Jean Smart’s Hacks farewell now carries a possible offshoot: Hannah Einbinder and Paul W. Downs used the Variety Awards Circuit Podcast to talk about the end of the series and whether Jimmy and Kayla should carry on in a spinoff. Downs said he would love that idea, but he also made clear the finale was built to stand as the last memory of the show.
Downs said the team mapped the ending in advance across the show’s five seasons, then debated whether to stretch the story into two half seasons before sticking with that plan. His position leaves the industry question in a narrow lane: a separate project could exist, but only if it does not feel like more of the same.
Five Seasons, One Ending
Einbinder said working with Gillian Anderson on Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma changed how she thinks about Hacks and its legacy. She pointed to Anderson’s own habit of talking about X-Files, then said, “She’s asked about it constantly. It’s made me feel like, ‘oh, I’m gonna talk about “Hacks” for the rest of my life!’ I’m so happy that will always be something that I can come back to and meditate on and express gratitude for. When you are a part of something that has a deeply connected base of people who love it, that stays.”
That framing matters for viewers who have followed the show as a long-run ensemble piece rather than a single-plot vehicle. Einbinder’s point is less about nostalgia than about shelf life: the series can end and still keep generating conversation because the audience relationship is already built in.
Jimmy, Kayla, and a Different Show
Downs said, “I would love for it to happen, and I have said this: You know we had a very specific plan for the way we wanted to end the story in the finale,” then added that he did not want anything else after that ending. “It’s such it’s so much pressure to deliver a satisfying ending … so, even to the last minute, even though we had this plan for a long time, we were like, ‘Should we stretch it out? Should we do two half seasons?’ But in the end, I’m so happy we stuck to our guns, and it resonated with people the way that it did. And because of that, I don’t I don’t want anything else to come after. I want that to be the last thing people remember.”
He still left room for a spinoff if it changes shape enough to justify itself. “getting to play these characters and having these characters evolve as much as they have over the five seasons has been so gratifying that it’s terrifying to think there won’t be more between the two of us. But I think it would have to be something different,” he said. Einbinder answered the idea with “Better Call Saul vibes,” then joked about “Her just being a fucking absolute criminal. Are you kidding? I’m in the freaking seats with the popcorn on that one.”
Lauren Weedman, Mid September
Downs also widened the spinoff map beyond Jimmy and Kayla, suggesting a universe that could show Mayor Jo in her first election and Marty coming to Vegas in the 1970s. Lauren Weedman added a practical note of her own, saying, “My schedule opens up mid September,” which gives the conversation an oddly concrete edge for something that is still only an idea.
Downs said Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma opens August 7, so the immediate business for everyone involved is clear: finish the current run cleanly, let the finale land, and see whether anyone actually wants to build a new show around the side characters. Right now, the smartest read is that Jimmy and Kayla are being treated as a live creative possibility, not a green light.
