JuicyTalk
Warning: Spoilers ahead for Hacks season 5.
Deborah Vance is back for her last act in Hacks season 5, and with her comes a starry lineup of celebrity guest stars and cameos. The final season of the Emmy-winning HBO Max comedy series picks up where Hacks season 4 ended, with Deborah having returned to Las Vegas to confirm that she is not, in fact, dead, and is ready to reclaim the spotlight she loves so much.
Complicating matters is the fact that Deborah is barred from performing comedy of any kind due to her gag order. Of course, a veteran comedian like Deborah Vance has plenty of famous friends to help her get back on top, making season 5 one of Hacks‘ most star-studded. Beyond celebrities playing themselves, Hacks is a highly acclaimed, multi-Emmy-winning series, attracting many well-known actors in guest-starring roles as well.
The note-perfect Hacks season 5 begins with Deborah looking for creative ways to work around her non-compete clause. At first, she pursues an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) before realizing her ultimate goal — selling out Madison Square Garden. The first two episodes debuted on April 9, already providing an impressive who’s who of starry talent.
Tony Kushner As Himself
Episode 1, “EGOT”
The iconic playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner cameos in the Hacks season 5 premiere as himself. Kushner is best known for his Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning stage play Angels in America, which was also adapted into an acclaimed HBO miniseries, and for his collaborations with Steven Spielberg (Munich, Lincoln, West Side Story, The Fabelmans).
In Hacks, Deborah finds a creative way to vie for a Grammy while still under her gag order — record an audiobook of her memoir, which she has hired Kushner to write. However, Kushner’s process, which includes delving deep into Deborah’s Scottish ancestry and listening to Peggy Lee’s “Is That All There Is?”, almost bores Deborah to tears. She fires him, much to Ava’s dismay.
Gigi Bermingham As Esme
Episode 1, “EGOT”
Gigi Bermingham guest-stars as Esme, an untalented actress whom Jimmy fires from the Fatty Arbuckle movie to replace her with Deborah. However, it’s not all bad for Esme — Jimmy’s “good cop, bad cop” strategy backfires on him when Kayla offers to sign her as a client.
While not a household name, Bermingham has had a prolific acting career consisting mostly of TV guest-starring roles. She has appeared in Apple TV series Loot and Platonic, and will next be seen in an episode of Beef season 2 on Netflix.
George Basil As Stefan
Episode 1, “EGOT”
George Basil’s Stefan is the somewhat spineless director of the Fatty Arbuckle movie. Stefan agrees with Jimmy and Kayla that Esme is terrible, though he insists they be the ones to fire her because he’s “not good at being direct with people.”
Basil had a brief role in the Barbie movie as a boutique owner, though he is much more known for his TV work. He has appeared in the casts of Flaked as Cooler and Crashing as Leif.
Alanna Ubach As Amanda Weinberg
Episode 2, “Number One Fan”
Deborah’s desire to sell out Madison Square Garden hits its first snag in episode 2, “Number One Fan”: she didn’t actually clear it with the venue. That’s where Alanna Ubach’s Amanda Weinberg comes in. Amanda is a booker for MSG, and she is none too pleased about Deborah’s premature announcement.
Furthermore, she doesn’t think Deborah can fill the house. But by the end of the episode, after the Little Debbies’ campaign, which includes harassing Amanda with glitter packages and cryptic toilet paper messages, she caves and books Deborah.
HBO audiences are about to see even more of Ubach, as she’ll be reprising her role as Suze, Cassie and Lexi’s mom, in the cast of Euphoria season 3, which premieres on April 12. Ubach also famously played Serena McGuire, Elle Woods’ loyal Delta Nu sorority sister, in the first two Legally Blonde movies, and she will also appear in the upcoming third film.
Soleil Moon Frye As Herself
Episode 2, “Number One Fan”
Soleil Moon Frye is briefly seen signing autographs and expressing appreciation for her fans at the Las Vegas autograph convention Deborah attends. Frye is best known for playing the precocious titular protagonist in 1980s NBC sitcom Punky Brewster, and she also played Roxie King in the cast of Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
Hannah Pilkes As Cindy
Episode 2, “Number One Fan”
Hannah Pilkes plays Cindy, who initially presents herself as a diehard fan of Ava’s, much to the writer’s surprise and delight. However, it’s later revealed that Cindy is president of the Little Debbies Tuscon Chapter, and was trying to replace Ava as Deborah’s most trusted writer.
