Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky are well-known to HBO fans as the creators and showrunners of Hacks. The acclaimed comedy stars Jean Smart as Deborah, an aging stand-up comic forced to partner with young writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder) to try to get back to the top. The series has been a huge hit with Smart winning just about every Leading Actress in a Comedy award there is for her role.
Season 4 ended a rollercoaster ride for fans, with Deborah and Ava fighting to free Deborah from her talk show contract so she could get back on the road. The finale aired just hours after HBO gave the show a fifth-season renewal.
Speaking to Deadline, the trio did share a lot of details on season 4’s finale and what may come in season 5. They also teased the idea of a spinoff about agent Jimmy (Downs) and his goofball assistant Kayla (Megan Stalter). However, the trio also gave an update for a new comedy they’re developing with Kaley Cuoco that promises to be another hit!
Ordered in November of 2024, Kansas City Star is the new comedy from Aniello, Downs, and Stasky. Kaley Cuoco will play “a semi-famous actress who returns to her hometown to work with a regional theater troupe.”
This is likely playing on Cuoco’s own persona. The actress is a TV veteran with Charmed, The Big Bang Theory, The Flight Attendant, and the too-short-lived Peacock crime comedy Based on a True Story (which was sadly canceled on a cliffhanger).
Cuoco will no doubt bring her own experience for the part, and the idea of an actress who thinks she’s a bigger star than she is having to work in her hometown seems like a great comedy idea. So when can it come around?
In an interview with Deadline, Aniello confirmed that “we’re very much just concentrating right now on finishing Hacks. It’s not something we’re juggling really at the same time.” Statsky added that HBO understands Hacks comes first and wants the creators to wrap it up on their own terms before moving to another show:
"HBO and HBO Max have been such incredible creative partners. Everyone there is just so wonderful and listens to creatives first. Hacks is this thing that exists and it’s so important to us, and we’re able to focus on that and dedicate ourselves to that. And so while we have things that we’re super excited about, including this Kaley show, it’s not taking up the majority of our time right now. The majority of our time is Hacks, Hacks, Hacks….and maybe, the Jimmy-Kayla spinoff.”
There are hints that season 5 may not be the end of Hacks after all, but it would be a logical end for the series. That would free the creators up for Kansas City Star, with Cuoco having just wrapped the upcoming Prime Video thriller Vanished.
For now, Hacks is going to be the priority, but given how great that show is, seeing the creators craft a show for an actress as talented as Cuoco is more than worth the wait.
Hacks is streaming on HBO Max.