Hazbin Hotel (series)

Hazbin Hotel is an American R-rated animated musical comedy set in Hell created by Vivienne Medrano.

The pilot was released on October 28, 2019, on Vivienne's YouTube channel. It was co-written by Vivienne Medrano, Dave Capdevielle, Daniel Macdonald, and Raymond Hernandez, with songs written by Parry Gripp, and music scored by Evan Alderete, Gooseworx, and Thomas Ryan.

On August 7, 2020, it was announced that Hazbin Hotel had officially been picked up by independent entertainment production company, and would be "coming soon to TV". The series released on January 19, 2024 (UTC), on Prime Video, with a second season in production ahead of the series premiere.

The series is co-written by Vivienne Medrano, Adam Neylan, Ariel Ladensohn, Rachel Kaplan, Adam Stein, with songs written by Sam Haft and Andrew Underberg, and music scored by Gooseworx   and Evan Alderete, as well as Parry Gripp.

Hazbin Hotel has a spin-off series titled Helluva Boss that takes place within the same universe, co-created by Medrano and Brandon Rogers.

The first season was announced to have had the largest global debut for a new animated series on Prime Video.

Plot
The series focuses on Charlie Morningstar, the Princess of Hell, and her goal to open a hotel to help rehabilitate Sinners, with the aim of teaching them to be better people, have them redeemed and able to enter Heaven.

Hell suffers from severe overpopulation and heavenly powers solve this problem by annually exterminating sinners.

Charlie, who has grown up in Hell, wishes to find an alternate solution to the mass slaughter, so she opens the Happy Hotel, utilizing an old family property.

There is substantial resistance to the concept by Hell's population however, as well as doubt that the concept is even possible; to solve this, Charlie and her friends must work together to keep the hotel running and prove everyone wrong.

Pilot

 * Follow Charlie, the princess of Hell, as she pursues her seemingly impossible goal of rehabilitating demons to peacefully reduce overpopulation in her kingdom. After a yearly extermination imposed by angels, She opens a hotel in hopes that patients will be "checking out" into Heaven. While most of Hell mocks her goal, her devoted partner Vaggie, and their first test subject, adult film-star Angel Dust, stick by her side. When a powerful entity known as the "Radio Demon" reaches out to Charlie to assist in her endeavors, her crazy dream is given a chance to become a reality.

Main Series

 * -|Current=
 * Charlie Morningstar, Daughter of Lucifer and princess of Hell itself, has a dream! To use her Hazbin Hotel as a safe place for human sinners doomed to eternity in Hell to better themselves in the hopes that they may redeem their souls and one day be permitted into Heaven! Her goal is to provide an alternative solution to the yearly extermination by Heaven's angels that violently control Hell’s population.
 * Hell is forever, but does it have to be?


 * -|Former=
 * In attempt to find a non-violent alternative for reducing Hell's overpopulation, the daughter of Lucifer opens a rehabilitation hotel that offers a group of misfit demons a chance at redemption.

Main cast

 * Erika Henningsen as Charlie Morningstar
 * Jill Harris as Charlie Magne (pilot)
 * Elsie Lovelock as Charlie Magne (singing voice; pilot)
 * Stephanie Beatriz as Vaggie
 * Monica Franco as Vaggie (pilot)
 * Blake Roman as Angel Dust
 * Michael Kovach as Angel Dust (pilot and ADDICT)
 * Amir Talai as Alastor
 * Edward Bosco as Alastor (pilot)
 * Gabriel C. Brown as Alastor (singing voice; pilot)
 * Dave Capdevielle as Alastor's Microphone (pilot)
 * Keith David as Husk
 * Mick Lauer as Husk (pilot)
 * Alex Brightman as Sir Pentious
 * Stamper as Sir Pentious (pilot)
 * Kimiko Glenn as Niffty
 * Michelle Marie as Niffty (pilot)

