The Animated Series' Showrunner Unveils Alastor and Rosie's Backstory Serves as a Huge Teaser for Season Three
Dedicated fans of the series finally received a long-awaited backstory in season 2's episode 4, called “It's a Deal.” This installment is likely to prompt extensive conversation and pose numerous questions about the essence of a certain demonic Overlord who appears significantly stronger than any character before realized. The new revelations include a glimpse into the mortal existence of a fan-favorite character prior to his death and condemnation to Hell.
A Significant Hint for Upcoming Installments
The show's creator shared a secret about “It's a Deal” – it serves as a huge hint for season 3. She also provided more insight into the methodology of creating the human versions of her demonic cartoon figures.
Warning: Spoilers for episode 4 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 serial killer in his human life. Being aware he was headed to the underworld, he made contact with the realm beyond in advance to secure a powerful role in Hell. The charismatic leader, who leads Hell’s cannibal community, vowed Alastor he would become “the most powerful Condemned Soul in Hell” in exchange for his soul.
This raises an important query: How is Rosie powerful enough to elevate Alastor above all other Sinner Demons?
“The Rosie and Alastor deal is the initial building block in a larger narrative that encompasses a great deal, moving into season 3,” the creator states. “Clearly that is an excellent question: How is she so strong? The answer might be many things, but the answer is in season three. I am thrilled for fans to witness it.”
It is uncertain the duration the audience will have to remain for Hazbin Hotel’s third season. The production companies have approved the third and fourth seasons, but the creator frequently notes that animation is a time-consuming endeavor, and later seasons have no release dates yet. Still, she states withholding on specific information is a crucial aspect of keeping the second season's focus where it belongs.
“The difficulty of any kind of deal with demons, or narratives that have enigmas, is providing people just enough information to be like, Something's up here, and then revealing that as we go, and letting that be gratifying,” she comments. “So I'm very excited.”
Questions Answered in Season 3
The showrunner assures that season 3 will address the queries followers have been asking, like why the cannibal leader commanded Alastor to disappear for seven years, which weakened his power in the infernal realm.
“The whole seven years, and the deals these humans are doing, and everything — it's feeding into a larger story,” she says.
Meanwhile, the Rosie/Alastor backstory episode offers a further look into how the main characters of Sinner Demons appeared as as mortals, the second after seeing another character's Victorian-era human form in the second episode. She says that significant consideration went into the visual creation of these forms.
“The mortal forms of the characters hold so much weight,” she notes. “They vary from looking quite distinct from their demon form to looking very similar. With Pentious, the initial design we see, there was some internal discussion internally between going with something that represents the character, versus selecting an option that's very time-period accurate. We opted for creating something that just felt like it was him.”
She says the biggest debate over Pentious’ human design was his lengthy locks: “We were like, ‘No one really had long hair of that style in Victorian-era London.’ But at the same time, we believe the outline is so important, and we also just thought he looked good. We were like, ‘This just feels right.’ We kind of provided the rationale that he lived in seclusion, so he just allowed his hair to lengthen. So there is always a solution. As we design the human versions of these personas […] it is a very enjoyable process to explore and determine. I'm excited for people to see more of the appearances of the human versions.”
New episodes of Hazbin Hotel season 2 are released on Wednesdays on Prime Video.
