Jean Smart Opens Up About Filming the Final Season of Hacks

Jean Smart has spent five seasons making comedian Deborah Vance one of television's most indelible characters. With the curtain finally falling on "Hacks," the Emmy-winning actress sat down with CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Tracy Smith to reflect on a role she called the fulfillment of a lifelong ambition.

Smart told Tracy Smith that "Hacks" was everything she could have hoped for in a role and a chance to live out her childhood dream of being a stand-up comic. "I was just ecstatic when they offered it to me," she said.

The fifth and final season of the HBO Max comedy premieres April 9 at 9 p.m. ET, picking up in the aftermath of mistaken and unflattering news reports that Deborah has passed away. Undeterred, Deborah and her head writer Ava Daniels, played by Hannah Einbinder, return to Las Vegas, more determined than ever to secure Deborah's legacy as a comedian. The show, which launched on HBO Max in 2021, began its run on the Las Vegas Strip and returns there for its closing chapter after spending much of its run in Los Angeles.

Tracy Smith also spoke with Einbinder and the show's three co-creators: Jen Statsky, Paul W. Downs, and Lucia Aniello, who reportedly directed one episode of the final season while in labor. The 10-episode run will unfold weekly through May 28, with double-episode drops scheduled for April 30 and May 7.

The personal weight Smart carries into this final chapter is considerable. During the last days of filming the first season in 2021, her husband of nearly 34 years, actor Richard Gilliland, died suddenly of a heart condition. Smart pushed through the remaining five days of production with the support of the cast and crew, ultimately completing a season that included a funeral scene in its finale, an episode dedicated in Gilliland's memory.

The series went on to win 12 Primetime Emmy Awards over its run, with Smart earning four consecutive individual wins for her portrayal of Deborah Vance. Einbinder, Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Megan Stalter, and Paul W. Downs round out the returning ensemble, joined by a roster of guest stars that includes Kaitlin Olson, Tony Goldwyn, and Christopher McDonald.

With the finale now just days away, the show's creators have described the final episode as both heartfelt and comedic. For Smart, who built Deborah Vance from a Las Vegas punchline into a cultural touchstone, the ending represents something she never saw coming when she first stepped into the role.