While we all know the irreverent world of Rick and Morty, what if that sense of humour were teleported to the realm of horror? That is the concept behind the new show Haunted Hotel from Matt Roller, one of the writers of Rick and Morty — and it is something I did not expect.
The series follows a single mother and her family as they inherit a hotel after her brother meets an untimely end. It is a comedy that writes itself, with a shockingly good cast and a writers’ room that takes full advantage of the concept. Haunted Hotel is shaping up to be a must-watch show for fans of horror, comedy and animation in general.
In the run-up to the premiere this September, CGMagazine spoke with series creator Matt Roller, Eliza Coupe, who plays Katherine, and Jimmi Simpson, who plays Abadon, about the new series and what fans can expect when they jump into it this fall.
Matt, you’re coming from a writer on Rick and Morty to the creator of Haunted Hotel. How does it feel to have your baby come to life?
Matt Roller: It feels awesome. I’ve been on a bunch of great shows, and I think the main difference is that someone else is in the driver’s seat on those. So you put in your best work, you do the thing you’re happy with, and then someone else gets to put their hands on it and figure out what they want it to be because, you know, it’s their show. And this was the one where no, it’s what I want. And I’m very happy with where we landed. I think it’s funny and sometimes scary and emotional. So it’s a good time.
What inspired the idea for Haunted Hotel, and how did you make it all happen?
Matt Roller: It came from just a general love of horror and wanting to find a way to kind of riff on that in a way that honoured the tropes more than kind of parodied them. As you mentioned, I was on Rick and Morty. We were telling a lot of sci-fi stories, and it just had me thinking like, “Well, I want to tell horror stories. So let’s start with a family just like that and plop them in a hotel.”
And the goal in the creation of it was kind of like, it doesn’t feel like art. It feels more like architecture, also art, but trying to create a thing where we could tell any type of horror story, you know? No door would be closed. So that was the idea.
Eliza and Jimmi, could you tell us about your characters in Haunted Hotel and how they fit into the show?
Eliza Coupe: My character is Katherine, and she owns the hotel, runs the hotel. Well, “runs” the hotel. The hotel is run AT her, basically. She has two kids, and her brother is Nathan, who is dead. And she’s just trying to keep it all together, and she’s trying so desperately to have an actual business, and it’s not really working out, but she’s learning so much. She’s getting something else from it than what she thought she was going to get from it. So I think that was pretty fascinating for me as an actor.
Jimmi Simpson: For me, you know, playing a demon who’s thousands of years old in the body of a ten-year-old is apropos, because I am actually a ten-year-old trapped in the body of a thousand-year-old demon, so it’s perfect to flip that.
Eliza Coupe: That’s good.
Matt Roller: It’s a challenge in a way.
Eliza Coupe: But also funny how funny it found you, this role.
Jimmi Simpson: It is. It’s really strange and funny. No, it’s such a dream show. And, just to speak on, I don’t think I’ve been this early on in the process of creating the show, and I heard you asking Matt what this process is like. And so, I met him a couple of years ago now,
Matt Roller: I know. It’s crazy!
Eliza Coupe: It’s so crazy.
Jimmi Simpson: And that’s maybe four years after he started thinking about it or planning it. And so I met him two years ago, and he’s like, “This is what I’m going to do.” And what I’ve seen him put together—I just watched all the episodes, I just got them, and it made me think of when I went to school to be an English teacher, and I wanted to just explain to everybody that Herman Melville, all of his foreshadowing, he probably wrote afterward. Okay, so just relax and tell the story.
And to see the Easter eggs and the levels and layers of richness. And that Matt is not a shell of a man. Maybe he’s hiding it, I don’t know, but he has the same energy. So that’s what’s been beautiful, is watching a man create this thing that I had no idea how much work it was going to be, and then to see it come together, it’s a dream. It’s kind of a dream situation.
The trailer for Haunted Hotel just hit. What do you want people to know about Haunted Hotel when they first jump in?
Matt Roller: I have my positive take, and I have my responding to trolls take. My positive take is, I think everyone is gonna like this show. I think it’s funny and emotional and scary.. I would tell people that you don’t need to know or like horror to watch it. It stands on its own as a comedy, independent of that. And I would tell the trolls…No, I don’t know.
Eliza Coupe: No, they don’t get anything.
Matt Roller: You get nothing. I’m not reading the comments.
Eliza Coupe: I hope they talk about my appearance in the show. Because that’s what women get, so I hope they really go after my appearance.
Jimmi Simpson: I would say everyone, you know, personally, I am, everyone is looking for something to watch right now because there’s a dearth of good stuff to watch. This is such a good show, and it’s so funny. And if you’re there for the writing, you’re satisfied. You’re there for the performances, you’re satisfied. If you’re there for the animation, you’re beyond satisfied.
And then it’s for everybody. It’s so funny and relatable that even if you don’t like horror, you’re not going to miss a beat. It’s so accessible. So I’m excited for everyone to see it. And then the horror people are going to be like, “Oh my God, it was written just for me.” The comedy people are like, “It was written just for me.” The people who like cartoon shows, “It was written just for me.” So everyone’s going to be stoked, I think.
Awesome. Thank you so much, all of you.
Matt Roller & Jimmi Simpson: Thank you.
Eliza Coupe: Thank you. Have a good one.
Haunted Hotel releases on Netflix on September 19, 2025.
