Hacks has come to an end with the finale of season five, but do Deborah and Ava reunite? Find out below.
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The comedy-drama has been a critical and commercial success for HBO Max since it launched in 2021 and its fifth and final season concluded on May 28, bringing it to a final close.
It starred Jean Smart as Deborah Vance, a stand-up comedian, and Hannah Einbinder as Ava Daniels, her comedy writer, as they navigate the evolving dynamics of their professional partnership and personal lives within the contemporary comedy industry.
It was created by Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky and it co-starred the latter two in supporting roles, as well as the likes of Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Rose Abdoo and Mark Indelicato.
All five seasons of the show have been highly acclaimed, all scoring 98 per cent or higher on Rotten Tomatoes, and it has won five Golden Globes and nine Emmys.
Its fourth season landed in NME’s list of the best television shows of 2025, which noted: “Still the most scalpel-sharp comedy around with an undertow of pathos, highlights included Deborah running afoul of HR when offering her writers’ room drugs on a Las Vegas work retreat, the introduction of Julianne Nicolson’s cocaine-boofing TikTok star ‘Dance Mom’, and a sensational denouement that acts as a clever series redux.”
The ending of Hacks season five explained: do Deborah and Ava reunite?
Jean Smart’s Deborah has spent the fifth and final season frozen with fears of mortality and irrelevance, after false reports of her death.
At the start of the final episode, Ava is directing the pilot of the reboot of Deborah’s sitcom Who’s Making Dinner?, while Deborah reveals that her cancer has returned. Rather than undergo treatment, she decides to travel to Zurich for assisted suicide after one final holiday in Paris. Ava is devastated by this and begs her to reconsider, but Deborah carries on determined.
At a Paris train station, Ava prepares to board with Deborah, having accepted her decision. They begin to joke together about death and their connection makes Deborah realise that she still enjoys writing comedy material, and sparks her passion for performing live.
Instead of boarding the train, Deborah askes Ava to help her write one last stand-up special and Ava immediately agrees.
As the show climaxes, Deborah realises that what she truly values is not her legacy or her mortality, but the act of creation. She returns to Las Vegas and begins cancer treatment and resumes writing with Ava.