Critical Role's second Dungeons & Dragons campaign is receiving a new lease on life in the Prime Video series The Mighty Nein. The latest fantasy show is an animated adaptation of Critical Role's second major collaborative narrative, featuring a new group of characters that form an unlikely team as they adventure through Exandria. The Critical Role members serve as both producers and return to voice their characters in The Mighty Nein.
After seeing success with their first animated campaign on Prime Video, The Legend of Vox Machina (TLOVM), the Critical Role team is trying their hand again at bringing their second campaign to life, partnering with the same animation studio, Titmouse, but this time with more ambitious episodes. The Mighty Nein is a brand-new adventure featuring fresh characters, which the Critical Role team believes is a great starting point for newcomers and original fans alike.
The Direct's Lauren Rouse spoke to The Mighty Nein cast members, including Travis Willingham (Fjord), Ashley Johnson (Yasha), Laura Bailey (Jester), Marisha Ray (Beau), Taliesin Jaffe (Molly), Sam Riegel (Nott), Matthew Mercer (Essek), and showrunner Tasha Huo, about bringing this epic new story to life and what lessons they took into The Mighty Nein after the success of TLOVM.
Matthew Mercer said that the longer episode length "gave us more opportunities to lean into quieter moments," adding that The Mighty Nein differs greatly from TLOVM due to its "morally ambiguous" characters. Sam Riegel said that their time working on TLOVM gave the team confidence that "We can tell a slightly more in-depth and sophisticated story because we'd done it before."
While the process of taking a largely improvised campaign to a scripted format for the screen might seem like it could take away the natural chemistry of Critical Role's shows, Marisha Ray was adamant they try to "capture that organic feeling that we're known for around the table," with Travis Willingham adding "We're just trying to catch that lightning [and] bottle it up."
The second go-around at the campaign also gave Ashley Johnson another chance to tell her character's story, after the actress was kept away from the table during the years of Campaign 2 due to filming commitments, resulting in Yasha being absent for large chunks of time. Johnson teased "devastation" in Yasha's arc, and said that this time "we get to tell her story in a way that I think really honors her."
The cast also touched on the future of The Mighty Nein and The Legend of Vox Machina Season 4, as well as their Exandrian-based video game from Dispatch team, AdHoc Studio. The first three episodes of The Mighty Nein are available to stream on Prime Video now, with new episodes releasing weekly.
Adapting The Mighty Nein Campaign For The Screen
"Where Is the Show Going To End, and How Do We Start Seeding Some of That Story Early?”
- The Direct: "What was the most challenging part of adapting this campaign for the screen?"
Tasha Huo: "You know, it's a 600-ish hour campaign, so one of the challenges was just the sheer amount of content and story that there is, and where do you sort of dip your toe in and start the show, basically? Because the way the live show pans out is, you don't learn certain details until the back end of the campaign, but those can be details that you actually need to know from the beginning. So it was really thinking about the whole scope of the show. Where is the show going to end, and how do we start seeding some of that story early?"
- The Direct: "You previously created these characters at the table entirely unscripted. What was it like taking them into a scenario where everything was scripted?"
Laura Bailey: "As the executive producers of the show, luckily, we do get to have a lot of say in every iteration. You know, we always get the scripts, we're in the writers' room. We get the scripts, we give notes, and then when we're in the booth, if something feels right, then we can throw it out, and we have the room to play."
Marisha Ray: "I think the big difference is, when we are sitting at the table you're living in the shoes of these characters in real time. So you're just kind of reacting to your fellow players in the world around you, as it happens. In a scripted format, in kind of funny twist, it's a little bit of the reverse, where we're following the script and the words on the paper, but also still trying to make sure we capture that organic feeling that we're known for around the table."
Travis Willingham: "There's almost any opportunity for revision. We're obviously in the writer's room where the scripts are being written. We're touching all the dialogue, and even all of that will not prepare us for what happens when we get inside the loony bin of the padded recording studio, and all of a sudden, Laura starts saying something insane, then Sam starts parroting off of that. And that's what we're there for. We're just trying to catch that lightning, bottle it up, and then go on to the next thing."
Taliesin Jaffe: It's a voiceover thing that happens a lot, where you come in for a new character, you start your recording session, and then when you get to the very end, they're like, 'Okay, we're gonna go back and re-record the first ten lines'. This is very much the first 10 lines. We get to go back, and we're like, Okay, no more groping in the dark, so to speak. We know who we are, let's go back and start knowing who we are."
How The Mighty Nein Differs From The Legend of Vox Machina
"This Is a Very Complicated, Morally Ambiguous Journey From Multiple Perspectives."
- The Direct: "Having done all of this before on The Legend of Vox Machina, was there anything that was easier or more challenging when it came to adapting The Mighty Nein?"
