The character has received a universally positive critical reception.[2][3][4][5][6][7]
Development
Origins and concept
Charlie was created by Medrano during her time at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.[8] Although the original steampunk-inspired design of the character has been described as an "entirely distinct entity", Medrano liked the name Charlie and transferred it to a new character, intended for her webcomic series ZooPhobia. Her original plotline intended for her to be a mortal soul who died in the 1830s,[9] who became the "den mother" of the "Misfit Demon Gang" in ZooPhobia; the members of this gang would later become the main cast of Hazbin Hotel.[10][11]
Design and characterization
In the Hazbin Hotel pilot, Charlie's surname was "Magne".[12] She looked much closer in appearance to her current design, wearing a red suitcoat. She was confirmed to be bisexual by Medrano on her Twitter account.[13]
Before season one, Charlie's last name was changed to Morningstar.[12] This came from the concept of the devil's family name being "Morningstar" (the Latin translation of "Lucifer"), which was popularized by Neil Gaiman in a comic in 1989.[14] After the release of the series' first episode in January 2024, Medrano was asked about changes in Charlie's design, and replied that she did not "actively change" the outfit, but drew her differently because of a change in her style.[15] In an interview following the series release, Medrano said that she related to Charlie, and called her "plucky...determined and energetic", saying Charlie was a "very aspirational character" to her.[16] On Charlie's character arc in the first season, her voice actress Erika Henningsen said:
“Life is lived in the gray. That's the journey that Charlie comes to over the season. She's always for forgiveness, but I do think she sometimes sees the world in black and white and the real world is not that. So the thing that we do in earnest because it's the right thing sometimes comes at other people's expense. What if what she thinks is right is potentially not? What if there is no right or wrong? What if there is just listening to people and maintaining a sense of integrity?”[17]
Voices
Erika Henningsen voices Charlie.
In the 2019 pilot of Hazbin Hotel, Jill Harris was cast as the speaking voice of Charlie, and Elsie Lovelock was cast as her singing voice.[18][19] In the 2024 series, Charlie is voiced by Erika Henningsen.[1]
Fictional character biography
Hazbin Hotel
"That's Entertainment" (2019)
Charlie made her first full appearance in "That's Entertainment", the Hazbin Hotel pilot episode, released on October 28, 2019. The events of the episode take place after the events of "Dirty Healings". She is bubbly and upbeat and announces her "Happy Hotel", intended to redeem sinners to allow them to go to Heaven in a televised interview with newscaster Katie Killjoy. The interview ends in a fight between her and Katie, but this attracts the attention of Alastor "the Radio Demon", who visits her in the aftermath and offers his help in running the hotel.
"Dirty Healings" (2019–2020)
Charlie returned in a supporting role in "Dirty Healings", an official prequel webcomic published from October 27, 2019 to July 7, 2020.[a] The webcomic explores how Charlie and Vaggie recruited Angel Dust as the first patron of their hotel.[20]
In the 2024 Hazbin Hotel animated series, Charlie continues to further her dream of a redemption hotel. In "Overture", she meets with the head angel of Heaven, Adam, and the meeting does not go as planned, despite her attempts to inform him of her hotel. She seeks for the hotel to serve as an alternative to the annual Extermination of sinners from Hell by Adam's army of exterminator angels. Adam informs her that the next Extermination has been moved up by six months. In "Radio Killed the Video Star", she is shown to be very forgiving, as after Sir Pentious enters the hotel and is exposed for being a spy for Vox, Charlie takes pity on him and gives him a second chance. In "Scrambled Eggs", she leads trust exercises and other activities in the hotel, much to the other patrons' annoyance. In "Masquerade", when Charlie inadvertently causes Angel Dust to be beaten by his boss, she is very upset by this and apologizes incessantly when he returns to the hotel.[21]
Charlie has a strained relationship with her father, Lucifer Morningstar, and calls him in the episode "Dad Beat Dad", where she asks him to visit the hotel. She shows him around and asks him to help her schedule another appointment with Heaven so that she can try to show them her hotel again. While Lucifer does not believe in her plan, he schedules a meeting for her, and ultimately he leaves the hotel on better terms with her.
In "Welcome to Heaven", when Charlie arrives at the meeting with Heaven, she speaks to several important angels and discovers that no one in Heaven knows how it is decided if a soul belongs in Heaven or Hell. Adam then reveals that Charlie's girlfriend Vaggie was one of his exterminator angels, leaving Charlie feeling shocked and betrayed, as Vaggie never told her. Charlie and Vaggie are then sent back to Hell, Heaven choosing to ignore their hotel yet again. In "Hello Rosie", after making a deal with Alastor, she is shown to be most successful in speaking and rallying crowds of people when she is singing, and she convinces the citizens of Cannibal Town to fight with her against the angels in the next Extermination. In "The Show Must Go On", she fights against the angels alongside the patrons of the hotel and is shown to care very greatly for all of them.
