Hacks, the HBO Max comedy series starring Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder, has landed a record 24 Emmy nominations for its fifth and final season, according to Variety, marking the most nominations ever earned by a farewell season in the comedy category.
The series follows Deborah Vance (Smart), a veteran comedian coasting on autopilot, who is forced into an uneasy partnership with Ava (Einbinder), a millennial writer whose career collapsed after a controversial tweet. Their evolving, often combative relationship has anchored the show since it premiered on HBO Max in 2021.
Both Smart and Einbinder are nominated again this year, giving the two leads a shot at Emmys in the show's closing chapter.
Smart won the Emmy for best actress in a comedy series for the show's first season, when Hacks also picked up the awards for best writing and best directing. She went on to win again in 2022, 2024 and 2025, cementing her status as one of comedy's defining performers. Einbinder claimed her own Emmy last year, an edition that also honored Julianne Nicholson as best guest actress for her work on the series.
Since its 2021 debut, Hacks has amassed 86 Emmy nominations and 12 wins in total, according to the report.
Variety said the show's final season is not only the most-nominated farewell season for a comedy in Emmy history, but the most-nominated comedy season of all time.
Smart could also make history of her own, potentially becoming the only actress to win an Emmy in every season a series has aired.
This Year's Emmy Nominations
This year's nominations are led overall by HBO Max, Netflix and Apple TV. HBO Max also tops the individual series list with the drama The Pitt, which is nominated in 25 categories.
Netflix follows with Beef, which received 16 nominations; the miniseries The Beast in Me, with nine; and the final season of Stranger Things, with seven. Apple TV is competing this year with the comedy-drama Widow's Bay, nominated 19 times, and Pluribus, nominated 18 times.
The Emmy Awards, television's top annual honors presented by the Television Academy, were held in Los Angeles on Monday, September 14.