Matthew Mercer: "Because we have more time per episode that definitely gave us more opportunities to lean into the quieter moments and the interpersonal moments a little more without the rush of like, we only have 22 minutes to get this arc for this episode done. But it also enabled us to really underline the interwoven machinations of the politics of this campaign.
You know, this isn't necessarily the 'Vox Machina' story of heroes going from one goal to the next. This is a very complicated, morally ambiguous journey from multiple perspectives, and this allowed us to not just see the Mighty Nein's story of coming together, but to actually see the perspectives of some of these outside forces that will continue to raise the stakes of conflict that will affect the Mighty Nein's journey, and ultimately, you know, dovetail in some catastrophic way down the road... So for adapting, we were able to open up the room to allow those moments, whereas in the original campaign, you only really get to see the player's perspective most of the time."
Sam Riegel: "We were more confident, I think, going into this, that we can tell a slightly more in depth and sophisticated story just because we'd done it before. So I think this is a more ambitious storyline. It's a more ambitious production. Doing a 44-minute cartoon is not just twice as hard as doing a 22-minute cartoon, it's probably three times as hard. Every meeting is super long. Every review is super long. It takes days to do a mix. So, it's ambitious, but I think we believed in ourselves more that we could execute it."
The Mighty Nein's Unseen Session Zero Moments
“That Was Some of the Most Fun, as a Fan of The Mighty Nein...”
- The Direct: "One of the changes in this show is seeing some of the backstories of the characters come to life. How did you go about crafting those moments with the cast?"
Tasha Huo: "That was some of the most fun, just as a fan of The Mighty Nein, to get to sit there and say, 'Hey, Travis and Laura. How did you actually meet in session zero? What did that look like?' And then also trying to craft and fill in those gaps of what did Jester need in order to start her adventure? What did she need to see in Fjord? And what did Fjord need to see in Jester to prompt him to go on his adventure, right? Because when you're playing a game, those answers can be different than if you're telling a story with characters who have real emotions and real backstories and real fears and whatnot.
So it was a combination of really getting to sit down with the actors and saying, Okay, what did your session zero look like with Caleb and Nott, and with Beau, and building a story from there that would make sense of why these characters would then come together willingly by the time we hit Episode 3."
Bringing Yasha Back Into the Story
"We Get to Peek Behind the Curtain and See What Yasha Was Actually Doing."
- The Direct: "Everyone wants to know what's going on with Yasha. Is there anything you wanted to do differently with her this time around?"
Ashley Johnson: "I think with retelling the story and being able to take our time with making it into a series, it wasn't essential to Yasha story, her leaving, you know? And Matt, during the years that we played Campaign 2, tried to make sense of it so I could be at the table and could play, and we didn't need any of that [this time]. So now to tell her story in a linear way, through the show, we get to see more of the devastation that was wrought on her before being healed by The Mighty Nein... We get to tell her story in a way that I think really honors her and really sets up her story in the best way."
Tasha Huo: "After watching the Mighty Nein campaign, I read the comic book afterwards, which went into a lot more of her backstory, and that was so fascinating to me, and so emotional and so interesting that it became clear that we needed to dive into more of that.
You know, we have gaps in the live show because Ashley was just gone, but we can now fill those gaps with the actual story of what she was actually doing. The characters and the cast of Critical Role, they did not know what Yasha was doing when she was just gone. Matt had that in his head, and Ashley had that in her head, but they didn't know. So now we get to peek behind the curtain and see what Yasha was actually doing in that time. I think Ashley really is getting to explore that part of the story that she never really got to in the live campaign."
The Future of Critical Role & The Mighty Nein
- The Direct: "Looking ahead at what's next, we have The Legend of Vox Machina Season 4 and 5, and Season 2 of The Mighty Nein. Are we getting to a point of these shows coming out in alternating years, or what is the timeline?"
Travis Willingham: "Obviously, Season 1 [of The Mighty Nein] is out this month, which we're very excited about. Season 4 of Vox Machina is ready, it's ready. So, hopefully early next year, we'll get a glimpse of that.
You know, we're working on these shows at the same time, which is why a lot of us were slightly insane during the end of Campaign 3. We had fingers in all of the various campaign pies, different voices and headspaces all at once, and that continues to be true even as we go now into Campaign 4."
- The Direct: "Is there room for a Bell's Hells animated series?"
Travis Willingham: "There's always room."
Marisha Ray: "Yeah, you gotta save room on your plate for Thanksgiving dinner right?"
- The Direct: "You're partnering with AdHoc Studio (makers of Dispatch) on an Exandria video game. Are there any progress updates that you can share? What is the vision for that?"
Matthew Mercer: I wish that we could talk about it... They've been such a great team. Even just the development of 'Dispatch' and their creative everything, like 'Dispatch's' writing is so on point, their art direction, their character design, everything is so wonderful. The prospect of what an Exandrian game could be under their helm is very, very exciting. So that's all I'll say."
Watch the full interview with The Mighty Nein cast below:
