The stars of Hacks are not entirely on the same page about what comes next for the show's universe, and their conversation on Variety's Awards Circuit Podcast made that much clear.
Hannah Einbinder said that working on the upcoming film Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma alongside Gillian Anderson has shifted how she thinks about Hacks and its staying power. "Doing all this press with Gillian for the movie, she talks about 'X-Files' constantly," Einbinder told Variety. "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."
Paul W. Downs, who plays Jimmy alongside Megan Stalter's Kayla across the show's five seasons, pushed back on the idea of a spinoff continuing beyond the finale. "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," he said. "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."
When pressed specifically about a Jimmy and Kayla spinoff, Downs left a small opening. "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 also floated ideas for what a broader Hacks universe might look like. "There's so many characters in the show that if we could do a universe, I want to see Mayor Jo in her first election. I want to see Marty coming to to Vegas in the '70s."
Einbinder liked the Mayor Jo idea immediately. "'Better Call Saul' vibes," she said. "Her just being a fucking absolute criminal. Are you kidding? I'm in the freaking seats with the popcorn on that one."
Downs also praised Einbinder's work in Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, which opens August 7. "This is a pull quote now from Variety. Absolutely beautiful, absolutely terrifying and absolutely funny. And Hannah is a revelation. She is such a star. I'm not even kidding. The stuff that she does, her range being on" display in the film, he said.
