Hazbin Hotel (TV Series)

Hazbin Hotel  is an American adult animated musical series produced by Amazon MGM Studios, A24 Television, Bento Box Entertainment, Trico Films and Spindlehorse. The series revolves around Charlie Morningstar, princess of Hell, on her quest to find a way for demons to be "rehabilitated" and allowed into Heaven. She opens a rehabilitation hotel that offers demons a chance at redemption and to be better people. The pilot, released to YouTube on October 28, 2019, was made entirely by freelance animators and was largely financed by Medrano's Patreon followers. Its first season was produced by independent entertainment company A24. The popularity and success of the pilot allowed Medrano to create a spin-off series called Helluva Boss, which premiered on October 31, 2020. The series features a different cast of characters within the same in-universe setting. The series is executive produced by Dominic Bisignano (Star VS. the Forces of Evil, Centaurworld), co-executive produced by Nate Cash (Spongebob SquarePants, Lauren Faust's DC Super Hero Girls), and directed by Joshua Taback (Spirit Riding Free, Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja, Q-Force, The Simpsons) but is on Amazon Prime Video on January 2024.

Premise
The series follows Charlie Morningstar (Kari Wahlgren), the princess of Hell, as she sets about fulfilling her seemingly impossible dream of opening a hotel called the "Happy Hotel," which aims to rehabilitate sinners. Due to overpopulation, Hell goes through an annual purge once a year, where angels descend from Heaven and kill demons. Charlie finds this upsetting, and wants to find a more peaceful solution to the overpopulation problem. Her goal is to have her clients "check out" from Hell as redeemed souls and be accepted into Heaven.

With the help of her devoted manager and girlfriend, Vaggie (Mae Whitman), and their reluctant first patron, pornographic film actor Angel Dust (Tony Hale), she's determined to make her dream become a reality. But when her proposal on live television goes awry, her plan attracts the attention of the powerful "Radio Demon" Alastor (Nolan North) who, despite finding her belief in redemption laughable, wants to help Charlie run the hotel for his own amusement. To help out with the hotel, Alastor summons Niffty, the hotel's housekeeper, and Husk, the hotel's bartender.

Cast

 * Erika Henningsen as Charlie Morningstar
 * Stephanie Beatriz as Vaggie
 * Blake Roman as Angel Dust
 * Amir Talai as Alastor
 * Keith David as Husk
 * Kimiko Glenn as Niffty
 * Vivienne Medrano as KeeKee/Dia
 * Jenny Slate as Cherri Bomb
 * Ashly Burch as Crymini/Summer
 * Misty Lee as Mimzy
 * Chris Kattan as Baxter
 * Alex Brightman as Sir Pentious
 * Faye Mata as Katie Killjoy
 * Rick Zieff as Tom Trench
 * Dee Bradley Baker as Fat Nuggets
 * James Adomian as Travis
 * Christian Borle as Vox
 * Kimberly Brooks as Velvette/Lute/Birthday Guest #1
 * Joel Perez as Valentino
 * Alan Tudyk as Lucifer Morningstar
 * Jamie Lee Curtis as Lilith Morningstar
 * Steve Blum as Adam/Snothead Jerry
 * Natasia Demetriou as Rosie
 * Darcy Rose Byrnes as Helsa von Eldritch
 * Madeleine Martin as Missi Zilla
 * Brandon Rogers as Blitzo
 * Richard Steven Horvitz as Moxxie/Shy Child/Birthday Guest #2
 * Vivian Nixon as Millie
 * Erica Lindbeck as Loona
 * Bryce Pinkham as Stolas
 * Yuri Lowenthal as Zillion Martinez
 * Maisie Williams as Kayla Christling
 * Wally Wingert as Arackniss
 * Lena Headey as Carmilla Carmine
 * Maxwell Atoms as 666 News Announcer/Cowboy Sinner #2/Ice Cream Man

Episodes
Every episode is written by Vivienne Medrano, Adam Neylan, Clayton Morrow, Darrick Bachman, Maxwell Atoms, and Dominic Bisignano.

Production
Some characters of the pilot had been around for years when Medrano began working with people at SVA on what would later become Hazbin Hotel. Originally, the pilot was meant to be an adult comedy "with a raunchy, demonic aesthetic". It took over six months to write the episode, and over two years (from 2017 to 2019) to animate it, with teasers released in that ensuing period to garner an audience of fans. The series contains various LGBTQ characters. This includes a gay character named Angel Dust, a bisexual character named Charlie, a lesbian character named Vaggie, and an asexual character named Alastor.

The show's pilot episode was released on Medrano's YouTube channel in October 2019, and it gained 54 million views by early February 2021. Almost a year later, A24 picked up Hazbin Hotel for the production of a TV series in late 2020.

On December 21, 2021, the official Hazbin Hotel Twitter account teased the release of the first season. It was later reported that cast members from the pilot, including Elsie Lovelock, Monica Franco, Michael Kovach, Krystal LaPorte, Michelle Marie, Gabriel C. Brown, and Josh Tomar, were not asked to reprise their roles for the A24 production, though these voice actors showed support for the show despite their removal. Medrano said that she loves her characters "more than anything" and that they are "in good hands".

Several main characters had been redesigned from the pilot, including Charlie, Vaggie, Alastor, Angel Dust, and several others. Along with SpindleHorse Toons and Princess Bento Studios, a Melbourne-based studio jointly owned by Bento Box Entertainment and Princess Pictures will be co-producing the series for A24. According to Medrano, many of the artists who worked on the pilot would be returning for the first season, and argued that the "indie spirit of the pilot lives on."