Hacks is arguably one of the best comedies on television right now, and the Jean Smart co-lead HBO show is making its 2025 TV schedule debut on April 10th. I can’t even begin to explain how excited I am to catch up with Debra Vance (Smart) and Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) as they battle it out now that they’re working on a historic late-night show together. But as thrilled as I am to see the show get another season, I can’t help but root for the potential spinoff the showrunners have started to tease.
If you’ve ever watched an episode of Hacks, you know the show is populated with hilarious and eccentric side characters who have amazing chemistry with each other. Any one of them would be perfect for a potential spinoff. Still, it’s Debra and Ava’s agent, Jimmy (Paul W. Downs), and his assistant-turned-partner Kayla (Megan Stalter), who are the front runners in the showrunners’ minds on who could potentially get their own show when Hacks eventually ends.
As open as they are to the idea, it’s going to take more than just their excitement to get a spinoff greenlit by HBO, which is why co-showrunner Jen Statsky told Deadline that if fans are serious about it, they should “demand it.” Consider this me demanding it!
Not only have Jimmy and Kayla been scene stealers since the very beginning, it’s so easy to root for the hilarious underdogs that they’ve almost dethroned Debra and Ava as my favorite duo on the show. It’s something Statsky and her fellow showrunners Lucia Aniello and Downs are aware of, which is why Season 4 promises even more Jimmy and Kayla hijinks, like the addition of a new assistant for the pair played by Robby Hoffman.
Statsky calls the move “building up the world,” which definitely bodes well for a potential spinoff since the show would need to be populated with characters other than Debra and Ava, whose stories would hopefully be wrapped up in the final season of Hacks — whenever that may be.
However, Stalter, who brings the hilarious Kayla to life, as her own thoughts on what she’d like to see if a Jimmy/Kayla spinoff were to be ordered by Max. As she explained to Deadline:
I think it would be funny if she got pregnant and Jimmy has to help her take care of the baby. Throw something really challenging at her and see her totally embrace it. I think something completely out of nowhere and see if she handles it well. But also seeing Jimmy get dragged into it would be really funny and bizarre. I don’t think they should be a couple, but that’s another thing, if he was to help her with her baby. It’s another element of them being like, ‘We’re not a couple, but it seems like we’re a couple.’ I want to see them raise a baby together, I want to see the baby in the office.
Pregnancy plotlines don’t always have the best track record on comedy shows, but this might be one of the exceptions because I’m already obsessed with the idea. Not only would it be a hilarious way to see Kayla grow into a more responsible adult (hopefully), but the implications of Jimmy being dragged into it are overflowing with comedy. After all, the two already skirt the line of their relationship, especially in the Season 3 finale, where Jimmy’s work proposal was taken out of context by bystanders who thought he was proposing to Kayla.
In addition to being hilarious, Hacks has a way of incorporating social commentary and criticism into its episodes, and that’s something that could definitely happen if the potential spinoff went with Stalter’s idea. After all, so many women are juggling motherhood with their high-profile careers, yet that’s not reflected much on television.
For now, a Kayla and Jimmy-centered spinoff is still just a dream, but at least fans will get to see the duo in action in Season 4 of Hacks.
You can stream the first three seasons of Hacks with an active Max subscprition now.
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