The following article was written by Gerrad Hall for Entertainment Weekly. To view the original article, click here.
For nearly 50 years, Deidre Hall has played Marlena Evans on Days of Our Lives — but now she’s taking on perhaps her greatest role yet: Deidre Hall.
The soap legend will guest star on season 3 of Hacks, and Entertainment Weekly has your exclusive first look at both her and Back to the Future star Christopher Lloyd‘s guest appearance. Both pop up in episode 7, titled “The Deborah Vance Christmas Spectacular,” which airs May 23 on Max.
Hall will play a fictional version of herself, who just so happens to be the mom of Paul W. Downs’ Jimmy. “It made sense to us that Jimmy’s late father, a big-time manager, would have been married to an actress,” co-creator Lucia Aniello, who also directed the episode, tells EW. “When the idea for Deidre Hall came up, it just felt right.”
As for Lloyd, he plays reclusive writer Larry Arbuckle, who had a rather famous grandfather.
“He is exactly what you think, and he’s so funny and so good,” Downs says of Lloyd. “Just sitting with him in cast holding and hearing about Taxi and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, I’m like, this is crazy that he is on Hacks. We were so, so excited to have him. We wrote the character with him in mind, and the fact that he said yes was really cool.”
Larry and Deidre’s worlds ending up colliding in the episode, and according to the showrunners, there were onscreen sparks.
“We had written some things that were flirty, but the chemistry was palpable,” says Downs. Adds co-creator Jen Statsky, “It was undeniable.”
Hall and Lloyd are just two of the many guest stars on season 3 of the Emmy-winning comedy series starring Jean Smart as comedy legend Deborah Vance; J. Smith-Cameron, Tony Goldwyn, Christina Hendricks, Helen Hunt, Dan Bucatinsky, and George Wallace are among those who also appear, along with returning guests Kaitlin Olson, Christopher McDonald, and Jane Adams.
See more first-look images of Hall and Lloyd below. Hacks season 3 premieres Thursday, May 2 on Max.
