Dedicated fans of the series finally received a much-anticipated backstory in season 2's fourth episode, titled “It's a Deal.” This episode will probably spark extensive conversation and pose numerous questions about the essence of a certain demonic Overlord who seems significantly stronger than any character before realized. The new revelations feature a look into the human life of a fan-favorite character before his demise and sentence to the underworld.
A Major Tease for Upcoming Installments
The show's creator shared a secret about the episode – it acts as a huge hint for season 3. She also offered more insight into the methodology of designing the human versions of her infernal animated characters.
Spoiler alert for the fourth episode of Hazbin Hotel, the show's second season.
In the episode, a flashback reveals that fan-favorite personality Alastor the Radio Demon was a serial killer in his human life. Being aware he was destined for Hell, he made contact with the realm beyond in advance to obtain a strong position there. Rosie, who leads the cannibal faction in Hell, vowed Alastor he would become “the most powerful Condemned Soul in Hell” in exchange for his soul.
This raises an important query: In what way is this character powerful enough to elevate Alastor over all other Sinner Demons?
“The Rosie and Alastor deal is the first stepping stone in a much bigger story that encompasses so much, leading into season 3,” the creator states. “Clearly that is a perfect question: How is she so strong? The solution could be many things, but the answer is in season three. I am thrilled for people to see it.”
There’s no telling how long viewers will have to remain 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 slow, lengthy process, and later seasons have no release dates yet. Still, she states withholding on those details is a crucial aspect of maintaining season 2’s focus in the right places.
“The challenge of any agreement with demons, or narratives that have mysteries, is providing the audience sufficient clues to be like, Something's up here, and then unveiling that gradually, and letting that be gratifying,” she says. “So I'm very excited.”
Mysteries Resolved in Season 3
The showrunner promises that season 3 will address the questions followers have been asking, such as why the cannibal leader ordered Alastor to disappear for a seven-year period, which weakened his power in Hell.
“The whole seven years, and the deals these individuals are doing, and all that — it's feeding into a bigger narrative,” she reveals.
In the meantime, the origin story episode offers another glimpse into what the main characters of Sinner Demons looked like as humans, the second after seeing another character's Victorian-era mortal appearance in episode 2. She says that significant consideration was put into the visual creation of these forms.
“The mortal forms of these personas carry great significance,” she notes. “They range from looking really different from their demon form to seeming almost identical. With the first character, the initial design we see, there was a little bit of a debate within the team between going with something that symbolizes the personality, as opposed to selecting something that's very time-period accurate. We opted for making a design that just seemed like it was him.”
She says the primary controversy over the mortal look of Pentious was his long hair: “We were like, ‘No one typically had extended hair of that style in that historical period.’ But at the same time, we think the outline is extremely crucial, and we also just thought he looked good. We were like, ‘This seems correct.’ We sort of provided the rationale that he lived in seclusion, so he just allowed his hair to lengthen. So there's always a way. As we create the human versions of these personas […] it's such a fun thing to explore and figure out. I am looking forward for fans to view additional of what the human forms look like.”
Fresh installments of Hazbin Hotel season 2 drop on Wednesdays on the streaming service.
