''Helluva Boss'' is an American

adult animated An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a "minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of majori ...

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single i ...

created by Vivienne "VivziePop" Medrano. It revolves around the misadventures of the employees of I.M.P., an

assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

company in

Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

. The pilot was released on November 25, 2019, while the first episode of the first season was released on October 31, 2020. The show is produced by SpindleHorse Toons. The first season was released exclusively to Medrano's YouTube channel, as she has done for other animations. On November 13, 2021, the show was confirmed to be renewed for a second season, which premiered on July 30, 2022.

Premise

The series follows the employees of I.M.P. (Immediate Murder Professionals), an

imp IMP or imp may refer to: * Imp, a fantasy creature Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Imp (She-Ra), a character in ''She-Ra: Princess of Power'' * Imp a character in '' Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony'' * Imp, a character in the '' Clan ...

-run assassination company in

, on their many different jobs. The members of I.M.P. include Blitzo (pronounced "Blitz"), the boss of the venture, along with weapons specialist Moxxie, powerhouse Millie, and receptionist

hellhound A hellhound is a mythological hound that embodies a guardian or a servant of hell, the devil, or the underworld. Hellhounds occur in mythologies around the world, with the best known examples being Cerberus from Greek mythology, Garmr from Nor ...

Loona. With the help of an ancient book obtained from Stolas, a

Goetia ''The Lesser Key of Solomon'', also known as ''Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis'' or simply ''Lemegeton'', is an anonymous grimoire on demonology. It was compiled in the mid-17th century, mostly from materials a couple of centuries older.''Lemegeto ...

l demon of Hell, they access the human world to complete their tasks on order from demons in Hell. The show features a different cast of characters and a different storyline than ''

Hazbin Hotel ''Hazbin Hotel'' is an American adult animated musical series created by Vivienne "VivziePop" Medrano. The series revolves around Charlie Morningstar, princess of Hell, on her quest to find a way for demons to be "rehabilitated" and allowed ...

'', another show created by Medrano, despite taking place within the same universe. As Medrano described it, while both shows share the same setting, ''Helluva Boss'' follows "characters and societies that already exist in Hell", with the main focus being on interpersonal relationships between characters, while ''Hazbin Hotel'' is about redemption and consequences.

Voice cast

Main

* Brandon Rogers as Blitzo *

Richard Horvitz Richard Steven Horvitz (born July 29, 1966) is an American actor and comedian, best known for his voice work in animation and video games. His voice credits include the original Alpha 5 on ''Mighty Morphin Power Rangers'', ''Power Rangers Zeo'' an ...

as Moxxie *

Vivian Nixon Vivian Nichole Nixon (born May 31, 1984) is an American actress and dancer. She played Dr. Hannah Brody in the medical drama series ''Grey's Anatomy'' and voices Millie in the adult animated web series ''Helluva Boss''. Early life Born in Miam ...

as Millie *

Erica Lindbeck Erica Lindbeck (born May 29, 1992) is an American voice actress known for her work with Bang Zoom!, Studiopolis, and NYAV Post in voicing characters in English-dubbed anime and video games. She was the voice of the Barbie dolls and merchandis ...

as Loona *

Bryce Pinkham Bryce Allen Pinkham (born October 19, 1982) is an American actor and singer. He has appeared in the PBS period drama ''Mercy Street''. On Broadway, he played Monty Navarro in '' A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder''. For the latter role, he rec ...

as Stolas

Guest voices

Mara Wilson Mara Elizabeth Wilson (born July 24, 1987) is an American actress and writer. She rose to prominence as a child for playing Natalie Hillard in the film ''Mrs. Doubtfire'' (1993) and went on to play Susan Walker in ''Miracle on 34th Street (1994 ...

as Mrs. Mayberry, additional voices *

Jinkx Monsoon Jerick Roman Lamar Hoffer (born September 18, 1987), better known by the stage name Jinkx Monsoon, is an American drag performer, actor, comedian and singer best known for winning the fifth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and the seventh seas ...

as Martha, additional voices *

Maxwell Atoms Adam Maxwell Burton, known professionally as Maxwell Atoms, is an American animator, screenwriter, storyboard artist, and voice actor. He is the creator of the Cartoon Network series ''Grim & Evil'' and its subsequent spin-offs, ''The Grim Advent ...

as Ralphie, additional voices *

Barrett Wilbert Weed Barrett Wilbert Weed (born November 6, 1988) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for originating the roles of Veronica Sawyer in the Off-Broadway production of '' Heathers: The Musical'' and Janis Sarkisian in the Broadway prod ...

