The Realest Hellhound in Hell: Inside Erika Lindbeck’s Animated Universe

There is a specific kind of magic in voicing a character who hates absolutely everything, because to do it well, you have to care a whole lot.

Erika Lindbeck gets this. As the voice behind Loona—the misanthropic, smartphone-addicted hellhound clerk of the indie animation phenomenon Helluva Boss—Lindbeck has spent years turning teenage angst into high art. When the series returns to Prime Video this October for its highly anticipated third season, Loona isn’t just bringing her signature scowl; she’s getting a spotlight, a musical number, and maybe, just maybe, a little bit of growth.

“I think she’s going on a journey of self-discovery,” Lindbeck tells us, leaning into the trajectory of a character who has become a mascot for the disaffected. “That obviously includes her relationship with her father and, fingers crossed, realizing that the world is not out to hurt her.”

From a “Little Short” to Broadway Caliber

It’s easy to forget that before Helluva Boss was a streaming juggernaut, it was just a wild idea in the mind of creator Vivienne Medrano. Lindbeck was there before the foundations were even poured.

“I read for it years ago, and booked it, and the rest is history,” Lindbeck recalls with a laugh. “I read for every female voice in the pilot, because at the time it was just a short. It was a little short that Vivian was doing.”

Now, that “little short” is a massive production featuring a roster of musical theater royalty—a fact that became acutely real for Lindbeck when she stepped into the recording booth for Loona’s first major musical number this upcoming season.

“It was so fun, but so intimidating. I’m shoulder to shoulder with Broadway legends in this show,” she says. To prep, Lindbeck collaborated directly with series songwriter Sam Haft years ago to find Loona’s sonic identity. “He sort of plunked on a piano and figured out what my range was, and asked me if I had any specific music tastes that I thought would fit Luna. I’m not a songwriter or anything, but I was asked, ‘What do you think would fit her vibe?’ and ‘What sort of things do you enjoy singing?’ I think it all came together beautifully. It’s very true to Loona.”

While tight-lipped on the finer plot points, Lindbeck promises a deeper dive into the show’s complex emotional web. “They’re gonna keep fleshing out these relationships that have already been started, like with Blitzo and Octavia, who she had a key scene with before. I think people will be very happy with how everything’s portrayed.”

Embracing the “Gameoverse”

If headlining a hit indie-animation series wasn’t enough, Lindbeck has also planted her flag in Glitch Productions’ Gameoverse, a hyper-stylized pilot created by animator and internet personality Ross O’Donovan. Lindbeck stars as Kit, the main protagonist tasked with saving collapsing digital realms.

The gig didn’t come through traditional casting channels, but rather the modern-day marketplace of creative collaboration: the Twitter DM. O’Donovan, a fan of Lindbeck’s work in the Dragon Ball franchise, reached out directly, believing her vocal grit was the exact fit for a character he’d been cooking up for nearly fifteen years.

“I read for it, and I did a callback, and then I ended up booking it,” Lindbeck says, unleashing a bit of self-deprecating wit: “I’m contractually obligated to only, you know, voice animal characters now, or characters with animals in their name, so… yeah, it worked out.”