Supporting cast

 * Darren Criss as St. Peter
 * Jeremy Jordan as Lucifer Morningstar
 * Daphne Rubin-Vega as Carmilla Carmine
 * Patina Miller as Sera
 * Jessica Vosk as Lute
 * Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer as Rosie
 * Krystina Alabado as Cherri Bomb
 * Krystal LaPorte as Cherri Bomb (speaking voice; pilot)
 * Kelly Boyer as Cherri Bomb (singing voice; ADDICT)
 * Brandon Rogers as Katie Killjoy
 * Faye Mata as Katie Killjoy (pilot)
 * Amir Talai as Tom Trench
 * Joshua Tomar as Tom Trench (pilot)
 * James Monroe Iglehart as Zestial, Lizard Demon (pilot)
 * Don Darryl Rivera as Travis
 * Lilli Cooper as Velvette
 * Christian Borle as Vox
 * Joel Perez as Valentino
 * Sarah Stiles as Mimzy
 * Shoba Narayan as Emily
 * Blake Roman as Egg Boiz
 * Joe Gran as Egg Bois (pilot)
 * Alex Brightman as Adam
 * TBA as Lilith
 * TBA as Baxter
 * TBA as Crymini
 * TBA as Helsa von Eldritch
 * TBA as Seviathan von Eldritch
 * TBA as Odette
 * TBA as Clara
 * TBA as Zeezi

Minor cast

 * Maxwell Atoms as Burglar, Cameraman Demon, and Top Hat Demon (pilot)
 * Mick Lauer as Trenchcoat Demon

Miscellaneous cast

 * Seth Atkinson as promotional voiceovers
 * Pilot
 * Amin Elgarch
 * Perry Hull
 * Raymond T. Hernandez
 * Sara "Serval" Fisher
 * Vivienne Medrano

