The Legend of Vox Machina Season 4 concluded with a bang after the series finally revealed its new major villain, The Whispered One. Throughout Season 4, the heroes of the Prime Video animated series had many close encounters with the cult of the Whispered One, but the final episodes revealed the villain's true form and his power.
The series is an adaptation of Critical Role's first Dungeons & Dragons campaign, with the cast members returning to voice their characters and serve as producers. Ahead of The Legend of Vox Machina Season 4's release, The Direct spoke with Critical Role about bringing the Whispered One to life in Season 4 and casting the perfect actor to voice him.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Legend of Vox Machina Season 4 Episodes 10-12.
How Critical Role Updated the Whispered One For Vox Machina
The Whispered One is Critical Role's take on the ultimate Dungeons & Dragons villain, Vecna, whom many may be familiar with, whether through D&D or modern adaptations like Stranger Things. With almost ten years between the original campaign and Vox Machina Season 4's debut, this gave plenty of time for the group to figure out what they'd like their new animated version of the Whispered One to be.
Travis Willingham (Grog) shared that the group's intention was to craft an overarching villain who was "very specific to these characters," and didn't dip too far into any other iterations of Vecna:
Travis: "The Whispered One is definitely our take on a very specific villain for Vox Machina. You know, we're very aware, obviously, of 'Stranger Things' and all of the adaptations around Vecna, but this is one that is very specific to these characters."
Willingham continued to explain how The Whispered One integrates into Exandria's lore, sharing he "fits in between the Betrayer Gods and the Prime Deities:"
"[Particularly] in how he fits in between the Betrayer Gods and the Prime Deities in Exandria, and sort of the machinations that have occurred, even centuries before, that have slowly been unfolding."
When fans first get a hint of the Whispered One, it's through the introduction of a human preacher for the Children of Truth named Gideon. Gideon proves himself incredibly charismatic and persuasive, and his sway draws in many new followers in Westruun when Pike (Ashley Johnson) and Grog (Travis Willingham) arrive.
Following the twist reveal of Delilah Briarwood's return, Vox Machina plants a further twist by revealing she is a servant of Gideon, who is the Whispered One disguised in a human body. The Whispered One's true form is revealed after his successful ascension into godhood in the finale, which turns him into a giant ethereal figure with a skeletal face and body and a horned crown.
Willingham shared that the benefit of hindsight, as well as almost a decade of expanding the lore of Exandria in different Critical Role campaigns, meant they could draw on "early EXU [Exandria Unlimited] content like Calamity" and craft something "that will be entirely new to even the oldest of Critical Role fans:"
"One of the beautiful things about having 11 years with this IP, where we constantly get to go back and touch it, and ideate, and experiment, and play with things, is that there's always new material being added, and some of our early EXU content, like 'Calamity', we got to break into some story terrain that we hadn't explored before. We've taken that and sort of ideated further, I think, in a way that will be entirely new to even the oldest of Critical Role fans.
So we've really sort of crafted up something that we hope will entice not only the die-hard Critical Role fans of old, but also be very enticing and interesting to those that are coming to it from a new place as well."
The team shared one of the main challenges they come up against was forming the Cult of the Whispered One, with Taliesin Jaffe (Percy) revealing, "the real conversation that we had was: why would anyone follow this lunatic?"
Taliesin Jaffe: I" feel like the big question that everyone was talking about when we were in the writers room is–I feel like it's one that nobody else has really had to deal with just due to the nature of how they have this sort of cosmic horror deity–is how do you make a cult that makes sense? I think that was the real conversation that we had, is why would anyone follow this lunatic?"
Liam O'Brien (Vax) added that "the Whispered One is so convincing," and that Season 4 of The Legend of Vox Machina allowed them to dig into the details of "why people flocked to him."
Liam O'Brien: "That's the best part of it. Matt [Mercer] intimated it and gave us glimpses of it in the campaign, but the whole point of the Whispered One is that he's so convincing. We spend so much time with our baddies, the enemies in this series. Now that we get to see the Whispered One, you know why people flocked to him."
Finding the Perfect Actor for the Whispered One
The Whispered One, like most supporting characters in Critical Role's campaigns, was voiced by Dungeon Master Matt Mercer in the original story. However, for The Legend of Vox Machina, the team knew they could branch out and find a new name to bring the Whispered One to life.
They found that actor in Andy Serkis, who starred in The Lord of the Rings, and voiced both Gideon and then the Whispered One in his ascended form in the show. Serkis' true role in The Legend of Vox Machina was kept tightly under wraps, but Critical Role shared with The Direct some of their reactions to his casting.
Laura Bailey (Vex) said that Serkis was perfect "because he's so great at being charming," but could also make the "switch to ultimate evil:"
Laura Bailey: "I mean, getting Andy [Serkis] to play that role was perfect, because he's so great at being charming and likable and convincing, and then making that switch to ultimate evil. He's terrifying. He nailed it."
Willingham added that getting Serkis on board was a surreal moment for the group, noting that "he's one of the busiest actors on the planet, and also one of the most talented." Willingham sang Serkis' praises, saying "there are not many times where we sit in a recording session and forget to direct:"
Travis Willingham: "It's amazing. He is one of the busiest actors on the planet, and also one of the most talented. I think we all had an idea in our mind what his voice would sound like when he got his fingers into this script and this dialogue, [but] when his voice rumbles in the way that it does, it's so alluring and unsettling and dangerous and enticing, and it's just the best.
You know, there are not many times where we sit in a recording session and forget to direct or give notes, but like half the time we're like, 'oh sh*t, I was just watching, I was just listening the whole time', and he absolutely destroys it."
The ascension of the Whispered One meant that Season 4 of the Prime Video series was left on a dramatic cliffhanger. While Season 5 of the series is confirmed and its production is underway, fans might still be waiting a little while to see The Legend of Vox Machina again.
