Interview with 'Haunted Hotel' Creator Matt Roller and Cast Members Eliza Coupe and Jimmi Simpson

Picture left to right: Matt Roller, Eliza Coupe, and Jimmi Simpson

Ding-ding! Landing on Netflix tomorrow is Haunted Hotel, Netflix’s latest adult-animated series. Recently, we had the pleasure of speaking with series creator Matt Roller and cast members Eliza Coupe and Jimmi Simpson.

Haunted Hotel is a Netflix Original adult animated comedy series created by Matt Roller, who also serves as the showrunner and an executive producer. He is joined by fellow executive producers Chris McKenna, Dan Harmon, and Steve Levy. The series is produced by Netflix Animation.

Eliza Coupe plays Katherine, the mother of Ben and Esther, Nathan’s sister, and the current owner and manager of the Haunted Hotel. She is most well-known for her roles in television shows such as Happy Endings, Future Man, Scrubs, and Casual..

Jimmi Simpson plays Abaddon, a powerful demon exiled from hell and trapped in the body of a small boy. He is most well-known for his roles in Dark Matter, Pachinko, Westworld, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

After the unexpected death of her estranged brother, a single mother, Katherine, and her two children inherit the haunted hotel he left behind. However, his ghost remains at the hotel, and dozens of other ghosts haunt the halls, which Katherine is struggling to manage.

Jacob: At its heart, what is Haunted Hotel really about for [Matt Roller] you beyond any scares and laughs?

Matt: We were talking about this earlier, and I guess the theory of horror compared to sci-fi as a genre, which can turn nihilistic as the universe is infinite, I think horror oftentimes, unless it ends in a really dark place, and even then, everything matters. The connection matters, and being honest with yourself matters; that makes it sound like a very sentimental show, but I think that being like a North Star, we’re always leaning into emotional truths, even in the midst of being attacked by little gremlin monsters.

We want to get to the root of why that’s happening, what emotional issue on their part is driving it, and how human relationships could help address it. I think that is the kind of thing we’re always pushing for in episodes.

Jacob:My next questions are for Eliza and Jimmy. So my favorite line deliveries from you, Eliza, is, “It’s a lot of hands and pocket,” And for Jimmy, it’s “JAAAAAARBON.” Do you have a favorite scene or moment that really stood out to you, that made you laugh during recording?

Eliza: I feel like I laughed every time I went in there, just like, every script we read. It was so fun to do the table reads because I’d read them on my own, and then we’d pop on Zoom to do the table read, and I’d be like, Oh my god, that’s a million times better hearing Jimmy read it.

Jimmi: Yeah, yeah, agreed. There’s so much stuff, and we were able to have, we were blessed. I don’t know how I’m going to set it up. We were able to have some in-person reads, as well as a table read by Zoom. So, yeah, most of those were laughing at everybody else so hard that you were losing your place. Yeah, it’s been just a peach.

Jacob: So, you were able to build chemistry with the other cast members through recording remotely?

Eliza: Yeah, and then you can remember that when you go in, because you’re by yourself when you’re in the booth, but you can remember exactly how they’re saying it, and it’s like, it’s so helpful.

Jacob: So, Eliza and Jimmy, how much input did you have in shaping your characters’ personalities through your voice?

Jimmi: Well, like I’ve said before, these scripts were put together so beautifully and clearly, and Matt’s been living with these characters, I think, for six years or something. So for me as an actor, I always say, like, you can give me a field, and I can do some jumping jacks, or you can give me a field with like a playground set on it, and I’ll do flips and stuff. So Matt’s articulation of what he’s looking for was so clear. Then the actors would come in, and they’d add a little something different, and then he would incorporate that.

Eliza: I felt like the character was so well developed for me, and also the environment that the character was in made me understand exactly how she was going to react to it, given how he wrote the character originally.

So it was like, okay, I get it now! So there wasn’t a lot, I mean, we got to play with some of the deliveries and all of that, and some of the energy, but the characters from script one were so well developed and defined that you got it, you really got it.

Matt: I’ll also say I am constantly delighted by your deliveries, where I will go into the radio play edit with an idea of what I think the whole thing should sound like, and then I’ll listen to the other takes that you guys did, and be like, “Oh! That’s actually better!” Like I had what I was hearing the first time, but then half the time, what I drop in is a choice I was not planning on at first.

Are you looking forward to watching Haunted Hotel on Netflix? Let us know in the comments below!