Emmy-Nominated Stars Hannah Einbinder and Paul W. Downs on the Legacy of ‘Hacks’ and Which Character Needs a Spinoff First
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- Hannah Einbinder told Variety that promoting her slasher film 'Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma' (opening August 7) alongside Gillian Anderson, who constantly fields 'X-Files' questions, reshaped how she views 'Hacks'' lasting legacy.
- Paul W. Downs said he and the 'Hacks' team debated stretching the finale into two half-seasons but ultimately stuck to their planned ending: 'I don't want anything else to come after. I want that to be the last thing people remember.'
- Downs pitched spinoff ideas including 'Mayor Jo in her first election' and 'Marty coming to Vegas in the '70s,' calling a Jimmy and Kayla spinoff 'terrifying' but saying it 'would have to be something different.'
- Einbinder championed the Mayor Jo spinoff idea, saying it has 'Better Call Saul vibes' with Jo being 'a fucking absolute criminal.'
- Downs praised Einbinder as 'a revelation' in 'Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,' calling her range 'really impressive' and calling the film 'absolutely beautiful, absolutely terrifying and absolutely funny.'
- Downs revealed he, Lucia Aniello, and Jen Statsky have a project in development with Kaley Cuoco plus an hourlong HBO limited series that's 'a slight tone shift' but 'definitely going to have humor.'
- Einbinder discovered a muffled Season 1 trailer video diary in which she said, 'I think these people are going to mean so much to me,' calling it a time capsule of her pre-'Hacks' days opening for comics and working at a coffee shop.
Why it matters: The 'Hacks' creative team's willingness to leave the series with a definitive ending rather than extend it shapes the franchise's commercial footprint going forward: any future spinoff faces a high bar set by the deliberate finale, and the trio's pivot to an HBO limited series and a Kaley Cuoco project signals where they'll direct their post-'Hacks' momentum.
