Jean Smart Teases 46Year AgeGap Romance with Christopher Briney in "Hacks" Julia MooreFri, April 3, 2026 at 7:30 PM UTC 0 Jean Smart, Christopher Briney on "Hacks"Credit: Courtesy of HBO Max The Summer I Turned Pretty star Christopher Briney joins Hacks season 5 as a love interest to Jean Smart's Deborah Vance Smart admits she was nervous what the younger actor would think about the storyline and hoped he wouldn't be "cringing" over it Hacks season 5 premieres April 9 on HBO Max Christopher Briney wasn't the only nervous one when he walked on the set of Hacks.
Jean Smart Teases 46-Year Age-Gap Romance with Christopher Briney in "Hacks"
Julia MooreFri, April 3, 2026 at 7:30 PM UTC
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Jean Smart, Christopher Briney on "Hacks"Credit: Courtesy of HBO Max -
The Summer I Turned Pretty star Christopher Briney joins Hacks season 5 as a love interest to Jean Smart's Deborah Vance
Smart admits she was nervous what the younger actor would think about the storyline and hoped he wouldn't be "cringing" over it
Hacks season 5 premieres April 9 on HBO Max
Christopher Briney wasn't the only nervous one when he walked on the set of Hacks.
The Summer I Turned Pretty star joins the HBO Max comedy for one episode of its fifth and final season and plays an "international rockstar" who is several decades Jean Smart's junior but a romantic interest, showrunner Jen Statsky revealed to Deadline.
"We always want to portray Deborah as the full, dimensional character that she is and show that women don't stop having sex and being sexy at any age," Statsky told the outlet. "We also always thought it'd be funny and interesting that she would date this international rockstar that maybe wasn't exactly her type and dressed a little bit more like her than other people she dated. And so that was just always a storyline that excited us."
Smart, 74, told the outlet she had some concerns about how Briney, 28, would feel about the role. "I did think, 'Oh God, I hope he isn't just cringing.' He's thinking, 'Oh, I'd really like to be on that show, but oh damn, really?'"
Her nerves wore off thanks to her costar. "He made me feel very comfortable," she said. "And we had fun."
Chris Briney and Jean Smart on "Hacks" season 5Credit: Kenny Laubbacher/HBO
The age-gap romance is one that Statsky said the writers have been toying around with for quite some time. "In this final season, what we're so excited for people to see is we get to do so many stories that we've been really waiting and wanting to do, but it just wasn't quite right in earlier seasons, or it felt like we needed the relationship between Ava and Deborah to deepen before we did it."
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"So that was just one of the storylines that we knew would be funny but also really sexy and real and grounded and important to show that, yeah, why wouldn't these two get together?"
In the same interview, Smart was candid about her thoughts on the show's finale. "I don't remember ever picturing or even imagining an ending. I knew that it was going to be pretty much five seasons from the beginning, but I didn't ask. I just was like, I'll be surprised," she said. "When I did find out, at first I was shocked and unsure about how I felt because it was not remotely anything I could have imagined."
"But then I realized, no, it'll work because they're writing it and they're amazing," she continued. "And so I went, 'Okay.'"
Jean Smart, Hannah Einbinder in "Hacks" season 5Credit: Courtesy of HBO Max
Her costar, Hannah Einbinder, confirmed at the 2025 Emmy Awards that season 5 of the series would be its last.
"I think it will feel different," Einbinder, 30, said. "We're going to start [filming] next week, and knowing it's the last season is really bittersweet. But I think it's right, you know?"
Hacks season 5 premieres April 9 on HBO Max.
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Source: "AOL Entertainment"
Source: Entertainment
Published: April 3, 2026 at 10:45PM on Source: MORNING MAG
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