Minor spoilers for Season 5 of “Bojack Horseman” follow.

The animated series “Bojack Horseman,” in which the titular star is a hard-drinking and severely depressed anthropomorphic horse, has always embraced the dark and the bleak: Alongside the jokes, talking animals and showbiz satire are unrelenting depictions of addiction and abuse and biting critiques of institutions, especially Hollywood. Season 5, now streaming on Netflix, is no different, with BoJack (voiced by Will Arnett), Diane (Alison Brie) and Princess Carolyn (Amy Sedaris) continuing to navigate their way through deeply personal lows.

One of the more cynical touches from the new season is the Forgivies, an awards ceremony skewering the current spate of prominent public figures who are accused of wielding their power for bad. “BoJack Horseman” has covered this territory before (in Season 2, it took on Bill Cosby), but the relevant connection to #MeToo was more coincidental than intentional: “We actually kind of backed into it, because we started talking about this season last summer,” said Raphael Bob-Waksberg, the show’s creator.

“It didn’t start from a place of ‘O.K., this Time’s Up thing is happening, how are we going to respond to that?’” he continued. “It really was more organically thinking about what’s happening in BoJack’s life, but also in the life of Los Angeles, right now.”

In a recent telephone conversation, Mr. Bob-Waksberg discussed the concept of forgiveness, this season’s monologue episode and how he envisions Hollywood’s future. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.