“Conflict is intimacy,” showrunner Paul W. Downs recently told EW in preparation for the eagerly anticipated second season of “Hacks,” suggesting a resumption of the biting tone which made season one an instant hit.
Seeing Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder reprise their roles as an aging comedienne, Deborah Vance, and her much younger writer, Ava Daniels, respectively, the second season picks up where the first left off, with the end of Vance’s Las Vegas residency and a certain email looming in the ether. As Einbinder teased in a recent preview, “Guilt certainly is eating away at Ava the first few episodes, and I think after a while that becomes very apparent to Deborah…The first three episodes are really Ava having a private experience. She’s so worried about this email… She’s trapped in her head and in her fear.”
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The setup for season 2, as described by Downs, is as follows; “We start the season with her really needing to get another residency, but in order to do that, she has to get this new act in shape. She has to create a new hour, and she has to make it so undeniable that she’ll be able to cement a new place for herself in Las Vegas … Everybody’s coming together to figure out how to make that possible in a short amount of time.” An intimate tour of small comedy clubs ensues which takes Deborah and Ava, as Downs suggested to ENews last year, “out of their comfort zone.”
In addition to Smart and Einbinder, recurring cast members include Downs himself as Deborah and Ava’s manager, Jimmy, Megan Stalter as Kayla, Jimmy’s assistant, Mark Indelicato as Deborah’s PA, Damien, Carl Clemons-Hopkins as Deborah’s chief operating officer, Marcus, and Kaitlin Olson of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” fame as Deborah’s daughter, DJ, as well as a guest-starring role for Las Vegas icon, Wayne Newton.
Season 2 of “Hacks” will arrive on HBO Max on May 12. Watch the first trailer below.