Episodes

 * Episode Guide
 * Season 1
 * Season 2

Production

 * On October 28, 2019, the series' pilot was released on YouTube.
 * On August 7, 2020, it was announced that Hazbin Hotel had been picked up by independent production and entertainment company, . They announced the upcoming show as "Coming soon to TV".
 * On October 2021, an official Twitter account and an official Instagram account were opened for the show. The Twitter account inherited its username from the account originally set up by Medrano, which was moved to a separate updates account that focused on the series' production merchandise.
 * On December 22, 2021, several members of the main cast from the Hazbin Hotel pilot announced that they were not recast into the main show. Michael Kovach mentioned on his social media that he had not been tafted (provided with a mandatory invitation) to join SAG-AFTRA by anyone involved with the production.
 * On December 21, 2021, Broadway actresses and  posted to their Instagram stories about the show, confirming that they are involved with the production.
 * On December 21, 2021, the first teaser image, featuring a redesigned hotel, was released.
 * On February 22, 2022, an image of the redesigned Charlie (with her new official name "Charlie Morningstar") was released.
 * On March 3, 2022, many artist alumni from both the Hazbin Hotel pilot and Helluva Boss, such as second season writer Adam Neylan, animation artist Ames Heard, background lead Amanda Heard, and clean-up artist Sam Abbriz, collectively received the okay to announce their involvement with the production of the show, in a variety of new roles.
 * Additionally Princess Bento Studio, a Bento Box Entertainment division based in Melbourne, Australia, confirmed through its social media to be animating the series.
 * On March 10, 2022, Medrano released a teaser image hinting at a redesigned Alastor. An official image of the redesigned Alastor was later released on March 18, 2022.
 * On April 1, 2022, Medrano released a teaser image hinting at a redesigned Angel. An official image of the redesigned Angel Dust was later released on April 29, 2022.
 * On May 31, 2022, an image of the redesigned Vaggie was released.
 * On June 30, 2022, an image of the redesigned Husk was released.
 * On July 29, 2022, an image of the redesigned Niffty was released, along with the reveal of KeeKee.
 * On August 31, 2022, an image of the redesigned Sir Pentious was released.
 * On September 30 2022, an image of the redesigned Cherri Bomb was released.
 * On October 27, 2022, a teaser image with a new series logo was released, followed with a visual update to the series' official website and release date for summer 2023.
 * On October 28, 2022, a new teaser video with the new series logo was released with KeeKee flying into the logo, followed by a glitch into a close-up of Alastor.
 * On October 28, 2022, an official TikTok account was created for the series.
 * On October 31, 2022, an image of the redesigned Vox, Velvet (now changed to "Velvette"), and Valentino was released.
 * On November 12, 2022, Medrano released a banner image of the redesigned cast for her Twitter profile.
 * On November 30, 2022, an image of the redesigned Lucifer (with his new official name, "Lucifer Morningstar") was released.
 * On December 20, 2022, a recipe for Husk's Holiday Grog drink was given out to people who signed up for the official website's newsletter. A teaser GIF of Husk in the series was also released to coincide with the email.
 * On December 21, 2022, another teaser GIF featuring Husk and the main cast was released on the Hazbin Hotel Instagram account.
 * On December 24, 2022, Medrano released four teaser GIFs of most of the main cast.
 * On December 31, 2022, an image of two of the Exorcists (Adam and Lute) was released.
 * On February 1, 2023, a promotional image of Charlie was released.
 * On February 28, 2023, a GIF of Charlie and Vaggie entitled "Lovers in Hell" was released.
 * On February 28, 2023, Medrano released four teaser GIFs featuring four of the antagonists and three of the main cast.
