‘Hacks’ Stars Jean Smart & Hannah Einbinder Tease Deborah & Ava’s Season 4 Feud: ‘The Gloves Are Off’ (VIDEO)
Hacks is pulling no punches in its Season 4 return as new late-night host Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) continues to spar with self-appointed head writer Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder).
As viewers will recall, Ava blackmailed her way into the gig after threatening to expose Deborah’s one-night stand with conglomerate CEO Bob Lipka (Tony Goldwyn), a.k.a. her new boss. But Ava’s actions weren’t without motivation after Deborah had initially hinted she’d name her protegee head writer, before chickening out.
Now, “the gloves are definitely off in Season 4,” Smart tells TV Insider. “The gloves are off, which surprised even me at times,” she reiterates, hinting at the extremes Deborah will likely go to make Ava’s job more difficult.
“The shirts are off,” Einbinder jokes, echoing her costar’s sentiments.
But despite Deborah and Ava being at odds, fueling an ugly feud, comedy still prevails. “It works,” Smart promises, but admits, “You think… ‘Are we being funny enough?’ But I trust the writers implicitly.”
Max
Their dynamic, which began as reluctant collaborators, has transformed to full-on foes when Season 4 opens, so much so that they even have a little bit of professional intervention through some unlikely individuals, as well as familiar faces: their managers Jimmy (Paul W. Downs) and Kayla (Megan Stalter).
“It works because the audience, now, by season 4, they’re invested in the characters,” Smart notes. “So it gives us more freedom to go places with the characters that the audience wouldn’t necessarily have followed [in] Seasons 1 or 2.” With that history in mind, that doesn’t make watching Deborah and Ava be mean to each other any easier.
“Now that it’s Season 4, they’re fastening their seatbelts and…looking forward to the bumpy ride,” Smart concludes. Don’t miss it for yourself, tune into Hacks Season 4 for Deborah and Ava’s metaphorical sparring match as they try to reinvent late-night TV.
Hacks, Season 4 Premiere, Thursday, April 10, Max
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