The creators of Hacks want to put the show on DVD after its May 28 finale, saying they are trying to make a full series box set as streaming titles keep disappearing. Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky discussed the idea with a trade publication and tied it to a wider fear that TV can vanish when platforms and companies change hands.
Aniello said it is “such an important time for people to invest in physical media” because “things are coming down all the time” and a favorite movie or show can simply be gone. She said that puts “so much power of the distribution of art in the hands of algorithms and people’s whims and certain executives,” adding that it is “really scary” to think about censorship as companies are bought by other companies.
That matters now because Hacks, which debuted on HBO Max in 2021, is ending just as the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger hangs over Hollywood and faces broad opposition in the industry. The creators are not just talking about nostalgia. They are reacting to a market in which entire libraries can shift, shrink or disappear when business deals change what gets promoted, preserved or pulled.
Aniello said the team is “really hoping to make a Hacks DVD box set” and that they are trying to make it happen, though there are no official plans yet. She said the point would be to keep the show alive “for as long as DVD players exist,” and said she wants the set to include extras and deleted scenes. For a series built on the chemistry of Deborah and Ava, that kind of package would give fans a permanent version of the show instead of one that lives only at the mercy of a streaming library.
The pull between streaming convenience and physical ownership has become sharper as media companies consolidate. Aniello linked the box-set idea directly to that anxiety, saying, “But yes, as we’re talking about all these things, it has become only bleaker.” Her final answer was less a sales pitch than a warning about the state of the business: “So, I don’t know where that leaves us. Power of community, I guess?”
For viewers, the answer is simple. If the creators get their way, Hacks will not end on May 28 at all. It will live on shelves, in extras, deleted scenes and a physical copy fans can still play when the streaming era moves on. That is the point of the box set.