as Octavia *

Alex Brightman Alexander Michael Brightman (born February 5, 1987) is an American actor, singer, and writer. He is best known for his work in musical theatre, specifically as Dewey Finn in the musical adaptation of ''School of Rock'' and the title character ...

as Robo Fizz, Fizzarolli *

Cristina Vee Cristina Danielle Valenzuela (born July 11, 1987), known by her stage name Cristina Vee, is an American voice actress and voice director. She provides voices for English dubs of anime, animation, and video games. Vee's roles in anime include L ...

as Verosika Mayday *

James Monroe Iglehart James Monroe Iglehart (born September 4, 1974) He met his wife Dawn in the Mt. Eden High School show choirBlank, Matthew"The Genie of Broadways Aladdin James Monroe Iglehart"playbill.com, March 18, 2014 and they married in 2002. Filmography ...

as Vortex,

Asmodeus Asmodeus (; grc, Ἀσμοδαῖος, ''Asmodaios'') or Ashmedai (; he, אַשְמְדּאָי, ''ʾAšmədʾāy''; see below for other variations), is a ''prince of demons'' and hell."Asmodeus" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chica ...

Vivienne Medrano Vivienne Medrano (born October 28, 1992), also known by her online alias VivziePop, is an American animator, illustrator, comic creator and voice actress. She is best known as the creator of the adult animated series ''Hazbin Hotel'' and ''Hell ...

as Keenie, Deerie, additional voices *

Norman Reedus Norman Mark Reedus (born January 6, 1969) is an American actor best known for starring as Daryl Dixon in the AMC (TV channel), AMC horror drama series ''The Walking Dead (TV series), The Walking Dead'' (2010–2022). He also starred as Murphy Mac ...

as Striker *

Erica Luttrell Erica Luttrell is a Canadian actress. Personal life Luttrell was born in Toronto, Ontario to a Tanzanian mother and an American father. Luttrell is the youngest of four sisters. She can speak some French and Swahili. In August 2019, Luttrell ...

as Agent 2 * Jonathan Freeman as Paimon and Cash Buckzo

Episodes

Pilot (2019)

Season 1 (2020–present)

Season 2 (2022–present)

Production and release

In June 2019, Medrano stated that she was working with Erica Lindbeck, Brock Baker, and Brandon Rogers on a "new project." In August of the same year, she posted illustrations of the main cast of characters. The pilot was cast by voice actor

Kellen Goff Kellen Alexander Goff (born February 3, 1995) is an American voice actor. He is most well known for his work in the video game franchise Five Nights at Freddy's, alongside his roles in My Hero Academia, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, ...

and voice directed by Medrano and

Rick Zieff Richard Evan Zieff (born November 1, 1961), also known as Danny Katiana, is an American actor and voice-over coach. Career His career in voice-overs dates back to the mid-1980s. He has also appeared in such films as ''Mississippi Burning'', '' ...

. The company

Horseless Cowboy Timothy Cubbison is an American producer, director, writer and casting director, best known for the video games ''Fallout 4'', '' Life Is Strange'' and ''Rise of the Tomb Raider''. He is credited on over 50 titles including four BAFTA winners, ...

assisted Medrano with voice work during the first season, with Richard Horvitz and Medrano voice directing. Lucas Bermudez of ''

Screen Rant ''Screen Rant'' is an entertainment website that offers news in the fields of television, films, video games, and film theories. ''Screen Rant'' was launched by Vic Holtreman in 2003, and originally had its primary office in Ogden, Utah. ''Scr ...

'' attributed the success of ''Hazbin Hotel'' as the sole reason for ''Helluva Boss'' being greenlit. At some point, Rogers asked

to voice a character in ''Helluva Boss'', but Monsoon wanted to voice "stock characters" instead, so they did so, voicing various background and one-off characters in the show's first season. On November 25, 2019, the

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

was released on Medrano's YouTube channel. Medrano contributed her writing and animation skills for this episode. Writing production for more episodes began in December 2019, with 8 episodes ordered. In June 2020, Medrano stated her intent to feature more

