Critters just keep rolling 20s! Less than a week after the very successful release of the first three episodes of The Legend of Vox Machina season 2, Amazon has announced that it will make another animated series based on Critical Role.
The new show, Mighty Nein, will be based on the second campaign of the long-running actual play web series. The Legend of Vox Machina tells the tale of the first campaign and was Amazon’s first partnership with the Critical Role crew.
Critical Role began as a livestreamed Dungeon’s & Dragons game between a group of friends, who all happened to be voice actors.
Stars of the web series include Dungeon Master Matthew Mercer (Overwatch, Attack on Titan), Travis Willingham (Avengers Assemble, Spider-Man), Sam Riegel (Ace Attorney, Duck Tales), Marisha Ray (Lego DC Super-Villains, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire), Liam O’Brien (World of Warcraft, Naruto), Laura Bailey (Fruits Basket, Monster High), Taliesin Jaffe (Mr. Mom, World of Warcraft), and Ashley Johnson (The Last of Us, Blindspot).
The Mighty Nein, the group of heroes from the second campaign who will feature in the newly announced animation, are fan favorite characters within the Critical Role world. With Mercer DMing again, fans laughed and cried along with Willingham’s character Fjord, Riegel’s character Veth, Ray’s character Beauregard, O’Brien’s character Caleb, Bailey’s character Jester, Jaffe’s characters Caduceus and Mollymauk, and Johnson’s character Yasha.
Given the success of the first season of The Legend of Vox Machina, fans have very high hopes for all the fun and frolicks of the charming Mighty Nein. They may be a little less heroic than their predecessors, but they’ll likely keep viewers glued to the screen.
Vernon Sanders, head of global TV at Amazon Studios, made the following statement:
“With the success of our animated series The Legend of Vox Machina, we are looking forward to continuing our relationship with Critical Role and expanding its universe with Mighty Nein. Expanding these iconic franchises for our global Prime Video customers continues to be an ambitious and rewarding journey and we are eager to see where this new series takes us.”
The Legend of Vox Machina cast member Willingham, CEO of Critical Role, said:
“Critical Role’s livestream campaigns are the spark that lit the flame for our worldwide audience. Seeing the stories and characters from our first campaign come to life in The Legend of Vox Machina was a dream realized, and we are absolutely buzzing with excitement to do it again with Mighty Nein. But with today’s announcement, we’re confident that the stories we tell will keep expanding into realms of entertainment beyond what we can even imagine.”
The forthcoming series will be executive produced by Tasha Huo, Riegel, and Willingham alongside Metapigeon and Amazon Studios. From Titmouse, Chris Prynoski (Legend of Vox Machina), Shannon Prynoski (Fairfax), Antonio Canobbio (Arlo the Alligator Boy), and Ben Kalina (Big Mouth) will also executive produce.
Amazon Studios first united with Critical Role in 2019. The first season of Legend of Vox Machina was a huge success and quickly secured two more seasons, the first having been picked up by Amazon after a record-breaking Kickstarter campaign by Critical Role.
The initial adaptation of the very popular web series attracted some serious guest star talent for its first season, including David Tennant (Good Omens), Felicia Day (Mystery Science Theater 3000), Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Gina Torres (9-1-1: Lone Star), and Khary Payton (The Walking Dead). The second season adds even more exciting names, such as Henry Winkler (Black Adam), Lance Reddick (The Wire), Billy Boyd (The Lord of the Rings), Troy Baker (The Last of Us), Cheech Marin (Cheech & Chong), and Sendhil Ramamurthy (Heroes).
While it’s too early to know anything about the casting of Mighty Nein just yet, keep your eyes on Nerds and Beyond for updates!
