Hacks Season 4 is coming. Eventually. Probably. I mean, it better be—some of us have structured our emotional support calendars around this show. If you’ve been clinging to every moment of Deborah Vance’s slow-motion reinvention arc (with a side of Ava Daniels’ beautifully awkward millennial spiral), you’re in the right place.
I’ve scoured interviews, stalked cast tweets (purely for research, ahem), and rewatched Season 3 twice because I “missed a few plot points”—or maybe I just like watching emotionally stunted women yell at each other in fancy kitchens. Sue me.
Anyway, here’s where we stand with Hacks Season 4: no premiere date yet, cast is mostly locked in, and plot details are kept tighter than Deborah’s Botox schedule.
So… When’s Hacks Season 4 Dropping?
Still TBD. I know. Ugh.
If you’re into pattern-spotting, here’s a glimmer of hope: past seasons dropped pretty regularly—Season 1 in May 2021, Season 2 in May 2022, then boom, Season 3 took a bit longer thanks to, well, the usual Hollywood chaos (strikes, pandemic stuff, Mercury in retrograde, you name it).
Word on the street (okay, the internet) is that Hacks Season 4 could hit screens by mid-to-late 2025. I wouldn’t bet my childhood Beanie Baby collection on it, but there’s a good chance they’re shooting for another spring or summer drop.
The cast and creators are staying suspiciously quiet, which either means something huge is brewing… or they’re all in a group chat laughing at how desperate we are. Honestly, both feel on-brand.
Quickie Recap of Seasons 1–3 (Because Memory is a Lie)
Season 1: Deborah Vance (played by Jean Smart, aka the woman your mom wishes you’d date if she were a man) is a legendary Vegas comic sliding down the slippery slope of cancel-culture-adjacent irrelevance. Enter Ava Daniels, a Gen Z-ish comedy writer who’s been “problematic on Twitter” (same). Their forced collab? Awkward, hilarious, and unexpectedly healing. I cried into a bag of kettle chips.
Season 2: Things heat up. Deborah hits the road to reinvent herself on a stand-up tour, and Ava keeps trying (and failing) to be a better person. There’s tension. There’s growth. There’s that bit with the pool float—still not over it.
Season 3: Honestly? Banger season. Deborah claws her way back into the spotlight while Ava tiptoes toward emotional maturity (sorta). Their mentor/mentee thing gets messier, sweeter, and more uncomfortably codependent. Also, Marcus (Carl Clemons-Hopkins) deserves his own spinoff. Just sayin’.
I watched the finale while eating leftover spaghetti in my college sweatshirt and fully sobbed. The show hits different when your therapist is out of town.
Who’s Coming Back for Hacks Season 4?
Let’s talk cast. AKA the people carrying our fragile little souls through this masterpiece.
Jean Smart as Deborah Vance
Queen. Icon. The woman whose delivery of “I am the industry” deserves its own museum wing. Jean Smart’s in. She basically is the show. No her, no Hacks. Simple math.
Hannah Einbinder as Ava Daniels
Still crushing it as everyone’s favorite hot mess comedy writer. Hannah Einbinder’s delivery has that raw, flailing energy that feels like a panic attack in a Forever 21 fitting room—and I mean that as the highest compliment.
Her return in Hacks Season 4 is a given. Ava still has some growing to do. Like…a lot. (Raise your hand if you’ve ever ghosted your therapist then tweeted about your healing journey.)
Carl Clemons-Hopkins as Marcus
Marcus is still my favorite character to pretend I could be if I had my life together. He’s loyal, emotionally constipated, and extremely well-dressed. He better be back. If not, I’m writing a letter. Like on paper. With stamps and everything.
Paul W. Downs as Jimmy
Oh Jimmy. The agent with the patience of a saint and the caffeine tolerance of a raccoon. He’s funny, low-key tragic, and—fun fact—played by one of the show’s co-creators. So yes, he’s absolutely coming back in Hacks Season 4.
Other Honorable Mentions:
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Kaitlin Olson as Deborah’s estranged daughter, DJ – Chaos in a human form.
