Dedicated viewers of the show finally received a much-anticipated origin story in season 2's episode 4, called “It's a Deal.” This episode is likely to prompt a lot of discussion and raise many inquiries about the essence of a certain demonic Overlord who seems significantly stronger than any character before understood. These fresh disclosures include a glimpse into the human life of a beloved character prior to his death and condemnation to the underworld.
A Significant Hint for Upcoming Installments
The show's creator shared a secret about the episode – it serves as a huge hint for season 3. Additionally, she provided more insight into the methodology of creating the mortal forms of her demonic cartoon figures.
Warning: Spoilers for the fourth episode of Hazbin Hotel, the show's second season.
In “It’s a Deal”, a flashback discloses that popular character Alastor the Radio Demon was a mass murderer in his mortal days. Being aware he was headed to the underworld, he made contact with the afterlife in advance to secure a powerful role in Hell. The charismatic leader, the charismatic leader the cannibal faction in Hell, promised Alastor he would become “the strongest Sinner in Hell” in return for his eternal spirit.
This prompts the question: How is this character sufficiently strong to elevate Alastor above all other Demonic Sinners?
“The Rosie and Alastor deal is the initial building block in a much bigger story that involves so much, moving into season 3,” the creator states. “Clearly that is an excellent question: How is she so strong? The solution could be various factors, but the answer is in season three. I'm very excited for people to see it.”
There’s no telling how long viewers will have to wait for Hazbin Hotel’s next season. The studios have green-lit seasons 3 and 4, but the creator frequently notes that animated production is a time-consuming endeavor, and later seasons have no release dates yet. Still, she states holding off on those details is an important part of maintaining the second season's focus where it belongs.
“The challenge of any agreement with demons, or narratives that have mysteries, is giving people just enough information to be like, Something's up here, and then unveiling that as we go, and allowing that be satisfying,” she comments. “So I am quite eager.”
Questions Answered in Season 3
The showrunner assures that season 3 will address the queries followers have been asking, like why the cannibal leader ordered Alastor to vanish for a seven-year period, which diminished his power in the infernal realm.
“The entire seven-year span, and the deals these individuals are doing, and all that — it's feeding into a larger story,” she says.
In the meantime, the origin story episode provides another glimpse into what the core cast of Sinner Demons appeared as as humans, the second after seeing another character's historical human form in episode 2. She explains that significant consideration was put into the visual creation of these forms.
“The human versions of these personas carry so much weight,” she notes. “They vary from looking quite distinct from their demon form to looking almost identical. With Pentious, the initial design we see, there was some internal discussion within the team between choosing a design that symbolizes the character, as opposed to going with an option that's very time-period accurate. We leaned toward creating a design that just seemed like it was him.”
She says the biggest debate over Pentious’ human design was his long hair: “We were like, ‘Nobody typically had extended hair like that in Victorian-era London.’ But simultaneously, we believe the silhouette is so important, and we also just thought he looked good. We were like, ‘This seems correct.’ We kind of gave the excuse that he lived in seclusion, so he just let his hair grow out. So there is always a solution. As we design the human versions of these personas […] it's such a fun thing to explore and figure out. I am looking forward for fans to see more of what the human forms look like.”
Fresh installments of Hazbin Hotel the second season are released on Wednesdays on Prime Video.
