'Hacks' Season 5 creator shares unexpected coincidence ahead of emotional finale
It would be an understatement to say that Paul W. Downs is emotional about 'Hacks' ending this week. Downs, who also plays Jimmy LuSaque Jr. on the show, recently shared a post about a coincidence that made him emotional on the last day of shooting. The instance that he spoke about in the post dates back to 2019, when he, along with Jen Statsky and Lucia Aniello, was writing the pilot for their now-acclaimed series. To his surprise, the past beautifully caught up with the present during the last season's production.
The post included a carousel of photos featuring the trio goofing around on the streets of Paris. In the caption, Downs recounted how the Airbnb where they conceptualized the show's pilot became part of the finale. "In 2019, Jen, Lucia, and I decided to get an Airbnb in Paris to write the pilot of Hacks. We laughed a lot. 7 years later, we went back to shoot the finale. On our last day, I was getting nostalgic and looked back at the photos of our first trip. I stumbled upon the address of that apartment (slide 11), and when I looked up, I realized we were filming on the same street (14,15) completely by coincidence, blocks away from where it all began," the post revealed.
Downs doesn't exactly know what to make of the "coincidence," but hopes that through the "randomness," he and people around him "receive meaning." The show, which was born in that Airbnb, went on to change not only Downs' life but also the lives of many fans who waited with bated breath for every episode. During an interview with Newsweek, the creator and showrunner tried to put his feelings about the show's ending into words. "I feel so many things. I feel relieved. I feel excited for people to see it. I feel sad. There are so many feelings, it's almost net-neutral because I also just feel really grateful we were able to do it, that we actually accomplished it, and were allowed to tell the story we wanted to tell. It's a rare thing," he shared.
Hannah Einbinder, who plays Ava Daniels on the series, also poured her heart out on social media about the show's ending. She posted a photo of herself with Downs, Statsky, and Aniello as she penned a heartfelt caption. “I love this picture. It’s a good representation of how we feel about each other, and of the support and love Paul, Jen, and Lucia have always shown me," she wrote. "I had no acting experience when I started on Hacks (sorry) – but I think the reason I could do the job was because the character they created in Ava was so real. I remember reading the audition scene and thinking damn. I wanna chill with her. She would be my best friend for sure. As I came to get to know Paul, Jen, and Lucia, I realized that the qualities I loved in Ava were qualities of theirs. They’re passionate and fiercely loyal, goofy as hell, and their hearts bleed for the people they love.”
The trio of creators is ensuring that the show's legacy goes beyond just streaming. The team is planning to launch a full-series DVD box right after the series finale, so that even if the show is taken off streaming platforms, it survives in some form, as per Deadline. The trio's concern is not unwarranted, as many shows have been pulled from streaming over the years for a variety of reasons. 'Hacks' will stream its series finale on May 28, 2026, only on HBO Max, and it will pick up after Deborah Vance's iconic show at Central Park.
