Helluva Boss

Helluva Boss is an American adult animated comedy musical web series and spin-off of Hazbin Hotel.

The series takes place within the same universe as Hazbin Hotel, but features a new cast of characters, a new tone, and a different storyline.

The pilot was released on November 25, 2019 on Vivienne Medrano's YouTube Channel.

In 2023 Helluva Boss was nominated and won a Streamy Award in the Animated category.

Synopsis

 * In HELL, imps are the lowest of the low in society, but what happens when one starts an assassin business? This happens!


 * Follow Blitzo (the 'o' is silent) as he attempts to run a startup killing company in a very competitive market, along with his weapons specialist Moxxie, his powerhouse Millie, and his receptionist hellhound Loona. With the help of an ancient book obtained by one of the princes of Hell, they manage to make their work possible and together they attempt to survive each other while trying to keep their business afloat.

Main cast

 * Brandon Rogers as Blitzo
 * Michael Romeo Ruocco as Blitzo (singing voice)
 * Mason Blomberg as Blitzo (young)
 * Richard Horvitz as Moxxie
 * Vivian Nixon as Millie
 * Erica Lindbeck as Millie (pilot)
 * Erica Lindbeck as Loona

Supporting cast

 * Royal Family of Ars Goetia
 * Bryce Pinkham as Stolas
 * Brock Baker as Stolas (pilot)
 * Leander Lewis as Stolas (young)
 * Barrett Wilbert Weed as Octavia
 * Juliana Sada as Octavia (young)
 * Georgina Leahy as Stella
 * Jason LaShea as Andrealphus
 * Alex Brightman as Fizzarolli
 * Remy Edgerly as Fizzarolli (young)
 * Cristina Vee as Verosika Mayday
 * Norman Reedus as Striker ("The Harvest Moon Festival" only)
 * Edward Bosco as Striker ("Western Energy" onwards)
 * Don Darryl Rivera as Wally Wackford
 * James Monroe Iglehart as Asmodeus and Vortex
 * Employees of C.H.E.R.U.B
 * Jayden Libran as Collin
 * Vivienne Medrano as Keenie
 * Don Darryl Rivera as Cletus
 * Agents of D.H.O.R.K.S.
 * Michael Romeo Ruocco as Agent One
 * Erica Luttrell as Agent Two
 * Richard Horvitz as Crimson
 * Abe Goldfarb as Alessio

Minor cast

 * Jonathan Freeman as Paimon
 * Vivienne Medrano as Deerie
 * Martha's family
 * Jinkx Monsoon as Martha
 * Maxwell Atoms as Ralphie
 * Martha and Ralphie's children
 * Juliana Sada as unnamed daughter
 * Dashiell McGaha-Schletter as unnamed son
 * Millie's family
 * Su Jan Chase as Lin
 * Edward Bosco as Joe
 * Morgana Ignis as Sallie May
 * Blitzo's family
 * Jonathan Freeman as Cash Buckzo
 * Jinhee Joung as Barbie Wire
 * Mayberry Family
 * Mara Wilson as Mrs. Mayberry
 * Maxwell Atoms as Jarold Mayberry
 * Employees of Loo Loo Land
 * Jayden Libran as Big Woobly
 * Alex Brightman as Robo Fizz
 * Maxwell Atoms as Loo Loo
 * Founders of Lyle-Loopty Robotics
 * Michael James Ruocco as Lyle Lipton
 * Brandon Rogers as Loopty Goopty
 * Jinkx Monsoon as Party Girl, Elevator, and Crane
 * Don Darryl Rivera as Mister Butler
 * Brock Baker as Some Guy (pilot)
 * Edward Bosco as Jesse, Blonde Spring Breaker, and Unnamed Hellhound
 * Morgana Ignis as Catfish Monster
 * Monica Franco as Hellhound Adoption Center Lady and Counselor Jimmy
 * Lyle Rath as Producer, CD Guy #1, and Lifeguard Dude
 * Eric Schwartz as Chazwick Thurman
 * Abe Goldfarb as Crimson's lawyer
 * Kesha Sebert as Beelzebub
 * Rochelle Diamante as Beelzebub (singing voice)
 * Michael Cusack as Mammon
 * Faye Mata as Glitz and Glam
 * Allison Kaplan as Glam (singing voice)

Undisclosed cast

 * Jorge R. Gutierrez
 * Anthony Padilla
 * Ian Hecox
 * Harvey Guillen

Miscellaneous cast

 * Richard Horvitz
 * Elsie Lovelock
 * Mara Wilson
 * Jinkx Monsoon
 * Scratch track
 * Krystal LaPorte
 * Kestin Howard
 * Vivienne Medrano
 * Edward Bosco
 * Erica Lindbeck
 * Su Jan Chase
 * Jayden Libran
 * Morgana Ignis
 * Vivian Nixon
 * Courtney Raine Taylor
 * Courtney Raine Taylor

