There’s a special place in hell — literally — for second chances, and it’s the Hazbin Hotel. That’s also the name of Prime Video’s wildly inventive new animated series featuring Broadway stars from the likes of Jeremy Jordan (The Last Five Years) and Lilli Cooper (SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical) to Jessica Vosk (Elphaba in Wicked) and Daphne Rubin-Vega (Rent).

Hazbin Hotel follows Charlie (Erika Henningsen of Broadway’s Mean Girls) as the princess of Hell. She’s on her ill-fated quest to rehabilitate demons, so she can reduce overpopulation. Papa Lucifer (Jordan) may not be totally jazzed about the noble effort, but Charlie prays that her new hotel helps those checking in so that they can check out and head up to Heaven. Girlfriend Vaggie (Stephanie Beatriz) is forever at her side.

The inventive series was created by Vivienne Medrano after her animated YouTube pilot went nuclear with more than 92 million views in 2019. It spawned a global hunger for more. Expect a slew of colorful characters, LGBTQ+ representation, as well as catchy musical numbers (bless you, A Happy Day in Hell), and adult humor here. Meanwhile, creator Vivienne Medrano, and stars Jessica Vosk and Daphne Rubin-Vega, unpack other surprises in excerpts from these exclusive MovieWeb interviews. Check out our video conversation with Vosk and Rubin-Vega above, and Medrano below.

The Genesis of Hazbin Hotel

On some level, it must be a huge relief for Vivienne Medrano to get all those vivid characters out of her head and into an animated series where they’re given more room to roam. Make that wreak havoc. From fallen adult film star Angel Dust (Blake Roman) to Alastor “Radio Demon” (Amir Talai), this version of hell is packed with diverse souls.

The genesis of Medrano’s characters stems as far back as childhood. “It’s so far back,” Medrano muses. “I don’t remember how Alastor came to me because he’s the earliest.” In the series, Alastor reaches out to help Charlie with her endeavor. But the character was much different early on.

“Alastor started off as a cannibal deer, then it became a cannibal deer demon. I was a young, edgy teenager, and I thought everything is demons, everything is cannibals, and everything is evil. But I also really loved The Joker [as a character], so it was a little bit of The Joker in there, a little bit of Cheshire Cat.”

Then she heard “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile,” the popular song from the Annie soundtrack, but the version was produced with a radio filter. “I was like, that’s what Alastor sounds like,” Medrano added. “He manifested as this very childish, very edgy teenager fantasy that resonated with other edgy teenagers and young adults. I had a story for all of them. They all came in at different stages in my life, then I put them together in this project that just kind of felt right, and a world that just kind of suited them. And the rest is, I guess, history, as they say.”

From Broadway to Animation
Hazbin Hotel Release Date October 20, 2019 Creator Vivienne Medrano

Medrano, who grew up Presbyterian, says she remembers going to church and questioning a lot of stories in the Bible — Adam and Eve and Lucifer, in particular. She puts a wicked spin on all that origin story in Hazbin Hotel, which thrilled series star Jessica Vosk.

“Playing Elphaba for two years of my life… she’s a very dark, but also incredibly passionate character who lends herself to animation, quite frankly, if Wicked decided to go animated,” Vosk shared. “Coming into this was very cool. We got to create it from scratch. As a theater actor… it’s fun to sit in a studio behind a mic, listening to all of these people give you incredible notes and watching the animation happen at the same time. There’s something about it that makes me feel extra badass.”

Related:Why Wicked Will Be the Next Barbie Movie

In Hazbin Hotel, Vosk plays Lute, an edgy exorcist. “She’s a demonic angel if I’m being honest,” she said. “But season one is a setup for what you’re about to see in season two with my character, which is a lot more badass than I even know. I thought, ‘This is my villain era.’ I’ve always wanted to do animation, and to get a chance to do this, to have it be musical is killing two birds with one stone.”

Dear Lord, There Are Overlords
Prime Video

Meanwhile, Daphne Rubin-Vega animates the character of Carmilla Carmine, Hell’s highest-ranking Overlord. She’s a fallen angel, ruler of Sin City, and “head of the table” with the Overlords.

“I had no idea what I was getting into,” Rubin-Vega gushed. “I just said yes because I wanted to be an animated character all my life. And I love using my voice. Love it, love it. So, it was like this one piece of a bigger puzzle that only last night did I see the collective result of. I really had no idea how hardcore these fans are.”

Related: 14 Best Adult Cartoons, Ranked

While she was eager to lend her voice to the character, initially she didn’t even know what she looked like. “In fact, I didn’t even know how she lived in the collective world,” she added. “It’s like one little character. All of a sudden, I see how she operates in this world. And it’s a big world, and she’s important. It’s like, wow.”

A Season Two Shocker Already?

Hazbin Hotel was already blessed with a second-season pickup, which reveals how confident Amazon Studios is with this offering from A24 and FOX Entertainment’s Bento Box Entertainment. Jessica Vosk says the gang is “under lock and key” about revealing how season one ends. However, she did note:

“I think everybody is going to gasp at the end of this season in a massive way. Fans are not going to expect it — or maybe they will expect it, because the fans are incredibly smart in a way that I haven’t dealt with fandom before. Perhaps they will know what’s going to happen, but I think going into season two, even I’m surprised at the way that it’s going to go.”

Vosk is returning for season two, noting: “I’m honored to be able to step into another season because it’s so fantastically put together in such an adult way, and we don’t normally get that from animation. So again, heads are going to spin… and people are probably going to watch the last couple of episodes of season one over and over again and be like, ‘did I just hear what I just heard?’ Season two is going to blow the lid off of what you think of good and evil.”

Good heavens. Tune into the madcap misadventures of Hazbin Hotel, beginning Jan. 19 on Prime Video. Watch the trailer below: