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In Prime Video’s The Bondsman, Kevin Bacon’s Hub Halloran is a bounty hunter hauled back from death by the Devil—but the show keeps its fans wondering why he ended up in Hell in the first place.
His deadly mission to seize rogue demons is gripping enough, but the deeper mystery lies within the character himself. So, what deed of his earned him eternal condemnation to hell? The reason Hub Halloran went to Hell was not because he made a single terrible error, but rather because he allowed pride and shame to prevent him from accepting it.
The truth isn't revealed right away, but when it is, it's absolutely overwhelming and leaves you speechless.
The hidden sin behind Hub’s second chance in The Bondsman
Hub Halloran isn’t the kind of man who wears his guilt high up his sleeve. When The Bondsman begins, he’s aggressively killed during a shootout, only to come back to life with his wounds strangely and inexplicably healed.
It’s not divine intercession that protects him, but a literal deal made in the Devil’s boardroom—his resurrection comes with a hefty price to pay.
As part of the Pot O’Gold, a menacing operation administered by Hell itself, Hub is in charge of apprehending escaped demons. At first, he’s muddled about why he was condemned to hell in the first place, claiming innocence to his loved ones and himself.
He maintains the fact that he lived a life improper of Hell’s ruling in The Bondsman.
But that defiance made by Hub Halloran is just a mask… isn’t it?
As the show peels back the many layers it has, which include Halloran’s past, it is made clear that Hub’s condemnation wasn’t an error—it was a direct consequence of his gloomiest moment.
Behind his conceit and cynicism is a man disturbed by a secret: he didn’t just commit a sin, he laid the sin to rest, quite literally and also emotionally.
A jealous heart and a fatal mistake
It is important to make a note that the train of events that finalized Hub’s fate in The Bondsman dates all the way back to jealousy, not spite.
When he found out that his ex-wife, Maryanne, was preparing to wed a man named Lucky—someone with a hazy criminal past record—Hub’s defensive impulses thickened into fixation. Not able to come to terms with Maryanne’s decision, Hub confronts Lucky, hoping to save Maryanne from the ill fate of being tied to a criminal.
However, his determined self gave way to temper, and later that very night, after masking his rage in alcohol, Hub decided to take everything into his own hands.
He went back to Lucky’s bar, drunk and fanatical. Catching the eye of someone having Lucky’s hat on their head, Hub didn’t wait a second to confirm or hesitate. He simply pulled the trigger.
But it wasn’t Lucky—he had pulled the trigger on Sheryl, the bartender, a blameless woman present at the bar at the wrong place and wrong time. Sheryl was a person who had literally nothing to do with his personal feud with Lucky.
After realizing the blunder he had caused, it was already too late, and Hub chose to bury his mess deep inside him. What he did do was that he buried the body, hoping that the crime would disappear into the dirt.
The misfortune wasn’t just in the shooting all alone—it was in his reluctance to face the after-effects of what he had done. That blend of vicious intent, thoughtlessness, and spinelessness was what eventually condemned him to hell in The Bondsman.
Lies, contracts, and a devil’s quota
Regardless of his claim of goodness, Hub deep down knows the real truth. But when he’s resuscitated by the Devil, he clings on to the world of denial.
His resurrection made by the Devil now obviously comes with some terms and conditions, something that has always been depicted in literary media for centuries on end. “A deal with the Devil," if you may.
Hub’s deal here is that he is now obliged to hunt demons for Pot O’Gold, an unethical dealmaker’s organization linked directly to Hell. His supervisor of sorts, if you will, Midge, gives Hub a contract—either aid by transporting all of the escaped demons back to Hell or be pulled back there himself.
As seen in various other literary media/references, it comes as no one’s surprise that Hub also signs a deal with the Devil in The Bondsman. In doing so, he not only says yes to the job—he legitimately sells his literal soul.
There’s a catch, of course, just like any other deal. His resurrection here is highly conditional. Miss the demon sending back the quota? He’s Hell-destined yet more.
The Bondsman tries to show how Hub attempts to have this sense of balance for his duties with a personal task of his own: finding a way out or a loophole to abscond from the grasp of both the Devil and his own past.
The more escaped hell demons he comes in contact with, the clearer it becomes—none are scarier than the one living inside himself.
A final deal—and a worse fate
Towards the end of The Bondsman Season 1, Hub meets with Lilith, a daunting demon and the most challenging demon to go after yet.
In a twist of events, she suddenly offers him a way out— liberty from the Devil’s deal and an assurance to bring Sheryl back from the dead. At first, Hub hesitates, but eventually he comes around to accepting Lilith’s deal. It’s a frantic move, fueled by guilt and the hope of having some ounce of a redemption arc.
But… Lilith’s compassion is momentary. Once unconstrained, she possesses Maryanne and uses Hub’s past errors as leverage.
Hub might be set free from the Devil, but for those who know Lilith as an actual, perhaps mythological and biblical character, realize that moving forward for The Bondsman, Hub is in for a ride, and it’s not going to be a good one.
The Bondsman doesn’t just go around exploring the aftermaths of a committed violent act—it looks through the negation to take accountability for it.
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Hub Halloran departed to Hell not because he made one alone dreadful mistake, but because he let conceit and embarrassment keep him from coming to terms with it.
His story is less about condemnation and more about wanting to live life in denial. In the end, The Bondsman brings to light that sometimes, hell isn’t a place you’re sent to—it’s one you carry within your own self.
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