Hacks explores the dark mentorship between comedy legend Deborah Vance (Emmy Award winner Jean Smart) and an outcast young writer Ava Daniels (Emmy Award nominee Hannah Einbinder). Deborah and Ava learn to put their differences aside and come together through a shared love of comedy. Through the lens of their intergenerational bond Hacks examines the plight of the female comic and the brave women that paved the way. At its core, Hacks is always about the unique and complicated bond between these two main characters.