's choices, saying, "I was a little surprised that it got so contentious and so dark...but I didn’t have any doubt that it would work, because what they do always works."
From left, season 4 newcomers: Grover Whitmore, III, Holmes, Sandy Honig, Gavin Matts, Katy Sullivan, Matt Oberg, Jasmine Ashanti, and Danny Jolles.
Are there any new cast members in 'Hacks' season 4?
Yes! A handful of exciting new faces will become a part of Deborah and Ava's orbit in the upcoming episodes. In early March, Max announced several new cast members set to appear in guest roles. Julianne Nicholson, fresh off the bombshell season 1 finale of the hit Hulu thriller series Paradise, is among the guest stars, as well as Eric Balfour (The Offer), comedic actors Michaela Watkins (Casual) and Bresha Webb (Run the World), and stand-up comic/writer Robby Hoffman. Their roles are yet to be announced.
Several names have also been announced as the ensemble playing Deborah's writers, including Danny Jolles, Gavin Matts, Grover Whitmore III, Holmes, Jasmine Ashanti, Katy Sullivan, Matt Oberg, and Sandy Honig. We can't wait to see how they feed into (or refuse to put up with) Deborah and Ava's bickering!
One week before the show's premiere date, Variety reported that social media star/podcast host Jake Shane would also appear in season 4. He'll play "Social Media Girlie." TBD what that entails (though we can't imagine Deborah liking any part of that), but it may pull from Shane's real-life persona as an influencer and host of "Therapuss with Jake Shane."