Pilkes made her feature film debut opposite Kevin Bacon in 2004’s The Woodsman. She currently stars in the cast of the hit Netflix sitcom Leanne as Josie Murphy, Leanne’s free-spirited daughter.
William Baldwin As Himself
Episode 2, “Number One Fan”
The second-youngest of the famous Baldwin brothers, William Baldwin is known for his roles in myriad films, including Flatliners, The Squid and the Whale, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Cameoing as himself in Hacks, Baldwin graciously agrees to change photobooth timeslots with Deborah at the autograph convention, citing appreciation for standing up to Bob Lipka and her Fourth of July party invitations.
Renée O’Connor As Herself
Episode 2, “Number One Fan”
Renée O’Connor is famous for playing Gabrielle in Xena: Warrior Princess, and in Hacks, Jimmy is a big fan. He’s starstruck when he sees O’Connor at the convention, but finds the courage to suggest she start a Xena rewatch podcast. O’Connor loves the idea and pitches it to Lucy Lawless. Impressed with Jimmy’s initiative, O’Connor hires him as her manager and shares a percentage of her earnings from the convention.
Bayne Gibby As A Deborah Vance Fan
Episode 2, “Number One Fan”
Played by Bayne Gibby, this kindhearted Deborah Vance fan presents the comedian with a homemade portrait made out of natural seeds and grains. The fan gets emotional as shares how much Deborah meant to her and her late mother, who would have been so happy that the comedian received the picture. The story chokes up Deborah, who takes a break from her meet-and-greet to compose herself.
No stranger to HBO comedy series, Gibby is best known for her appearances in Enlightened and The Comeback. She also plays Casey Kelly, the pro-life speaker who gets on the wrong end of Lady Bird’s wrath, in Lady Bird.
Ann Dowd As Unnamed Celebrity In An Alien Costume
Episode 2, “Number One Fan”
An unrecognizable Ann Dowd appears in tentacle and green-skinned alien costume regalia as an unnamed celebrity at the autograph convention. The woman is taking a smoke break when Deborah steps outside for some air, and gives Vance some wise words about how to repair her relationship with her fans, telling her that they just need to feel needed. Deborah takes these words to heart and gets the Little Debbies back on her side.
Dowd’s most celebrated role is her Emmy-winning turn as the morally complex Aunt Lydia in The Handmaid’s Tale, which she is reprising in the cast of spinoff series The Testaments. In film, Dowd’s notable credits include Garden State, Compliance, and Hereditary.
Alyssa Limperis As Jenny
Episode 2, “Number One Fan”
Alyssa Limperis’s Jenny is a childhood friend of Ava’s whom Deborah invites to her 30th birthday in an effort to disprove her cruel season 4 remark about Ava not having friends. Though it’s revealed that she and Ava were never really close, Jenny still makes herself at home at the party and even hooks up with musical guest Jesse McCartney.
An actress and a comedian, Limperis released a comedy special, Alyssa Limperis: No Bad Days, on Peacock in 2022. Her acting credits include What We Do in the Shadows and Dexter: Original Sin.
Jesse McCartney As Himself
Episode 2, “Number One Fan”
The aforementioned Jesse McCartney cameos in Hacks as himself to serenade Ava with his breakout hit song, “Beautiful Soul” — a middle school fantasy of Ava’s come true. McCartney continues to make music, with his fifth studio album, New Stage, released in 2021. His acting work includes credits in All My Children, Law & Order: SVU, and Fear the Walking Dead.
- Release Date
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2021 – 2026-00-00
- Network
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HBO Max
- Showrunner
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Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, Jen Statsky
- Directors
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Desiree Akhavan
- Writers
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Pat Regan, Ariel Karlin, Carol Leifer, Joe Mande, Guy Branum, Andrew Law, Samantha Riley
