HBO Max/Universal TV’s popular comedy series Hacks, featuring Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder, has stopped filming its third season due to the ongoing writers’ strike, as confirmed by Deadline. The show’s creators and showrunners, Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello, and Jen Statsky, cannot provide any writing services while the strike is in effect.
This hiatus will likely continue for the duration of the work stoppage. Given the show’s strong emphasis on writing, it is challenging to proceed with filming without showrunners on set. The story revolves around the partnership between Deborah Vance, an aging comedian, and Ava Daniels, an aspiring writer, and their writing process.
Jen Statsky, who won an Emmy for co-writing the Hacks pilot episode with Paul W. Downs and Lucia Aniello, has responded to the news of the show’s production pause due to the writers’ strike by retweeting the Deadline article and expressing her sadness about the situation.
She explained that writing is an essential part of every stage of the production process, making it impossible to continue filming without the writers on set. The third season of Hacks started filming in November 2021, but production was previously halted in February 2022 when Jean Smart had heart surgery. Despite these setbacks, Hacks has been a commercial and critical success, earning 32 Emmy nominations and 6 wins for its first two seasons, including two for Smart.
In addition to Smart and Hannah Einbinder, the show features an ensemble cast including Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Jane Adams, Kaitlin Olson, and Christopher McDonald. Hacks are produced by Universal Television and executive produced by Downs, Aniello, Statsky, Michael Schur, David Miner, and Morgan Sackett.