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

characters in ''Helluva Boss'' and ''Hazbin Hotel'' in a tweet where she called on black animators to share their work with her to potentially be hired to work on the series. In August 2020, the recording for the first eight episodes of season 1 was completed, and Lucas Bermudez of ''Screen Rant'' predicted that more episodes of ''Helluva Boss'' would be released to YouTube "as a web series" because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. On October 31, 2020, the first episode of season 1 was released. In the episode, Rogers and Horvitz return as Blitzo and Moxxie, and while Lindbeck returns as Loona, she is replaced by

as the voice of Millie. Baker was replaced by

as Stolas. Guest stars of the episode include Monsoon,

, and

. The same day, Jefferson Friedman released a single from the soundtrack of the first episode, entitled "Stolas Speaks." Medrano has shared several teasers for the show on her

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

and

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

accounts throughout the show's production. On January 31, 2021, the third episode of the series was age-restricted by YouTube. In response, entertainment site

Newgrounds Newgrounds is an entertainment website and company founded by Tom Fulp in 1995. It hosts user-generated content such as games, films, audio, and artwork. Fulp produces in-house content at the headquarters and offices in Glenside, Pennsylvania. I ...

offered to host an uncensored version of the episode and promote it with "a front page banner," something which Medrano expressed interest in. The episode's age restriction was lifted the next day. In February 2021, Medrano told

Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...

that ''Helluva Boss'' remains independent of ''Hazbin Hotel'', stating she intends to keep it that way "as long as the audience wants to keep seeing it", adding that she has "a plan for where the story goes and ends." In February 2022, the official ''Helluva Boss'' Twitter account stated that the season one finale would be out "soon" but that it was taking longer than expected, and noted that season two was in production. On June 3, 2022, the ''Helluva Boss'' Twitter account released an update after what was originally intended to be the final episode of season 1 was delayed. The update announced that the series would instead be moving forward with season 2 on July 30, 2022, making "OZZIE'S" the season 1 finale retroactively. The original season 1 finale will instead be released at an unknown later date as a standalone special.

LGBTQ+ representation

''Helluva Boss'' has various LGBTQ+ characters, specifically a

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

demon named Moxxie, and a

pansexual , meaning "all" , definition = Sexual or romantic attraction to people regardless of gender , classification = Sexual identity , parent = Bisexuality , synonyms = , associated_terms = Polysexual, queer, heterofl ...

demon named Blitzo. Another demon named Stolas is

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

due to his relations with both men and women. Medrano also reacted positively to a fan idea of a

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

set in an alternative universe where Blitzo and Stolas are "two single dads getting married". The episode "The Harvest Moon Festival" introduced the character Sallie May, Millie's sister, who was confirmed on the show's official Twitter account to be

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

Reception

''Helluva Boss'' was met with critical acclaim, garnering universal praise for its animation, characters, voice acting, songs, and humor. In December 2019, in an article about the current state of

adult animation Adult animation, also known as mature animation, and infrequently as adult-oriented animation, is any type of animation, animated motion work that is catered specifically to adult interests, and is mainly targeted and marketed towards adults and ...

, '' CBR'' animation critic Reuben Baron stated that while the pilot episode of ''Helluva Boss'' has garnered "warranted criticism" because of its "edgy" humor, it is still a "clear labor of love from an animation standpoint." Tito W. James's assessment on Comicon.com stated that demons having access to a portal that connects to the human realm "adds a new dynamic and is ripe for narrative potential." Similarly, a reviewer for the Spanish site ''Cafetoons'' praised the characters for being introduced in a "very appropriate way" while maintaining the adult comedy and catchy songs. Other animators praised the show's first episode. Margaret Troup of the ''Iowa State Daily'' stated that there are "multiple musical numbers in each episode", similar to ''

Animaniacs ''Animaniacs'' is an American animated comedy musical television series created by Tom Ruegger for Fox Broadcasting Company's Fox Kids block in 1993, before moving to The WB in 1995, as part of its Kids' WB afternoon programming block, unti ...

'' and ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffin family, Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter Griff ...

'', and although the second episode was more serious than previous episodes, there were still plenty of "laughs and raunchy jokes". The same was said about the show's third episode, which one reviewer said had other types of humor like "fourth-wall breaking and blink-and-you-miss-it sight-gags".

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

* * {{authority control American adult animated web series 2020s black comedy television series 2020s American LGBT-related comedy television series 2020s American musical comedy television series 2020 web series debuts American adult animated comedy television series American adult animated musical television series Adult comedy web series Fiction about the afterlife Hell in popular culture Demons in television Independent animation American comedy webcomics Adultery in television LGBT-related animated web series English-language television shows Television series about demons 2020s YouTube series Hazbin Hotel