The Animated Series' Showrunner Reveals Rosie and Alastor's Origin Tale Is a Major Teaser for Season Three
Dedicated viewers of the show at last received a long-awaited backstory in season 2's fourth episode, titled “It's a Deal.” This episode will probably spark extensive conversation and raise numerous inquiries about the nature of one particular demon Overlord who appears far more powerful than anyone previously understood. These fresh disclosures feature a look into the human life of a fan-favorite character prior to his demise and condemnation to Hell.
A Significant Hint for Upcoming Installments
The show's creator disclosed an inside detail about “It's a Deal” – it acts as a huge hint for the third season. Additionally, she offered further details into the methodology of designing the mortal forms of her demonic animated characters.
Warning: Spoilers for the fourth episode of Hazbin Hotel, the show's second season.
In “It’s a Deal”, a flashback reveals that fan-favorite personality Alastor the Radio Demon was a serial killer in his mortal days. Knowing full well he was destined for Hell, he established communication with the afterlife in advance to obtain a powerful role in Hell. Rosie, who leads Hell’s cannibal community, vowed Alastor he would become “the most powerful Sinner in Hell” in exchange for his eternal spirit.
This raises the question: How is Rosie powerful enough to raise Alastor over all other Demonic Sinners?
“The agreement between Rosie and Alastor is the initial building block in a much bigger story that involves so much, moving into the third season,” the showrunner explains. “Clearly that is a perfect question: How is she that powerful? The answer might be many things, but the answer is in season three. I am thrilled for people to witness it.”
It is uncertain how long the audience will have to remain for Hazbin Hotel’s next season. The production companies have approved the third and fourth seasons, but the showrunner frequently notes that animated production is a slow, lengthy process, and later seasons have no release dates yet. Still, she states holding off on those details is a crucial aspect of keeping season 2’s focus in the right places.
“The difficulty of any kind of deal with demons, or narratives that have mysteries, is providing people sufficient clues to be like, Something's up here, and then unveiling that gradually, and letting that be gratifying,” she comments. “So I am quite eager.”
Questions Answered in Season 3
The creator promises that season 3 will tackle the questions followers have been posing, like why Rosie commanded Alastor to vanish for seven years, which weakened his power in the infernal realm.
“The whole seven years, and the deals these humans are making, and everything — it contributes to a larger story,” she reveals.
In the meantime, the origin story episode offers a further look into how the main characters of Demonic Sinners looked like as humans, the second after seeing Sir Pentious’ Victorian-era mortal appearance in the second episode. The creator explains that a lot of thought was put into the visual creation of these forms.
“The human versions of the characters carry so much weight,” she says. “They range from appearing quite distinct from their infernal version 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 an option that's historically correct. We leaned toward creating something that just seemed like it was him.”
She says the primary controversy over Pentious’ human design was his lengthy locks: “We were like, ‘No one typically had extended hair of that style in Victorian-era London.’ But at the same time, we think the silhouette is so important, and we also just felt he looked good. We were like, ‘This just feels right.’ We sort of gave the excuse 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 characters […] it is a very enjoyable process to investigate and figure out. I'm excited for people to see more of what the human forms look like.”
New episodes of Hazbin Hotel the second season are released on Wednesdays on Prime Video.
