The Boulet Brothers promise the 'gnarliest' season of The Boulet Brothers' Titans yet

Looking at the cast for this season, which sees 14 (or perhaps more, but put a pin in that), returning monsters, it's not hard to see why this season will be a fierce and fiery one.

As always, The Boulets put their casting alchemist talent to the test, bringing together a group of the most talented and iconic drag artists from the show's history to battle it out in an epic clash of performance, artistry, and the ability to overcome your greatest fears — for a chance at the title of “Queen of the Underworld.” They also managed to assemble a rogues gallery of characters with complex and deep histories, friendships, and rivalries that will undoubtedly spark real moments of solidarity and angst, especially when in the pressure cooker setting of a competition.

How this cast came about, Dracmorda says, first involved assembling the majority of the cast from the finalists of the previous seasons, because they knew these artists had an enormous amount of presence and could be counted on to bring incredible looks to the stage.

“Then I wanted to feel like home for fans of Dragula, we need people that are iconic...because they're just like main characters on the show. And then lastly, we wanted to pick a few people that we felt like we saw a lot of star quality in,” explained Dracmorda about the duo's strategy for the season's casting.

It's all about star quality, says Swanthula, who reveals that was the reasoning behind two of the most surprising returning monsters this season, Abhora and Evah Destruction, who previously competed on the first season of Titans. “If seasons roll out after Titans, and no one rises up as a brighter, bigger star, then I would say, ‘You know what? Evah and Abhora are still the Titans. They deserve to compete again.’”

While Swanthula admits she sees all the fan discourse and fan casting that circulates online, The Boulets are ultimately going to do what they want and feel is best. “I'm excited that the fans are so involved and instantly activate whenever we put anything out there. It's cool to see. But we don't let that guide us at all,” she confirms.

“We’re the chefs, we know the formula. We know the recipe for what they're going to want to eat. And the patron doesn't tell the chef how to cook,” jokes Dracmorda.

To stretch the metaphor just a little further, The Boulets also shared this tasty morsel: The Last Supper is back. Why? Because this cast earned it by bringing reunion-worthy drama to unpack. “If a cast, as we are filming, proves to be worthy of a Last Supper, they will get one, but if not, you know, sometimes I think I'd rather show more art in cool costumes than a boring reunion,” says Dracmorda.

And this one may be the most important in the show’s history. “There's also a consequence to this Last Supper, because the top three are decided from the events of the Last Supper,” reveals Swanthula. “So, yeah, just mull that over a little bit.”

And that's not only a tantalizing hint The Boulets dropped. When asked about one particularly shocking moment from the trailer, the duo practically twirled their metaphorical mustaches in response. Specifically, in the final beats of the teaser trailer, Vander Von Odd, the winner of Dragula season one, pops into the room. The question is, is Vander the latest Exorsister? Or is she back to compete? The Boulets are playing it close to the vest, but let's just say they didn't deny that Vander may be taking on a bigger role than simply that of recurring guest.

“We dug deep. I want just the coolest, most shocking stuff we can think of,” teases Swanthula. “Vander, to me, is the blueprint. She is the blueprint for a Dragula winner, and any chance to feature her again, we're happy to do it.”

While far from definitive, the duo's teasing tone certainly leaves plenty of room to hope for fans eager to see Vander once again enter the competition. And it wouldn't be the first time The Boulets shocked fans with a returning artist. Dahli, despite not winning The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula Resurrection (that honor went to Saint), found his way back into the show as a surprise 11th cast member in season four, and went on to snatch that crown.

Anything is possible with The Boulets, and that includes breaking the fourth wall. The duo has teased that this season gets really intense, and already we’ve seen hints of it in the trailer, which includes a behind-the-scenes moment where queens are breaking down and Swanthula steps in to comfort them, and there’s a very telling bit of voice-over of the hosts interceding in the aftermath of, well, something.

Moments like this have unfolded off camera in seasons past, but this time around The Boulets are showing it all. Famously, there were conflicts that happened off-camera during season three’s filming, which have since been revealed on the duo's podcast, Creatures of the Night, during their Post Mortem series.

