Haunted Hotel is a new animated adult comedy series created by Matt Roller. It follows an unconventional family comprised of a single mother, her two children, and her brother all working together to keep their business afloat. That business happens to be a haunted hotel and the brother is one of many ghosts that reside in the building. We spoke with Roller and stars Eliza Coupe and Jimmi Simpson to learn more.
Roller drew upon his experiences on one of his old gigs while developing the show. He explained, “It came from a love of horror. I watch all of it and I wanted to make an animated show, coming off of Rick and Morty which is so sci-fi based, I wanted to make a horror show kind of like that that leaned into my horror passion.”
“It started with a family because that felt like a mainstay of a lot of horror and a great way to start adventures,” he continued. “And then a hotel also felt like a classic location. It kind of just building out from there to create a world where I thought I could tell a hundred stories in. That’s the ambition.”
Coupe’s character, Katherine, is the glue keeping the family together under these strange conditions. She serves as the lone bit of normalcy during all the foolishness happening around them. The actor spoke a bit about being the mom of Haunted Hotel.
“That’s why I wanted this role,” she said. “It’s a big departure for me because I’m never the normal person. This character though, she is very inspirational. She is doing so much all the time and then trying to keep it together…There is so much going on with her…It was really fun.”
If there is a breakout character of Haunted Hotel, it’s Simpson’s Abaddon who is a demon trapped in the body of a young boy. There are contrasts between his dark and brooding interior nature compared to the appearance of an adorable child, which makes him an interesting role.
“Some people understand there is a subtle reference there,” Simpson shared. “Regardless, you know he’s wrong and that he’s coming for your soul on some level. So, it’s fun to play that subtext surrounded by the body of a young boy who is forced to endure being that. Being underneath a mother figure. To being disrespected constantly even though he ran seven circles of Hell at least. Maybe six. It’s a joy. It’s a delight.”
The series is a great blending of genres. That is why Simpson is so excited for people to watch it. He said, “As a huge comedy and horror fan, this show, and I don’t watch that much adult animation stuff or animated comedies, it nailed every single thing that I didn’t know I was hoping for. It’s so funny. It’s written and executed so hilariously. “
He added, “But then, just the horrorphile in me, is so pleased, not to just see the Easter eggs…I saw a cereal box with one of my favorite series on it. But it also talks about the tropes in a way that is untropey. It discusses the lore of ghosts and demons in a way that is actually practical and isn’t based solely on unexplained lore. You actually get more lore than you would expect from an animated comedy horror show, and that’s really satisfying to the horrophile in me.”
Haunted Hotel releases Friday, September 19, on Netflix.
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