Episodes

 * Episode Guide
 * Season 1
 * Season 2
 * Season 3
 * Season 4

Production

 * Vivziepop revealed the voice cast for an undisclosed upcoming project on June 14, 2019.
 * The official SpindleHorse Toons Twitter account announced Helluva Boss as their upcoming series on July 24, 2019.
 * The series' characters were revealed on August 04, 2019.
 * SpindleHorse Toons announced the pilot would be released approximately at a later date after the pilot for Hazbin Hotel was released. This date would later be revealed to be November 25, 2019.
 * Helluva Boss, unlike the Hazbin Hotel pilot, was recorded under, allowing more voice actors to be cast for the short. The casting for the pilot was done by Kellen Goff, who frequently visited animator Ashley Nichols animation streams. The pilot's recording sessions were done in ensemble at SPG Studios in  while the series' recording sessions were done both remotely and at Horseless Cowboy in , whom were also in charge of casting for the series. Voice direction was done by  and Vivienne Medrano for the pilot, then by Vivienne and Richard Horvitz for the main series.
 * In an online magazine the first season was said to have eight episodes.
 * On April 15, 2020, Vivziepop stated she started writing new Helluva Boss in December 2019.
 * She also said that recording for episodes had been delayed due to the . However, voice actor Jayden Libran had confirmed that recording officially continued through individual, in-studio sessions, as opposed to group recordings.
 * On November 13, 2021, a second season was announced.
 * The fastest an episode was created was in about four months, this excluding pre-production.
 * According to Vivian Nixon, season 2 was recorded in 2022.
 * According to Vivziepop, season 2 was recorded in 2020-2021, and explained that when a character didn't play a significant role in an episode, like Loona in the early episodes, it was easier on the budget to not have them speak.
 * On March 27, 2023, a third season was announced to be planned and written.
 * According to Vivziepop, the most challenging/longest episode to make was "Queen Bee".
 * Of the episodes released at the time, Vivziepop said on the technical side it would be "Exes and Oohs". She added that it was complicated time for "Seeing Stars" and "Exes and Oohs" because production for Hazbin Hotel season 1 had just begun.
 * During a stream on August 8, 2022, Vivziepop explained that they had planned for season 2 during writing season 1 and that after recording the first season she began scripting for the second and had locked the scripts in when "Loo Loo Land" came out.
 * On July 30, 2023, Vivziepop revealed that season 2 was written in 2020 and the entire story for the season was locked in by the release of "Loo Loo Land".
 * On May 25, 2023, Vivziepop announced that the entire series has been officially mapped out. Vivziepop went on to answer a question about how many seasons Helluva Boss will have, stating that it is "a very set 4 season story" and she is "very determined to tell it".
 * Vivziepop also answered a question about if the songs seen so far will one day be on Spotify, saying that a soundtrack is in the works.
 * Later in a video posted on December 10, 2023, Sam Haft explained that they have a bunch of new contracts and deals they hadn't anticipated when the series started, and the process of these legal things is incredibly slow.
 * Vivziepop also answered a question about the release of Season 2 episode 7, saying that their realistic goal is to release it in 2023, and that it will be a special.
 * Vivziepop later saying in another tweet on July 28, 2023, that she hopes to release at least episodes 6 and 7 in 2023, and that the episodes are both Fizzarolli related.
 * On July 31, 2023, Vivziepop revealed in a tweet the titles for Season 2 episodes 6 through 12.
 * On August 23, 2023, Sam Haft made a tweet saying that the first song he and Andrew Underberg co-wrote together would air in the seventh episode, and that due to the song being so well-received by the team they co-wrote 6 more songs together for Helluva Boss.
 * On November 16, 2023, the official Helluva Boss Twitter released a teaser for a music video that would release in December 2023.
 * On November 25, 2023, Vivziepop announced that she has a fun little pilot anniversary video in the works.
 * On December 11, 2023, Sam Haft released a 7 hour class where he walks through writing songs for Helluva Boss, which with the permission of Vivienne Medrano and Adam Neylan shows Haft write a song from assignment through to the demo for season 3.

Development

 * 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.
 * The demon that bears striking resemblance to Blitzo in the Hazbin Hotel pilot song "Inside of Every Demon is a Rainbow" is indeed Blitzo, whose final design was still being worked on at a time when his character was planned to be a recurring comic relief duo along with Moxxie.
 * A silhouette of Moxxie can be seen in the Hazbin Hotel pilot, as well.
 * In a tweet by Vivziepop, she explains that when she first started working on the Helluva Boss first season she didn't know what the future was for the show.
 * In the same tweet, Vivziepop also explains that she had some core episode ideas that existed in the Bible she pitched to Brandon that all became episodes; the episodes being "Loo Loo Land", "Truth Seekers" and "The Harvest Moon Festival".
 * According to Vivziepop, after the pilot aired and they really sat down to figure out where the series would go it was a very Blitzo focused show, as he is the main character, with Moxxie offering the most play off of him, and Stolas as well because his direction changed and he's important to I.M.P and to Blitzo's story.
 * Vivziepop added that while she feels for a traditional small-ensemble animated show it would be wise to establish each major character in the first season in an episode all their own, but with Helluva Boss she had no idea how far realistically the show would go so she went a much more Blitzo story building approach.