 * On March 23, 2023, Medrano attended the wrap-up party in Australia to celebrate the end of production of Hazbin Hotel Season 1.
 * On April 1, 2023, a rough drawing celebrating Angel Dust's birthday was released on Twitter. On Instagram an image of Alastor was included with the drawing of Angel Dust.
 * On May 31, 2023, the official Hazbin Hotel twitter and Vivienne Medrano released the same teaser GIF of Alastor laughing with Angel Dust and Charlie behind him.
 * On June 30, 2023, the official Hazbin Hotel twitter released an image of Angel Dust and Charlie to celebrate Pride Month.
 * On August 27, 2023, Sam Haft made a tweet saying that after co-writing a song for Helluva Boss with Andrew Underberg that was so well-received by the team they co-wrote together the songs for the entire first season of Hazbin Hotel.
 * On September 23, 2023, Medrano confirmed that the show will not be airing in summer 2023 as originally stated from her and the Hazbin Hotel social media accounts.
 * On September 28, 2023, an announcement was released that revealed season 1 would air on Prime Video in January 2024, and confirmed a season 2 was on its way.
 * Additionally, on Instagram the same announcement video was released, albeit in a phone video ratio, that includes an additional scene of Vaggie.
 * On October 14, 2023, a song teaser for Happy Day in Hell was released that revealed a cast list of the major characters for the series.
 * In an interview on October 17, 2023, Vivziepop mentions that they are currently writing season two, which is a "very exciting new story" that follows the events of season one.
 * On October 20, 2023, the full version of Happy Day in Hell was released early on several music services.
 * On November 14, 2023, Vivienne Medrano made a post on Instagram saying she spent the day writing, and heavily implied that it was for Hazbin Hotel.
 * On December 10, 2023, Sam Haft revealed that Season 2 was on the pre-production.
 * On December 12, 2023, the official Hazbin Hotel twitter released the official poster for the release of season 1, and announced a special video presentation for incoming residents for the following day.
 * On December 13, 2023, a trailer for Season 1 was released.
 * On December 25, 2023, the official Hazbin Hotel twitter released a second official poster for the release of season 1.
 * On January 4, 2024, the full version of Poison released early on Spotify, and the lyric video version of the song was released on Vivziepop's YouTube channel on January 5, 2024.
 * On January 9, 2024, the official Hazbin Hotel twitter released a Charlie and Vaggie introduction video.
 * On January 10, 2024, the official Hazbin Hotel twitter released a Husk and Angel Dust introduction video.
 * On January 11, 2024, the official Hazbin Hotel twitter released a Alastor, Sir Pentious and Niffty introduction video.
 * On January 12, 2024, the official Hazbin Hotel twitter released a promotional image of Angel Dust to say there's only 7 days until the series airs on Prime Video.
 * On January 16, 2024, the Prime Video YouTube account released the first two minutes of the episode "Overture".
 * On January 17, 2024, the official Hazbin Hotel twitter released a video of out of context scenes from the show.
 * On January 18, 2024, the official Hazbin Hotel twitter released a promotional image of Vaggie to say the series airs in day on Prime Video.
 * On January 18, 2024, the Amazon Prime YouTube channel hosted a "Clocktower Countdown to Premiere" stream that featured fun facts and clips from the first season.
 * On January 19, 2024 (UTC), the official Hazbin Hotel twitter announced with a picture of Charlie that the first four episodes were available to stream on Prime Video. The first episode of season 1, "Overture", was also temporarily available on Vivziepop's YouTube channel until February 17, 2024.
 * On January 26, 2024 (UTC), the official Hazbin Hotel twitter announced with a picture of Charlie and Lucifer episodes 6 and 7 were available to stream on Prime Video.
 * In a Q&A on January 31, 2024, Amir Talai stated that season 1 was recorded two and a half years ago, some time in 2021.

