In China, ‘Hacks’ Is Called ‘the Diva and the Strawberry,’ and Fans Built a Whole Sims World Where the Characters Live Together in a Treehouse

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Fans in Taiwan have shipped Deborah and Ava since season 1 under the name “Avorah,” and one corner of the fandom built a whole Sims world where the two women live together in a treehouse. Jean Smart is aware of the long-distance fandom, having received fan mail from China, and her “son’s Mandarin Twitter”.

“The Diva and the Strawberry” is how a huge Chinese-language fanbase knows the HBO series Hacks. In Taiwan the show runs under the title 天后與草莓 (Tiānhòu yǔ Cǎoméi), casting Jean Smart’s Las Vegas comedy legend Deborah Vance as the “diva” and Hannah Einbinder’s sharp young writer Ava Daniels as the “strawberry.”

Two Sims characters share a romantic moment on the deck of a treehouse, surrounded by fairy lights and floating hearts — part of a fan-built ‘Hacks’ world recreating Deborah and Ava’s relationship. Credit: Made with Google AI.

Mainland China gets a different name entirely: 绝望写手, roughly “Desperate Ghostwriter.” Hong Kong went with 職業槍手, “Hired Gun.”

The fandom runs deep. Beyond the treehouse Sims world, there’s a flood of fan art built around Deborah and Ava, whose mentor-and-mentee bond fans have shipped as “Avorah” since season 1. The show fed it in season 5, when the two fake a romance to score a fancy jumpsuit, a scene Einbinder and Smart said was “so much fun” to film.

Two women — one younger with brown hair, one older with an upswept blonde hairdo — smile closely together outdoors on a college campus green. — A younger brown-haired woman and an older blonde woman smile cheek-to-cheek on a sunlit campus quad in a scene from HBO’s ‘Hacks.’ Credit: HBO / Hacks.

Hacks ran five seasons from 2021 to 2026 and won Smart multiple Emmys for the role. The strawberry, is likely an homage to Einbinder’s strawberry blonde hair, but has not officially been confirmed.

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