Hacks is back with a first look at season 3

At least one of our long national nightmares will soon be over, as Hacks just announced its return for its third season on May 2. Season two, which began almost exactly two years before the third is slated to begin, left us on a bit of a cliffhanger: a seeming professional breakup between Hannah Einbinder’s Ava and Jean Smart’s Deborah Vance. If the first, minute-long teaser for the new season is any indication, that breakup was short-lived.

Instead, as Elton John reminds us throughout the clip, they are still standing, and apparently standing mostly back in Las Vegas after a season 2 spent on the road. The clip also teases a lot of sex, including an apparent hookup between Ava and a character played by Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks.

While the third season of the show was greenlit almost immediately after the second finished airing, there was a gap between seasons, in part, due to Smart’s health. In early 2023, the actor shared that she had undergone a “successful heart procedure” and production was subsequently paused while she recooperated. Fortunately, Smart seems to have made a full recovery; not only is Hacks back, but she has another series on the horizon. Last week, Deadline reported that she was set to star in a new series focused on the relationship between a grandmother and grandson.

Beyond the return of Smart and Einbinder and the inclusion of Hendricks, the season is also promising a murderer’s row of guest talent, including Christopher Lloyd, Tony Goldwin, and Helen Hunt. The season will be nine episodes long, premiering with two on May 2, and then releasing two more each week until the one-episode finale on May 30.