Many fans have been voicing their dissatisfaction with the controversial choice to recast the original cast of Hazbin Hotel, which is now an Amazon Studios animated series.
The show follows Charlie Morningstar, the daughter of Lucifer, as she establishes a new hotel in Hell where sinners can be redeemed so they can make it into Heaven.
The project first started as a pilot on YouTube in 2019, where it became massively popular. From there, it was picked up by A24 and then Amazon Studios.
The Original Cast of Hazbin Hotel
Following its viral pilot, Hazbin Hotel swapped out its original cast for its series run on Amazon Prime Video—which has proven to be controversial.
Some of the key original cast members from the 2019 Hazbin Hotel pilot who were recast included:
- Jill Harris as Charlie Magne and Elise Lovelock as her singing voice
- Michael Kodachrome as Angel Dust
- Monica Franco as Vaggie
- Edward Bosco as Alastor, and Gabriel C. Brown as his singing voice
- Mick Lauer as Husk
The replacement actors for those same roles in the new animated Amazon Studios series are:
- Erika Henningsen as Charlie Morningstar
- Blake Roman as Angel Dust
- Stephanie Beatriz as Vaggie
- Amir Talia as Alastor
- Keither David as Husk
Not long after the series debuted, the original cast released a final farewell song on YouTube titled “THANK YOU AND GOODNIGHT,” which received over 700K views as of writing.
A statement released alongside the new video noted how "this song has been a long time coming" and that it was "actually [written] over a year ago:"
"This song has been a long time coming... We actually wrote it over a year ago when we (the pilot cast of #HazbinHotel) found out we were being re-cast. However, we didn’t release it out of respect for Vivian and the new A24 crew as they hadn’t made their official announcement yet."
They made sure to make it extra clear that, "they have nothing but love and respect for the incredible world that is Hellaverse:"
“Now that the cat’s out of the bag, we hope you enjoy our final 'Hazbin Hotel 'song! We hope it is received in the spirit with which it was written, as a light-hearted and proverbial passing of the torch from the pilot cast of 'Hazbin 'to the incredible new voice cast that will carry the show into the future! We have nothing but love and respect for the incredible world that is the Hellaverse and the brilliant people who bring it to life! We are honored to have been a part of it, even for a moment!”
Some Fans Aren’t Happy With the New Cast
Needless to say, some fans are less than thrilled with the fact that the original Hazbin Hotel cast was replaced at all.
X user @HaleyViaduct claimed the new cast “[does not] fit as well” and that they lack chemistry:
“Watching the free 'Hazbin Hotel' episode that’s on YouTube and… Why couldn’t they just stick with the original voice actors. These new ones don’t fit as well and also don’t have as much chemistry as the pilot cast… Kinda sucks man…”
@CubedUnit attacked the creator of the show, claiming the move to recast everyone just shows how terrible of a person she is (at least, according to them):
“The fact that all the other bs Vivzie Pop did to her staff on top of recasting her whole lineup for 'Hazbin Hotel' after her talented voice actors got her to where she, just shows she’s a shitty person. The voices sound all wrong compared to the pilot.”
On X, @BTOfficial7 expressed how “uninterested” in the new series they are, pointing out that it feels like “the little guys [got] screwed over by big name corporatism:”
“I'm going to be honest, I'm super uninterested in Hazbin Hotel. It's been years since the pilot dropped and all of the voice actors got replaced by bigger names, so all that lost momentum just culminated in the little guys getting screwed over by big name corporatism.”
“It kind of breaks my heart,” admitted @DemMeliodas55 on X regarding the big recasting, but that the final product is “still fun:”
“I just watched the first episode of 'Hazbin Hotel'. They replaced all the voice actors from the original. It kind of breaks my heart a bit. Still fun but the flare from the Pilot episode is missing to me.”
The general dissent amongst many fans even made its way to the new cast, including Keith David, who voiced Husk.
While responding to a fan on X who thought Keith David would not work as Husk but was pleasantly surprised, the actor thanked them for "[giving him] a chance:"
“You and a whole lot of people in my X and TikTok mentions. I’m glad you gave me a chance to change your mind.”
Why Was the Hazbin Hotel Cast Recast?
As of now, there is yet to be an official reason given as to why the controversial Hazbin Hotel shakeup had to happen.
One thought process out there is that there were some sort of contractual issues when A24 took over the project.
Another potential reason, which has become the most common explanation, is that they wanted to get more Broadway actors and professional singers to lean into the musical aspect of the series.
After all, lead star Erika Henningsen played Cady Herron in the original Mean Girls Broadway, and Stephanie Beatriz sang as Mirabel in Disney's Encanto.
It's also worth noting how recasting as a pilot moves into a full series is not an uncommon thing. One of the biggest examples is that several voice actors from Adventure Time's original pilot were replaced.
Some other examples of characters who changed after the pilot include Catelyn Stark from Game of Thrones (Jennifer Ehle to Michelle Fairley), Firefly's Inara Serra (Rebecca Gayheart to Morena Baccarin), Star Trek's Captain James Tiberius Kirk (Jeffrey Hunter to William Shatner), and more.
Hazbin Hotel is now streaming on Prime Video.
