Hacks Season 4 Premiere: Hannah Einbinder Weighs In On Ava's Spiteful Showdown With Deborah — Watch

The following contains spoilers for the first two episodes of Hacks Season 4.

Ava may have won the battle, but her war with Deborah rages on.

In the Season 4 premiere of Hacks, the young writer deals with the bumpy fallout after blackmailing her way into the head writer position at Deborah's late-night show. But the stand-up comedian isn't one to take a betrayal like that lying down. In the first episode alone, she plants Ava's underwear in a producer's office and puts in an anonymous complaint about Ava being on drugs. While Ava bobs and weaves around her boss' sabotage, she'd better brace for impact because the onslaught has only just begun.

"[Ava] is oscillating probably between fierce, adrenaline-fueled confidence and fear," Hannah Einbinder tells TVLine in the video above. "I think she kind of knows her adversary, but her hand has been forced. She's definitely having mixed emotions, but I think she's trying to lead with confidence."

The women's contention leads to an earlier-than-planned sexual harassment training (oh hey, Michaela Watkins!), a botched press conference and some verbal sparring at a party thrown by media conglomerate CEO Bob Lipka's house. But after jumping through hoops to dodge Deb's attacks, an exhausted Ava finally threatens to send her journalist friend a damning email about Deborah and Bob's affair. Ava finally gets her boss to admit defeat, but only after fighting fire with fire.

"It feels like something that she is doing because she's been put in this position," Einbinder adds. "I still believe that she knows it's wrong, but it's kind of in this place of having to double down to justify her only option as she sees it."

While Deborah and Ava quickly learn how much their personal relationship is going to affect their professional success, the new co-owners of Schaefer & LuSaque (or is it LuSaque & Schaefer?) need the show to work just as much as its host and head writer do. (And yes, we're in store for plenty more hijinks from Jimmy's new partner, Kayla.)

"Both Ava and Deborah are under an extreme amount of pressure trying to get this late-night show off the ground," says Paul W. Downs, a co-creator and executive producer who also plays Jimmy. "I think that trickles down to both Jimmy and Kayla. It's the first time that they're out on their own. They're launching their own firm. They need this show to work as much as Deborah and Ava need the show to work. So the stress in the industry and the pressure is something we really explore the whole season. How he'll deal with it, I don't even know and I play him!"

Watch our premiere interview in full above to hear more from Einbinder and Downs, plus co-creators Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsky, and Megan Stalter. Then, vote in the poll below and hit the comments!