Other appearances
Helluva Boss
Charlie makes a cameo appearance in the 2019 pilot for Helluva Boss, in which Loona is shown watching Charlie's broadcast pitch on her computer.[22] Robo Fizz later mocks Charlie's broadcast in the 2020 Helluva Boss episode "Loo Loo Land".[23] A plush doll of Charlie is visible in Emberlynn Pinkle's room in the third Helluva Short "Mission: Weeaboo-Boo".[24]
Music videos
Charlie's first animated appearance was in the 2018 music video for "Inside of Every Demon Is a Rainbow", released October 6, 2018, one year prior to the release of the pilot episode of Hazbin Hotel. The music video followed Charlie as she pitched the titular hotel to newscaster Katie Killjoy and the rest of Hell in a song.[25]
Charlie makes a silent cameo appearance in the 2020 music video for the song "Addict", in which she outstretches a hand to Angel Dust as he walks away after a tough day at work with Valentino.[26][27] Elsie Lovelock, Charlie's pilot singing voice, has also appeared in two Hazbin Hotel fan music videos made by Gabriel C. Brown (Alastor's pilot singing voice): one was released in 2021 titled "Heaven 2 Hell", and one in 2024 titled "Thank You and Goodnight". The latter song was described as a "farewell" to the pilot cast voice actors, having been written a year prior (following the announcement that A24 would be re-casting), and released the day after the premiere of "Overture" as "a light-hearted and proverbial passing of the torch".[28][29]
Miscellaneous
From 2019 to 2023, Jill Harris and Elsie Lovelock would reprise their roles as Charlie in a series of skits in HuniCast, a live podcast series co-hosted by Angel Dust's pilot voice actor, Michael Kovach, and Hazbin Hotel pilot animator Ashley Nichols, which often featured the cast and crew of Hazbin Hotel and SpindleHorse Toons as guests.
Charlie Morningstar's character in the show's pilot was received positively. Esther Liberman of BeLatina described her as "redeemable and empathetic", and argued that the show's pilot demonstrated Charlie's biculturalism, with a "subtle analog to her flexible sexuality".[31] Dan Short of Animated Views called Charlie the only "happy, uplifting soul within a sea of deviants" and said her voice actress provided the right tone to make Charlie "heavenly".[32] Matthew Field of Go! & Express called Charlie "so darn loveable" and a cheerfully optimistic "do-gooder who tries to see the best in everyone".[33] Reviewer Sean Cubillas for CBR described her one of the "most cheerful and elegantly voiced characters in all of animation".[34]
Series
Charlie's character in the animated series, which began in January 2024, was also received positively. Hope Mullinax of Collider praised her "joyous" showstopping musical numbers,[2] while Screen Rant complimented her "high energy pop beats" and "go-getter attitude",[3] calling her "the heart and soul of Hazbin Hotel" without whom "the show would be very grim and somewhat pointless".[35] Dais Johnston of Inverse lauded her as "the Leslie Knope of Hell" due to her "bright-eyed and always positive" attitude.[36] Rendy Jones of RogerEbert.com called her "the sunny-side-up princess" with a "happy-go-lucky charm".[4] Rachel Leishman of The Mary Sue argued that the series is "charming" because of Charlie's hopeful nature, which inspires her girlfriend Vaggie. Leishman also said that Charlie is "coming into her own and working hard to be a beacon of helpfulness for those she cares for at the hotel".[5] Jenna Scherer of The A.V. Club described Charlie as "bright-eyed" and "strangely naive",[6] while Kristy Puchko of Mashable called Charlie the "most childish and cheery of the crew".[7] Brian Kitson of The Cosmic Circus complimented Henningsen's "light-hearted energy" as Charlie,[37] while Sayantan Gayen of CBR praised Henningsen's "exemplary job of voicing a person cheery by nature but brought down by the massive weight of responsibilities on her shoulder".[38]
Merchandise
Since 2018, official clothing and merchandise based around Charlie and the cast of Hazbin Hotel designed by Medrano have been available intermittently from Shark Robot LLC.[39][40]
^While "Dirty Healings" began publication one day before the release of "That's Entertainment", Charlie does not appear until pages released after the pilot.[20]
^Gaiman, Neil (February 2, 2023). "Q&A". Retrieved February 2, 2023 – via Tumblr. aceromanticperfection: Okay, so from what I can tell, you invented the idea of Lucifer's actual surname literally being Morningstar for 'The Sandman' and 'Lucifer', but now other non DC-affiliated projects have had their own Lucifer Morningstars — most of whom have daughters, much like how the FOX/Netflix Lucifer portrayed by Tom Ellis had Rory — the Lucifer Morningstar of 'Chilling Adventures of Sabrina', portrayed by Luke Cook and depicted as the father of Sabrina Morningstar, and the Lucifer Morningstar [of] 'Hazbin Hotel', [voiced by Jeremy Jordan and depicted as] the father of the protagonist Charlie Morningstar. Plus Luci Morningstar in the old Andy Weir webcomic 'Casey and Andy'. Also, was Michael's surname in 'Lucifer' also meant to be Morningstar? As there is a 'Ben 10' villain named Michael Morningstar, sort of modelled after your Lucifer as well. What do you think of this extra addition of yours to depictions of the devil in pop culture? Neil Gaiman: I blinked, and then went and googled, and it looks like, yes, that one appears to be me. How odd. Nice, too, I think. (I just liked the one-two-three-four-five-six beats of the name.) [If] someone points out use of "Lucifer Morningstar" before Sandman I'll happily cede it to them. But as far as I can see -- a Google Books Search of the 19th Century has nothing, a search of the 20th century has only Sandman or things pointing to Sandman, a search of the 21st Century reveals… well, a lot.
^Brown, Gabriel (October 1, 2021). Heaven 2 Hell – (A Hazbin Hotel Song) Feat. Elsie Lovelock. Black Gryph0n. Retrieved October 1, 2021 – via YouTube. WOW! It's been a rough couple of weeks, but I'm glad we were able to get this song finished! We thought it would be fun to explore the dynamic between Alastor and Charlie a bit more since we only caught a glimpse of it in the pilot. Excited for what's to come!!
^Brown, Gabriel (January 19, 2024). Thank You And Goodnight – (A Farewell Song from the Pilot Cast of Hazbin Hotel!). Black Gryph0n. Retrieved January 19, 2024 – via YouTube. 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 Vivienne and the new A24 crew as they hadn't made their official announcement yet. 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! Thank you, and Goodnight!
