- The final batch of episodes of “The Legend of Vox Machina” Season 3 aired on Thursday.
- The eight co-founders of Critical Role gave BI insight into how their hobby game became an Amazon show.
- CR co-founder and Emmy Award-winning director Sam Riegel says they’re not done with the Vox Machina story.
“The Legend of Vox Machina,” a critically acclaimed animated series on Prime Video, aired the final set of episodes from its third season on Thursday at midnight.
What started as a game played by a group of voice actors looking for things to do in their spare time has turned into a mega nerdworld business. Critical Role, the company of the same name, has its own streaming platform, an independent game publishing arm and investments in the audio drama business.
The founders, meanwhile, are now big names in geekland – in the US and beyond. They’re working on two Amazon-backed series — a deal they secured with Prime Video after an $11.3 million Kickstarter fundraising round to create their show.
Business Insider sat down with all eight co-founders, who discussed how hundreds of hours of broadcast content from their “D&D” campaign was rewritten and turned into an animated series.
“The writers’ room collaboration was all of us getting on a whiteboard what were the most important moments for each of us,” chief creative officer Matthew Mercer told BI.
“The Legend of Vox Machina” has had three seasons of 12 episodes each so far. But it was based on a 115-episode D&D campaign, with each live episode running three to four hours.
The Legend of Vox Machina Prime Video animated series was based on Critical Role’s first D&D campaign. Courtesy of Critical Role
This third season, CR co-founders Liam O’Brien and Marisha Ray joined their colleagues — Sam Riegel and CEO Travis Willingham — in the writers’ room, taking the lead on creating one episode each.
Mercer said the CR team wanted the story to develop “in a way that felt true to the original campaign, but also left room for some fresh new things.”
And the crew also made “some light changes to keep everyone on their toes,” added Mercer.
“Sometimes it can be hard to decide what things don’t make it, but that doesn’t mean they never will,” Mercer said. “Some things, we save for later. We can play with the timing and the timeline a little bit.”
The plot thickens
At the end of Vox Machina’s third season, star-crossed lovers Vax’ildan (voiced by O’Brien) and Keyleth (voiced by Ray) finally come together — presumably for a happy ending — after two and a half seasons of slow burn.
But the show also covers a tragic plot point: The death and resurrection of Percival de Rolo, a gunman played by CR co-founder Taliesin Jaffe.
Jaffe told BI that he had fun with what was essentially planning his own funeral.
“I wanted the pomp and circumstance,” Jaffe said.
He added that the season allowed another side of Whitestone — a town he helped create on the Crew’s D&D campaign table — to come to life.
“Whitestone is my baby,” Jaffe said. “I love seeing every moment spent in a new place in the city that has haunted my dreams for a decade plus.”
“Vox Machina” also features original music by Riegel – a two-time Emmy Award-winning composer and voice director.
Sam Riegel and his best friend, CR co-founder Liam O’Brien, played a game of “D&D” with their fellow voice actors a little over a decade ago. Now that game is an Amazon show. Anna Webber/Getty Images for Prime Video
One of the songs Riegel wrote was about Ruby of the Sea – a famous courtesan from Critical Role’s second long D&D campaign. Mercer recorded the song and it later became an episode ending song.
On the casting front, the CR co-founders have roped in their children to sign up for the show. Most recently, Ronin Willingham – CEO Travis Willingham’s six-year-old son – had a small voice acting role.
“I think after a few minutes, he decided he didn’t want to do what we were asking him to do. He wanted to be a dragon,” Willingham said.
More stories to tell
The Critical Role cast is working on Mighty Nein, another Amazon-backed animated series based on their second long-running D&D campaign. Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Amazon Studios
Riegel and his crew have big plans for the future. And on Wednesday, Prime Video announced that CR is picking up a fourth season of “Vox Machina” — a massive vote of confidence from Amazon in the crew’s ability to keep its investment in the human world humming.
Riegel told BI before the launch of season three that the crew still has more stories to tell.
“As always, we left the season ending on the smallest of rocks,” Riegel told BI. “There are still evil forces out there to contend with.”
The third season finale of “Vox Machina” also foreshadows ominous consequences for O’Brien’s half-elf trickster Vax’ildan, who must now pay a heavy price for helping bring his friend Percival back from the dead. .
“If we’re lucky enough to tell the whole story — which we hope, knock on wood — I think he’s just getting started,” O’Brien said of his character.
CR also has its own animated series Mighty Nein in the works with Prime Video.
An official release date is yet to be announced, but the recording of the show is already underway. Jaffe told BI that viewers can expect a “darker story” for “Mighty Nein,” compared to “Vox Machina’s” heroic romp against dragons.
“That the show has grown into not just an animated series, but we’re still going on 10 years later, and there’s comics and novels — it’s pretty surreal,” Ray told BI.