Posted in: Amazon Studios, TV | Tagged: Habin Hotel

Hazbin Hotel Creator on Season 2, Long-Term Goals, Influences & More

In a fun, thought-provoking, and wide-ranging interview, "Hellaverse" creator Vivienne Medrano discusses Hazbin Hotel Season 2 and much more.

There was a time when adult animated series were seen more as a niche demographic, but with the success of shows like Family Guy, Robot Chicken, South Park, and far more opportunities on streaming now with Prime Video's Invincible and Netflix's Bojack Horseman, they've grown far more in terms of mainstream respect and acceptance. Vivienne Medrano has built an empire in animation, now finding a home on Amazon's Prime Video, with the animated series Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss, which are driven by their ensemble casts, dark humor, and amazing musical talent. Hazbin Hotel follows Charlie Morningstar (voice of Erika Henningsen), who runs her father Lucifer's rehabilitation hotel, with the help of her partner Vaggie (voice of Stephanie Beatriz) and staff, which offers a group of misfit demons a chance at redemption. Coming off the epic season one-ending battle between Heaven and Hell, Medrano spoke to Bleeding Cool to talk about what it means having Amazon to use as a creative platform for her work, how season two expands her narrative with an eye towards seasons three and four, the cast, working on the songs throughout the season, and creative changes.

Hazbin Hotel Creator Vivienne Medrano on Crafting Season 2

You're in the second season of Hazbin Hotel. What's it been like having Prime Video as a partner on this journey, nurturing your creativity while also expanding into Helluva Boss and building that animated empire?

Amazon is really a nice partner, because they don't give us too many restrictions, and I'm able to do what I want and tell my stories. There are notes, of course, and things like that, but none of them involve changing anything major from my original vision and story. Likewise, with Helluva Boss, which is more of like an authentic supporting relationship. It's been nice, like I can't complain about those elements of it.

What are the biggest challenges you wanted to tackle this season that you wanted to expand upon from last season?

I feel what we got to expand was, I mean, honestly, the biggest challenge for season one was since we didn't have any guarantee there was going to be more (of the series), and we had a set of eight episodes, twenty-two minutes. I had a story and a vision. The best part about expanding into season two is that we were given a lot more ability time. I knew there was more leeway with seasons three and four, so there was a lot more of an ability to authentically expand and tell a consistent arc instead of trying to cram everything into the story.

What did it mean to have Sir Pentious (voice of Alex Brightman) be that liaison to explore heaven?

As a character, he's one of our most fun. He's also a character we get introduced to. He's silly, very accessible, and fun as a character. Getting to travel with him throughout season one, now in season two, and get to explore heaven from his perspective is…he's a great vehicle character for the audience to feel a part of, and get to see this world through his eyes.

You have such a stacked ensemble with Erika, Stephanie, and Blake [Roman] as that core to drive that initial first season. How did their leadership and energy as the main characters, Charlie, Vaggie, and Angel, help drive the series?

Our cast is great. They bring amazing energy to the characters that we like with their voices in mind, because now we know how they perform, what they sound like, it's a lot easier to write for them. Their performances are obviously at the forefront of the emotion of every season, so they lead in that way. Admittedly, it is a very script-driven show, so at the end of the day, it is the writers controlling everything, but they honestly bring the heart to the characters, obviously, and then the animators bring that to life.

Can you discuss the work that Evan Alderete, Gooseworx, and Sam Haft bring to their music, and were there any rejected songs that had to be left on the cutting room floor due to pacing issues?

Due to the tightness of the time frame, we didn't have much room for like cutting songs entirely. There definitely were versions of a song we drastically changed. I think the biggest one was "Stayed Gone." Originally, it was very fun, but it was much more like a rap. it was almost like a Lin-Manuel Miranda-type song, like where it was excessively wordy, and it still is wordy, but totally, I was like, "This doesn't really fit either of these two characters in terms of like genre or vibe," which was fun though, because there's now a there's a version of "Stayed Gone" that was much more rhythmic, kind of rappy, and ultimately, it's much more staccato, much more like a news presentation, right? Which is much more in line with who Vox's (Christian Borle) character is, but that's probably the closest.

A lot of the time, the songs will change from what they initially are. There isn't a lot of time to write a song and go, "This doesn't work. Let's do a different one." They initially do a song; they either knock it out of the park, or it needs a heavy amount of notes to get it right. It's usually a form of what they initially do, and we make it work, which is great, but it's also because of how tight it can be. We don't have room to play around too much. Gooseworx and Evan did the score for season one, and in season two, it was Brian Sadler. I'm very excited for everyone to hear it. I feel the score is an awesome part of the show.

What are your biggest influences creatively, generally, and on the show?

My biggest influences come, funny enough, from live action. I am inspired by dramatic live action nowadays, but my biggest actual influences on the show, originally, were Invader Zim, one of the biggest inspirations for me as a young artist, then Bojack Horseman actually became a huge influence on me, realizing that adult animation could be more than just an episodic comedy. It could be a narrative that gets a little dark and a little serious. Obviously, my show is very different from Bojack, and I'm aware of that, but that doesn't make it any less of an influence; but they're not really comparable [laughs].

The first two episodes of Hazbin Hotel season two, which also feature the voices of Keith David, Kimiko Glenn, and Amir Talai, are available on Prime Video, with two episodes released every Wednesday through November 19th.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!