Hazbin Hotel creator Vivienne Medrano explains season 2’s strange new character

Season 2 of the hit animated series Hazbin Hotel has officially begun. The first two episodes launched on Oct. 29, introducing new characters, new conflicts, and a new era for daughter-of-the-devil Charlie Morningstar (Erika Henningsen), the do-gooder demon princess trying to redeem lost souls in Hell. The new season is set shortly after the season 1 finale, as Charlie deals with the consequences of fighting back against Heaven’s annual extermination of Hell’s citizens. This time, the storyline is split more evenly between Heaven and Hell, which means viewers are learning more about the brighter side of the afterlife works.

That leads directly to one of Hazbin Hotel‘s most startling new characters, a Heavenly representative who bears a strong resemblance to a class of demons seen in the series’ shared-universe sister show, Helluva Boss.

Polygon talked to Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss creator Vivienne Medrano about the lore behind this new character, how she connects to the larger Hellaverse, and what she implies about God in Medrano’s shows.

[Ed. note: Light spoilers ahead for Hazbin Hotel season 2, episode 2, with bigger spoilers for the season 1 finale.]

In the finale of Hazbin Hotel season 2, snake demon Sir Pentious (Broadway star Alex Brightman) sacrifices himself in combat against the archangel Adam (also Brightman), and ascends to Heaven, seemingly the first human soul to ever be redeemed. In season 2, we see the fallout, as Heaven’s leadership rebels against his arrival. But a golden, bird-like figure manifests to call for a stop to the conflict, and introduces herself as the Speaker of God.

Fans of Medrano’s Hellaverse will immediately notice the Speaker’s resemblance to some of the more prominent Goetia demons in Helluva Boss, particularly demon lord Stolas, his wife Stella, and their daughter Octavia. But Medrano says the resemblance is more of an artistic coincidence than an intended connection.

“The Speaker of God is not a Goetia, because they are a specific breed,” she tells Polygon via Zoom. “And not all Goetia are birds, which is a fun thing we’ll see in the future. We kind of saw it in ‘Mastermind’ in Helluva Boss, but we will see that [in the future]. That said, she has some design elements from how I draw the Goetia, as stoic birds. She’s meant to be a phoenix, so she has a lot of that mystical bird energy.”

Image: Prime Video

While Medrano says part of the visual resemblance just comes from her art style and design choices, “thematically, it makes sense, because the Goetia in my lore are the creation of Lucifer. Each of the Sins has a creation, a species of Hell. Lucifer’s is the Goetia. I feel like [the Speaker’s design] makes sense, because he came from heaven, so there’s an element of heavenliness to some of those demons that makes sense. Her similarities to them spiritually makes sense, because the Goetia technically originated from an angelic place.”

So wait, if Lucifer created the Goetia, and many of them look like birds, does that relate to his noted obsession with ducks?

Medrano laughs at the idea. “It could! None of them are ducks yet, but that actually would be funny,” she says. “There should be one that’s a duck. But no, part of it is honestly just drawing from the Ars Goetia, a real demonic text. A lot of them are described as birds — there’s a lot of ravens and owls and eagles, and things like that. So we play off of that. But I like the idea. I like playing up how much Lucifer likes birds, so it totally works out.”

Image: Prime Video

The presence of a Speaker of God implies a God in the Hellaverse — not necessarily a surprise in a setting where Lucifer, Adam and Eve, angels and seraphim, and other Biblical entities are major characters. Will we see God at some point in the series? Medrano isn’t planning on it.

“Personally, I’m not the most religious person,” she says. “But I do think that the concept of God is so ethereal, and beyond comprehension by just its nature, that I didn’t ever want to fully depict it in that way. There have been so many amazing depictions of God in media — one of my personal favorites is Bruce Almighty, with Morgan Freeman. But in my show, the Speaker of God is the closest we get to the God everyone thinks of. She represents it, but she is not it.”

As a tease for the future of the Hellaverse, though, Medrano reveals that the setting does have “gods,” and they’re coming up later in the show.

“I’m excited for people to meet them,” she says. “They’re a huge part of the show. We did actually get a peek at them in season 1 — in the opening story, we’re told about the entities of Good and Evil. So without giving too much away, the closest we get to gods [in the Hellaverse] are these concepts of Good and Evil personified. I cannot wait for that, because it’s a fun way of exploring the concept of an entity without it being necessarily what people expect.”

Season 2 of Hazbin Hotel is rolling out now, with new episodes on Wednesdays.