Hacks saw Deborah’s (Jean Smart) Madison Square Garden ambitions crushed when she discovered that Bob Lipka (Tony Goldwyn) had bought the venue out, making her believe she’d sold it out in minutes, only to have no crowd. Warning: Spoilers for Hacks Season 5 Episode 9ahead!
The show was meant to solidify her legacy, which the comedian has been worried about ever since a falsely printed obituary claimed she was dead. But what is Deborah Vance’s true legacy? Was it meant to be the MSG show, which was ultimately overshadowed by her free Central Park performance, which broke records? Or is it the forthcoming launch of her boutique casino with business partner Marcus (Carl Clemons-Hopkins)?
“Her legacy is both,” teased series cocreator and showrunner Lucia Aniello. While she couldn’t elaborate more at the time, fellow cocreator and showrunner Jen Statsky added, “It’s hard to say… This season is talking about legacy and what is the most important thing Deborah leaves the world with, and so, it’s hard to specifically say.”
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Statsky continued, “One thing that we can point to, as you saw in the AI episode, is [Deborah’s] love of comedy, her love of writing comedy. We’re always exploring how sacred this process is to Deborah and Ava. First and foremost, comedy is her love.”
How that will be further explored in the series finale is for fans to uncover. Meanwhile, when it came to shooting the MSG scenes, Aniello joked, “Well, we didn’t actually shoot inside MSG, but we don’t need to tell people that.”
While they might not have filmed inside the real-life venue, the creatives were on site in New York as the cast shot exterior sequences for the episode. And as Statsky shared, following the question about filming those MSG scenes, “We fooled a real New Yorker, so, I’m feeling good.”
Whether they captured those moments inside of MSG or not, Aniello and Statsky gave Deborah Vance the legacy-making moment she’s been searching for all season with that Central Park success. Stay tuned to see where the story takes Deborah and Ava next as the series finale unfolds on HBO Max.
Hacks, Series Finale, Thursday, May 28, 9/8c, HBO Max
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