“We don't usually show that stuff, and we didn't show that stuff during season three, and I don't think it was beneficial, because, you know, we try to protect the cast from their worst behavior, but what happens is, then you're telling the audience an incomplete story,” explains Dracmorda.

“What we found was that we were telling stories that weren't necessarily true to what actually happened, and [the cast] didn't necessarily appreciate or respect us for cutting out their worst moments,” adds Swanthula. “So...for the first time in six seasons of the main show, and then two spin-offs, we're showing it all, all the dirt’s coming out.”

And what is the dirt? We’ll have to wait and see, but the queens do share that it's shocking. “There is something that reveals itself that was really interesting that harkened back to season three that we discovered this season. You see a little bit of it in the trailer. You know, there's that moment where, for the first time, you see Swan and me, you don't see us, but you hear us,” explains Dracmorda. “I think sometimes now that people are savvy with reality TV, they're just like, ‘Oh, well, we're not going to talk about that on camera, or we're going to talk about production so that you don't air this.’ We're like, ‘We're still airing it, I don't care whether it's just audio that was picked up on a hot mic or behind the scenes or in the van when they didn't think they were being filmed, it's all in there.’”

It was a lesson nearly a decade in the making. It has been almost nine years exactly since the first season of The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula first aired on October 31, 2016, and that anniversary has the duo reflecting on the legacy of the series. “It's been such a fast roller coaster ride, and it's been so constant that it does not seem like 10 years have passed. It really doesn't,” says Dracmorda, who also confirms they’re already thinking about doing something really special to celebrate.

They’re also finding new ways to challenge themselves as artists and performers, including singing live on tour for the first time.

“I thought it was fun” says Dracmorda, adding that this new challenge really made her want to tour again this time. “I would want to go sing on stage even somewhere where nobody knew who I was, out of drag, just for my soul.”

“It was really nerve-wracking for me. In all honesty, I was shook a little bit,” admits Swanthula. “But I come from a musical theater background, so in the wings with butterflies just eating you from the inside before you step out on stage, I'm very familiar with that energy, and I kind of got that every night.”

But the duo are no strangers to being brave on stage, which is even more essential now as they take their transgressive and unapologetically queer show on the road in Trump’s America.

“This was the first time my sister-in-law actually called me before we went to New Orleans, and she was like, ‘Hey, are you guys good? Are you nervous?’ I was like, ‘About what?’ And she's like, ‘Well, all these churches in Louisiana sent out this message that, you know, evil’s coming to Louisiana and prayer circles,’ and it sort of activated the whole state,” recalls Dracmorda. “At first, I was like, ‘Oh, how can we use this to sell more tickets?’” They laugh. “But then the night of... it was a little unsettling, because people are doing crazy stuff nowadays. But we don't shy from that. We shine in times like this, when it's challenging.”

“It's important, in times like these and in political climates like this, for brave people to just be as visible as possible,” agrees Swanthula. “Push it even further, instead of retracting, lean into the difference.”

“You've got to understand, the place we come from was the queer underground. You cannot stop us. You can ban drag, but drag would just go back underground...that's where resistance is born, and we're uniquely designed to deal with that sort of thing,” says Dracmorda.

Dragula and the alternative horror drag it celebrates is more than just entertainment; it wears its politics of rebellion on its jewel-and-blood-encrusted sleeves and offers a much-needed source of escape. “It's funny, because we're the Queens of Darkness, and the show celebrates the dark-sided world, but I actually think for a lot of queer people and people on the fringe, it's a light,” says Swanthula. “In dark times, we need those lights, big and small. And I think it really helps people not feel alone. That community will fuel you and feed you and keep you going...that's really powerful.”

Happily, we’re just a few days away from that light returning to our screens when Titans season two premieres on October 7.

The Boulet Brothers’ Titans season two returns to Shudder on October 7. In the meantime, watch the teaser trailer below.