Jean Smart knew ‘Hacks’ would win the Emmy Award: ‘I wasn’t surprised — we deserved it’
"I wasn't surprised — we deserved it."
That's how Jean Smart described her reaction to Hacks winning Best Comedy Series at last year's Emmy Awards. She recounted her feelings Friday night at PaleyFest while surrounded by fellow cast members Hannah Einbinder, Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Rose Abdoo, Mark Indelicato, and Megan Stalter, plus showrunners-writers-directors-producers Jen Statsky, Lucia Aniello, and Paul W. Downs. Variety's Michael Schneider moderated the Q&A panel, which took place after the world premiere screening of the first two episodes of Season 4.
Downs recalled being "shocked" when Hacks won the major trophy, and Aniello agreed, saying, "Very few times in your life a shocking thing can happen and it's good. So, at a very base human level, it was really cool to have that experience in your body."
Einbinder said it was "basically crazy" that the show took home the top Emmy, noting, "We were all sort of in a state of shock, I think."
"Except Jean," laughed the producers.
Stalter, too, claimed that she predicted Hacks would win. "I wasn't surprised, either. I thought that we were gonna get it." The audience laughed when she added, "And it's not the end of the awards for us. So why don't you get out there and vote for us?"
After the events of last year's Season 3 finale, Deborah Vance (Smart) and Ava Daniels (Einbinder) were essentially on an even playing field. Deborah had just become the host of a late night talk show, and Ava had extorted her way into becoming her head writer because she knew that Deborah had slept with a television executive to get the job. Season 4 starts off soon after that moment, and audience members were sworn to secrecy about what they saw in the first two episodes.
"I was really looking forward to channeling all the great mob bosses," Einbinder declared. "Like, I was trying to go Ava Corleone on her. Me and Jean, we have fun with that stuff, because we have so much love. So for us to be fighting, we're completely playing, because we're just girlies." Einbinder was intently watching the new episodes with the fans to see what happened next, "As if that's not me," she laughed.
For Smart, "Betrayal has been the theme of Deborah's life, and what's been her engine, for better or for worse. And so [what happens in Season 3] is pretty, pretty bad. The more she thinks about it, the more upset she is, and she definitely feels incredibly betrayed. Also, too, she's thinking, 'I've been working for this for 30 years, and you're going to screw it up for me?' So, she thinks anything that she might do in retaliation is fair game ... and kind of fun."
From the producers' mindset, Statsky always knew that Season 4 would pick up right in that "tense moment" where Season 3 left off, because otherwise, there would be "so much juice left unsqueezed, so to speak."
Downs noted, "People reacted so strongly to the end of last season, and so we really did want to be off and running, and just deliver on that feeling. It was a feeling that people really reacted to. We were kind of nervous when we were writing it. As much as we knew this was a leveling up for the Ava character, it a betrayal of Deborah, and we're very protective of Deborah."
Season 4 of Hacks premieres April 10 on Max. It will be eligible in the comedy categories at the upcoming 2025 Emmys.
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