Development

 * When the series was planned as a webcomic that focused on a group of demon misfits as they try to come to terms with their existence as well as deal with the dangers that come with being what they are, Vivziepop had the series under the working title "People Like Us".
 * Originally, Vivziepop had the show called just "The Demon Hotel", but because the name sounded too boring she thought of possibly calling it "The LOST Hotel" before settling on the title "Hasbin Hotel", but with a z because she likes the letter "z".
 * The characters of Charlie, Angel Dust, Alastor, Husk, Vaggie, Arackniss, Crymini, Niffty, Baxter, and Mimzy were originally intended for the future "Angels and Demons" arc of Vivziepop's webcomic, Zoophobia. The characters were eventually shifted to their own original, self-contained story and did not feature in the comic.
 * Vivziepop confirmed that Hazbin Hotel and Zoophobia do not share a universe, stating that their separate hell-theologies are not compatible. Characters from Zoophobia do, however, make cameo appearances in the series' pilot, specifically Hatchet and Marx, and Vivziepop discussed her plans to possibly repurpose more Zoophobia characters into Hazbin Hotel in the future.
 * According to Vivziepop, the Zoophobia universe differs from the Hellaverse as it focuses more on anthropomorphic animals or on creatures belonging to mythology such as Dragons, Mermaids or even Deities such as the inhabitants of Save Haven (the main of Zoophobia). However, according to Vivziepop herself, the Hellaverse was instead designed on the heart of the author herself.
 * Although, the characters that would eventually become the main cast of Hazbin Hotel had featured heavily in Vivziepop's illustrations for many years, Vivziepop begun her active and public development for the Hazbin Hotel pilot in late July 2017, livestreaming the designing of Angel Dust's pilot reference sheet, as well as a group poster of the finalized "demon gang".
 * Vivziepop admitted that she only begun to have a clearer vision for Hazbin Hotel as a fully realized show once she started serious work on the pilot and was forced to think about the world outside of it; where the characters would go, the arcs they would undertake, as well as the central-plot itself.
 * On May 2, 2018, before the conception of Helluva Boss, Vivziepop had replied to a tweet asking about cameos of demons from mythology, saying that Stolas was 100% going to appear in Hazbin Hotel.
 * Hazbin Hotel as its own concept went through three very distinct main drafts before Vivziepop arrived on its final iteration, which would be taken through to the pilot. An earlier draft of Hazbin Hotel was set in the living world and featured the "demon gang" being summoned to an old mansion by a group of goth teenagers. Another draft saw hell populated with fallen supervillians which the character of Sir Pentious being a hold-over from this draft.
 * Very early on during the initial draft of Hazbin Hotel, the show took some influence from the much cruder, , mostly in the comedic dynamics of the characters within a large house type setting. Vivziepop finds this funny to look back on, as the two shows are now very tonally disparate.
 * In a mid-2019 stream she talked about then having a solid idea of most elements of the show, including how it would end. In a late-2021 podcast, she talked about having the show "completely mapped out" and that it would take multiple seasons to tell the story.
 * The characters from Hazbin Hotel are heavily inspired by the 'rogues gallery' from the 1992, one of Vivziepop's personal favorite shows.
 * Vivziepop explained that the budget for the pilot was a combination of her own personal savings, as well as Patreon pledges, commission money, YouTube ad revenue from the clips that were uploaded during production, and donations from her sketch request/Q&A livestreams.
 * Vivziepop had originally planned to include certain real-world historical elements within some of the characters' backstories, but eventually removed these in favor of more generic equivalents, as she thought that it would be in poor taste to link her fantastical fiction directly with any real-world tragedy. This was the reason given for why she also wanted to keep any real-world historical figures to background jokes only, a decision that had been made early on in the writers' room.
 * In an interview with Insider, Vivienne Medrano mentioned how the pilot originally wasn't meant to be a musical, but rather just an adult comedy with a raunchy, demonic aesthetic.
 * Medrano also mentioned that the pilot took six months to write and two years to animate. However, according to the "Clocktower Countdown to Premiere" livestream, the pilot instead took three months to write and two years to animate.
 * In an interview on October 17, 2023, Vivziepop explained that there are many things that she wants to add to the Hellaverse as this universe itself is expanding, is very big, and there are many sides to it. Further explaining that, to herself, there is many stories in this universe and lots of things that could either be added to Hazbin Hotel or be their own thing, and she calls it a kind of "ever-expanding Hellaverse".
 * According to Vivziepop, the biggest change between the Hazbin Hotel pilot and the new series are that the visual style is very polished in the series compared to the original pilot, which she says was very messy due to it being her first big project that she ever made. She added another change was that the characters got bit of an upgrade in their looks in the series, and are a little more animation friendly and a little more eye-catchy.
 * Vivziepop also explained that since she wanted to honor the events of the original pilot, the series somewhat piggybacks off the events established in the pilot but with a kind of "fresh coat of paint and a new kind of storyline".
 * According to Vivziepop an interveiw on December 8, 2023, a factor when she was conceptualizing the series was the idea of "What if there was a Disney princess in Hell" kind of thing, a was one of the prompts in the initial formulating of how she wanted Charlie's character to be.

