The third season of popular Prime Video adult animated series Helluva Boss — about Hell’s hitman services company I.M.P. — premieres this Thursday October 14th. Last Thursday I spoke with several cast members, as well as creator Vivienne Medrano, in a pressroom session at New York Comic Con ahead of their public panel. (Questions were asked to the separate groupings. Answers were edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: The first episode of this new season has a lot about social media and a lot of commentary on relationships and different dynamics. What do you love about the fact that you’re dealing with comedy, action and romance — and deep commentary, with very human themes for these characters?

Vivienne Medrano (Creator): That’s kind of the beauty of our show. It’s something that I feel like I really love. We can be dying laughing one second and then really feeling or crying in the next scene.

Erica Lindbeck (Voice of Loona): That’s life, though. That’s literally what life is like.

VM: Some of the hardest moments have these moments of levity. And then also it’s just the juxtaposition to a really silly world with a really dark or realistic story. One of my favorite series is “BoJack Horseman”. It has the most silly, childish, whimsical world, but the story is one of the darkest, most depressing stories I’ve ever seen in animation. And I really love that a show can do that. Our show obviously has a very different tonal style and humor, but I like doing that. I like that the show can have both things and it can be earnest and honest in one moment. But us as writers, we’re just trying to make each other laugh. A character will have a really stupid name or the background jokes are always the funniest.

JM: What do you like so much about the angle of character relationships and dynamics?

Vivian Nixon Williams (Voice of Millie): To deal on a show that’s based on the work lives of Imps but could take place anywhere on Earth because we’re so human is the beauty of what we do. We’re so relatable, and I think that’s part of why the fandom is so incredibly committed to what we do. The stories are what you’re dealing with and what I’m dealing with and what he’s dealing with. That’s the beauty of what Viv’s created. You could drop these characters into any other scenario, place or time.

JM: What do each of you love about animation as an art form, a medium, and a piece of storytelling?

Richard Horvitz (Voice of Moxxie): Those who don’t know our show misunderstand our show. They think we’re just about gratuitous violence and sex — and just to be crass to be crass. It’s not that at all. Our show is about love and relationships. Think about all of it. Everything is about relationships. As I always say, and I didn’t write this, “Love is Hell. We just happen to be Love in Hell.”

Harvey Guillen (Voice of Vassago): I think it’s really hard to do animation. We do live-action in front of the camera for TV and film — you use your body and your language through facial expressions, and you can’t do that behind the booth. You literally have to completely rely on your vocals to tell a story, to show empathy, to show anger. And sometimes I sleep the hardest when I do recordings for voiceover because it’s tough. It’s one of the hardest jobs out there.

Bryce Pinkham (Voice of Stolas): The animation of it feels so collaborative. I always look forward to seeing the show and learning so much more about a scene I’ve already recorded because there are certain things I can’t know when I’m recording in the booth — a look that there’s no words to, or something in the background, or even the way a character blinks their eyes. That’s all out of our control. The voice actor gets the race started, and then the animators kind of get it across the finish line.

Brandon Rogers (Voice of Blitzo): All of our performances are multiple people making that happen. We start it but then someone’s animating it, someone’s doing everything to our facial expressions. And the expressions are so good. What I love about animation in general is that everything is so… intentionally there. …Every little prop is so intentional. People will look at the backgrounds and read things on bulletin boards because they were put there to be looked at.