The Animated Series' Showrunner Reveals Alastor and Rosie's Backstory Is a Major Season 3 Tease
Dedicated fans of the series at last received a long-awaited origin story in season 2's episode 4, called “It's a Deal.” This episode is likely to prompt extensive conversation and raise many inquiries about the nature of a certain demonic Overlord who seems significantly stronger than anyone previously understood. These fresh disclosures feature a look into the mortal existence of a beloved character prior to his demise and condemnation to Hell.
A Significant Hint for Upcoming Installments
The series creator shared a secret about the episode – it serves as a huge hint for the third season. She also provided further details into the methodology of designing the human versions of her demonic animated characters.
Spoiler alert for episode 4 of Hazbin Hotel, the show's second season.
In “It’s a Deal”, a flashback discloses that fan-favorite character Alastor, the Radio Demon was a mass murderer in his mortal days. Being aware he was destined for Hell, he established communication with the afterlife beforehand to obtain a strong position in Hell. Rosie, who leads the cannibal faction in Hell, promised Alastor he would become “the strongest Sinner in Hell” in exchange for his eternal spirit.
This raises the question: In what way is Rosie powerful enough to elevate Alastor above all other Sinner Demons?
“The agreement between Rosie and Alastor is the first stepping stone in a larger narrative that encompasses so much, moving into season 3,” the showrunner states. “Clearly that is a perfect question: How is she that powerful? The answer might be various factors, but the answer is in season 3. I'm very excited for people to witness it.”
It is uncertain the duration viewers will have to remain for Hazbin Hotel’s next season. The studios have approved seasons 3 and 4, but the creator often notes that animated production is a time-consuming endeavor, and subsequent seasons have no release dates yet. Still, she says withholding on those details is an important part of maintaining season 2’s attention where it belongs.
“The challenge of any kind of deal with infernal beings, or stories that have mysteries, is providing people sufficient clues to be like, Something's up here, and then revealing that gradually, and allowing that be satisfying,” she comments. “So I'm very excited.”
Questions Answered in Season 3
The creator promises that the upcoming season will tackle the questions fans have been posing, like why the cannibal leader commanded Alastor to vanish for a seven-year period, which diminished his influence in Hell.
“The entire seven-year span, and the deals these individuals are doing, and everything — it contributes to a larger story,” she says.
In the meantime, the Rosie/Alastor backstory episode provides a further look into what the main characters of Sinner Demons looked like as mortals, the second after seeing Sir Pentious’ historical human form in the second episode. The creator says that a lot of thought went into these character designs.
“The mortal forms of these personas carry so much weight,” she says. “They vary from appearing quite distinct from their demon form to looking almost identical. With the first character, the initial design we see, there was some internal discussion internally between choosing something that symbolizes the personality, versus selecting an option that's very time-period accurate. We opted for making a design that just seemed like it was him.”
She mentions the biggest debate over the mortal look of Pentious was his long hair: “We were like, ‘Nobody really had extended hair like that in that historical period.’ But simultaneously, we believe the silhouette is extremely crucial, and we also just thought he appeared attractive. We were like, ‘This seems correct.’ We kind of provided the rationale that he lived in seclusion, so he just let his hair grow out. So there is always a solution. As we create the human versions of these personas […] it's such a fun thing to explore and determine. I am looking forward for people to see more of the appearances of the human versions.”
Fresh installments of Hazbin Hotel season 2 are released on Wednesdays on Prime Video.
