Where ‘Hacks’ Spent Its Final Season: A Tour of the Show’s Real-Life Backdrops

After five seasons of sharp jokes and complicated friendships, ‘Hacks’ has signed off. The show followed legendary Vegas comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and her reluctant young writing partner Ava (Hannah Einbinder), who started out hating the city’s flashy excess. By the end, Ava had embraced both the place and Deborah’s chaos. The final season kicks off with the duo back from a disastrous Singapore tour—where Deborah was caught napping on stage—and a fake TMZ death report. Now sober and determined, she sets her sights on an EGOT, which means a trip to New York for a Madison Square Garden show.

Most of the season was shot in and around Los Angeles, but a few key scenes capture Vegas’s spirit. Episode three features Marty’s wedding at Caesars Palace, filmed by clearing the pool area overnight and dressing it with chairs and flowers. In episode six, Jimmy and Kayla head to Kalamazoo to recruit a comic—but that was actually shot at Wiseguys Town Square in Vegas, with the bar scene at The Silver Stamp, chosen because it’s one of the few Sin City bars without slot machines on the counter. Deborah’s house, filled with antique salt shakers, was designed to look like it’s in the Enclave neighborhood, but the exterior is in Bel Air and the interior was built on a Universal lot.

New York scenes were tricky: Times Square was shot at dawn, and Madison Square Garden interiors were recreated in Ontario, California. The finale’s Central Park concert was filmed at Lincoln Plaza, with the stage built back in L.A. The show wraps in Paris, where Deborah and Ava hit flea markets at Marché Paul Bert and dance under Pont Alexandre III. The Louvre granted last-minute permission to film after a 2025 jewelry heist tightened security—they emptied one room at a time to make it look empty. It was a magical, fitting end for a show that always found beauty in the unexpected.