Trivia

 * Vivziepop discussed her plans for an episode that potentially involved a very serious A-plot contrasted against a very comedic B-plot, with the characters all trying to figure out how to remove a hornets nest from the hotel.
 * When asked if Castello from Zoophobia would appear in the Hazbin Hotel series, Vivziepop said that she had seriously considered using him for Hazbin Hotel, as she felt he fit the tone of the series. However, she decided not to include him in the Hazbin Hotel series, as his character was too important to the story of Zoophobia. Despite this, she admitted that other Zoophobia characters would appear in the Hazbin Hotel series.
 * In a tweet, Vivziepop described the series in one word, that word being "red".
 * In a tweet, Vivziepop shared that the ultimate Hazbin villain's total attitude in the form of music is basically the song "Rollercloser" by Neil Cicierega.
 * In a tweet, Vivziepop implied that the Hazbin universe does have an entity that is "evil" personified, and stated they are much worse than Valentino.
 * Post-pilot, Vivziepop stated that she would like to make minor design revisions to the characters for the main show.
 * In an interview on January 12, 2024, Vivziepop explained that during making the pilot there were already certain changes she wanted to make to the characters designs, but couldn't due to not wanting the animators to reanimate what was done. She further explained that when she went into the series she simplified the designs so it would be easier for the outsourced studio, but also, there were changes she had already wanted to make so it felt very natural to just adjust them, and nobody asked her to do it.
 * Vivziepop is extremely interested in creating a Christmas special episode for the series.
 * Charlie may be the show's most musical character, but according to Faustisse, all five additional main characters will have their own songs in the future.
 * According to sound designer, Kennedy Phillips, shows such as ', ', and  were an influence on some of the sound and foley design for the pilot.
 * On September 8, 2020, Vivziepop Tweeted that Hazbin Hotel is a non-diegetic musical in contrast to Helluva Boss being more of a diegetic musical, as Helluva Boss wasn't intended to be musical and is more comedic in nature.
 * In a tweet by Vivziepop, she explains that Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss are two sides of a coin in this Hellaverse and that they take up similar brain space for her, even though they should be treated more separate, as they are also structured very differently.
 * Vivienne also explains that Hazbin Hotel has always had a heavier emphasis on women led stories, while Helluva Boss has steered more towards male-led stories.
 * In an interview on October 17, 2023, when talking about the Hellaverse having many sides, Vivziepop explained that the main side deals with Lucifer, and Charlie being the princess of Hell, and Heaven, and kind of big grand themes of redemption, and is much more biblically sourced, whereas Helluva Boss deals with the sins and the Hellborn species, and exists separately to the things happening in Hazbin Hotel.
 * On October 28, 2023, the official twitter released a video to celebrate the four year anniversary of the pilot's release.
 * Vivziepop explained that Hazbin Hotel isn't rigged animation and they did the best they could with an outsource studio and limited time and budget. She added that skilled artists poured their heart and soul into the show and it looks fine and she is "fucking proud" of what her team pulled off.
 * Vivziepop also stated that she doesn't feel like her style works with rigs.
 * On December 17, 2023, Vivziepop stated that the voices didn't blow the animation budget as they were paid exactly what anyone else working in union voiceover is paid.
 * In an interview with Animation Magazine, Vivziepop explained that when working on the pilot, because it was more of a scrappy indie project she didn't have access to as many performers as she does for the main series, and not every actor in the pilot was a singer, and the pilot singers didn't fit with their speaking roles, but for the main series she felt it was really important to cast performers who could do both.
 * According to Vivziepop in an interview on October 17, 2023, season one was delayed from Summer 2023 to January 2024 because at first the series didn't have a distribution partner.
 * Vivziepop explained that she thinks why people resonate with the series, or at least why she resonates with the series, is because she likes when shows and stories allow the characters to be flawed and grow and change, and because the real world isn't black and white she likes things that explore the gray and complexity of life and mistakes.
 * She further explains that there's also a very queer element in the show and that is also something that matters a lot to her, but she thinks there's a lot of media that doesn't allow queer characters to be flawed and are generally a perfect representation of whatever identity they have, so she thinks Hazbin Hotel resonated with a lot of people, and a lot of queer people, because it is a show that says that it is okay to be yourself and make mistakes.
 * Vivziepop explained that she jokingly says that Hazbin Hotel is a "comic book show", which for herself has become an adopted catchphrase for the show, but the comic doesn't physically exist, and instead it exists in her head and has a very intense lore with mysteries, and twists and turns, and arcs for the characters, and big reveals and secret characters to come, and all these things that a traditional comic book would have. She continued by saying that when the writing team get into the writer's room and create the map for the season it's kind of her just info-dumping.
 * According to Sam Haft, Hazbin Hotel is very insulated from the outside world and everything needs to go through a lot more layers of approval, whereas Helluva Boss is independent and self-funded so there's no one they are accountable to which gives total creative control.
 * Haft added that the creative control of Helluva Boss allows Vivziepop to hear a fan song and be able to retool it so it could work in canon, but something like that would never be the case if there were a studio involved, even an independent studio like.
 * In an interview Sam Haft explained that in spite of the fact there is a really clear vision for what the songs will be in Hazbin Hotel, there is a lot of creative freedom when making the music.
 * In an interview released on December 10, 2023, Sam Haft was asked to describe season 1 in three words without spoilers, music or songs. His three words being: earnest, funny, surprising.
 * According to Sam Haft in an interview released on December 10, 2023, the pilot sets up Charlie's goal, but what obstacles will be faced and what will happen when the goal is actually pursued is unknown to the audience.
 * According to the "Clocktower Countdown to Premiere" livestream, many of the character designs in the series are inspired by animals.
 * Don Darryl Rivera is the only voice actor from the pilot to reprise his pilot role in the main series. Additionally, Mick Lauer, one of the cast members of the pilot, did return to the series, but only in another role, the Trenchcoat Demon.