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Megan Stalter as Kayla, Jimmy’s assistant – If chaotic bisexual energy were a person.
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Christopher McDonald as Marty, Deborah’s ex-flame – Not necessary, but fun when he shows up.
Also wouldn’t hate a cameo from literally any former child star from the ’90s. Let’s get weird.
Will There Be New Characters?
Probably. Most shows hit their stride around Season 4 by throwing in a wild card character to stir the pot. Maybe a rival comic with a TikTok following and a neck tattoo? A no-nonsense therapist who calls Ava out? Deborah’s long-lost stand-up nemesis from the ’80s?
Or better yet—Ava’s actual ex shows up and ruins everything. You know she’s got one. Maybe named Jeremy. Probably has a podcast. Definitely still calls his mom “Mommy.”
Plot Predictions (Okay, They’re Mostly Vibes)
So what’s going to happen in Hacks Season 4?
No official synopsis yet, but let me do what I do best: wildly speculate based on vibes and iced coffee consumption.
Deborah’s Career — Again, Still
I think we’re gonna see Deborah chase some sort of major pivot. Hosting a game show? Doing a gritty A24 stand-up doc? Starring in a prestige TV drama where she plays a detective with a dark past and an accent that’s “inspired by” New England?
Whatever it is, she’ll fight it. Hate it. Nail it. Probably sabotage it just enough to keep it interesting.
Ava’s Soul-Searching (Again)
Ava might finally be ready to step out of Deborah’s shadow. Keyword: might. Maybe she gets a writing gig on a TV show, or sells a memoir called Sad Girl With WiFi. She’ll mess it up—she always does—but maybe she’ll also learn a thing or two along the way. Possibly with a romantic subplot that’s doomed from the jump.
Also: can someone please give her a functional wardrobe? I love a good thrift-chic moment, but girl has been wearing the same oversized shirt for three seasons.
Ava + Deborah = Dysfunctional Comedy Soulmates
Let’s not pretend this show works without their weird, broken, co-dependent friendship-mentor-therapy-adjacent bond. It’s the heart of the series. Expect fights, forgiveness, and at least one wine-fueled heart-to-heart that ends in an emotional gut punch.
Like the scene in Season 2 when they’re on the boat? Yeah. That again. But louder.
Stuff I Want (That Probably Won’t Happen)
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Deborah gets canceled again. This time for something ridiculous. Like tweeting “hot take: bread is mid.”
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Ava has a moment of success… and realizes it feels hollow. (Cue identity crisis. Again.)
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Marcus starts a gay coffee shop empire.
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Kayla becomes TikTok famous for mispronouncing words. (Let her say “gnocchi” wrong.)
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A bottle episode in IKEA. Just because.
Fun Fact: Did You Know…
Victorians believed that talking to ferns could prevent madness? That’s from a book I “read” called Plants & Paranoia: A History of Greenery and Grief (Penguin, 1876, probably fake).
Anyway, I talk to my snake plant all the time. It hasn’t helped.
Will It Be the Final Season?
Oof. The dreaded question.
No official word, but creators have hinted they have a long game plan. I’d guess Hacks Season 4 isn’t the last—but it could be the beginning of the end. Like that moment at a party when someone turns off the music but hasn’t kicked you out yet.
Shows like this burn bright, and Jean Smart doesn’t owe us 7 seasons and a movie. But selfishly? I’d take it.
Until Then… We Wait.
And by “wait,” I mean I’ll be rewatching Seasons 1–3, quoting Deborah Vance in arguments with customer service reps, and googling “how to make it as a stand-up comedian in your 30s without leaving your house.”
If Hacks Season 4 delivers even half the emotional sucker-punches and sarcastic zingers of previous seasons, we’re in for something hella good.
And if it doesn’t? Eh, at least there’ll be memes.
As noted in Chapter 6 of the long-lost book “Comedy as Catharsis: A Self-Sabotager’s Guide to Humor” (1994), the funniest people are usually the most broken. Deborah Vance? Exhibit A.