Trivia

 * On August 21, 2023, Vivziepop quote retweeted an animatic used in an application into SpindleHorse that used audio from a  skit, which according to Vivziepop the original skit was part of what inspired the concept for Helluva Boss.
 * Alongside some of the recurring Hazbin Hotel voice alumni, many actors whom worked with writer Brandon Rogers on his YouTube channel such as Su Jan Chase, as well as actors whom worked in also contributed voices for the series.
 * According to Vivziepop, she was open for Richard Horvitz to voice in Hazbin Hotel, but was discouraged by it since Horvitz is SAG, which was not used in Hazbin Hotel. This was later foreshadowed for Helluva Boss as Horvitz was acquired to voice Moxxie in the short.
 * While Brandon and Richard were personally acquired by Vivziepop and casting director Kellen Goff, Erica Lindbeck and Brock Baker auditioned for their roles.
 * Although, Helluva Boss still utilizes selective Hazbin Hotel animation talent, it also uses several animators who worked on Villainous, a Cartoon Network Latin America original series, most of whom became a part of the project after leaving the series due to controversial reasons.
 * Alan Ituriel, creator of Villainous, is also aware of Hazbin Hotel but refuses to do any drawing requests featuring characters from the series due to copyright reasons with the exception of the FAN SERVICE stream due to the more loose rules of that stream.
 * Although, the show is set in the same universe as Hazbin Hotel, open connections between both shows are kept at a minimum due to legal concerns as Hazbin Hotel was being pitched through networks at the time before the series was acquired by, and Vivziepop intended for the show to be more of a standalone independent web series as the comedy nature of the show is far different compared to the comedy-drama nature of Hazbin Hotel.
 * Brandon Rogers, who co-wrote and voices in the show, is also known for his Mad Tea Party video on his channel. Coincidentally, a fan of Hazbin Hotel made an animatic with selective bits from said audio and Vivziepop herself commented on it; which may have been an influence for Rogers' involvement in the project.
 * According to Vivziepop, Helluva Boss is more episodic in nature.
 * Helluva Boss was produced faster than Hazbin Hotel as she gained enough experience producing Hazbin Hotel to not only assemble a new crew but also make decisions that made production more effective.
 * According to RebelTaxi, who initially applied for storyboard work on the pilot, the tests for the show require artists to interpret excerpts from Brandon Rogers' work in order to be inquired.
 * Jayden Libran previously worked with Vivziepop and Maxwell Atoms as a puppeteer on Atoms' shelved series, Dead Meat.
 * , Matt Novak and Christopher French, composers whom are known for their work on DC's Harley Quinn, one of Vivienne's favorite shows, also score for the series.
 * According to Vivziepop, Brandon and herself initially wrote the episodes simultaneously by meeting once a week during lunch.
 * On September 8, 2020, Vivziepop tweeted that Helluva Boss is more of a diegetic musical in contrast to Hazbin Hotel being a non-diegetic musical, as Helluva Boss wasn't intended to be musical and is more comedic in nature. This is shown with how Helluva Boss' songs are knowingly performed and heard by the characters.
 * In an interview with Insider, Vivziepop spoke how she and her team had to learn the limitations of the YouTube platform, with how nudity can't be shown, certain swear words will trigger YouTube's hate speech algorithms, and the first 30 seconds have to be clear of any controversial content.
 * Three days after the interview, Vivienne tweeted that YouTube had censored the episode "Spring Broken" in searches and she was going to make a few edits and release a new version, however, several hours later it was allowed to be searched for again.
 * The series was mentioned on a Broadway playbill for the reopening of the Beetlejuice musical.
 * From the episode "The Harvest Moon Festival" onwards, the episode thumbnails no longer have the episode titles on them, which continues into the subsequent seasons.
 * From the second season onwards, the SpindleHorse logo at the end of every episodes' end credits now has an animated sequence.
 * In a tweet by Vivziepop, she explains that Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss are two sides of a coin in the 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.
 * Vivziepop 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.
 * According to Vivziepop, Helluva Boss has always been about Blitzo and his relationships, business, growth, and the society he exists in, and will continue to be what the series is about.
 * Vivziepop also responded to a question about character focused episodes by saying that, while the series focuses on Blitzo, the characters important to him all have arcs and things to spend time on as the show progresses.
 * On July 11, 2023, Vivziepop stated that guest voices, such as Norman Reedus and Kesha Sebert, were not paid more than the main cast, and everyone agreed to be in the show fairly.
 * As of November 6, 2023, the pilot episode has been removed from the official Helluva Boss YouTube playlist, and on November 17, 2023, was confirmed to be non-canon to the main series.
 * From the episode "Oops" onward, Vivziepop has started uploading the official music videos of the songs that premiere during their respective episodes, with Look At This being the first.
 * According to Sam Haft, the recording side of things has become like a very insular family environment where all the actors, Vivienne Medrano, and the song writers have such a clique that everyone is very comfortable with each other which makes the process smooth and easy, which Haft adds is rare in this type of business.
 * According to background designer Katie Elle, background's go through a few hands for revisions and touch ups so they're never a 100% solo effort.