'Critical Role: The Legend of Vox Machina' Season 1: Release date, plot, cast and all you need to know about D&D inspired series
'Dungeons & Dragons', the popular tabletop roleplaying game, has gone through a resurgence in recent years, and that is in no small part due to 'Critical Role.' A show that began streaming at 'Geek & Sundry' on Twitch before moving to its own channel, 'Critical Role', began as a show "where a bunch of nerdy-ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons & Dragons."
The show quickly rose in popularity, enough for the cast to consider making an animated series about their adventures. Their Kickstarter raised the necessary funds in less than an hour and then went on to break the Kickstarter record for the most funded TV or film project. Following the success of their Kickstarter campaign, Amazon Prime has picked up the series for two Seasons of 12 episodes each, following the adventures of a group of adventurers known as Vox Machina.
Stay tuned to this page for all updates on the show in the lead up to its release.
Release date
There is no confirmed release date yet for the series, but it is estimated to air on Amazon Prime late 2020, with the first season's episodes releasing earlier for Kickstarter backers.
Plot
'Critical Role: The Legend of Vox Machina' follows a group of adventurers in the 'Dungeons & Dragons' fantasy setting of Tal'Dorei. Their stories have been chronicled in a live, unscripted game on 'Critical Role', where Vox Machina went from a group of ragtag adventurers to eventual legends who went head to head with a god. The first season is expected to be exploring the Briarwood arc, where Percy (Taliesin Jaffe) confronts the immensely powerful Lord and Lady Briarwood, the ones responsible for the deaths of his family and the conquering of his family's lands.
Cast
Matthew Mercer
Matthew Mercer is one of the creators of 'Critical Role,' as well as the mind behind the 'Tal'Dorei' campaign setting. As Games Master, he as built the story, the setting and the world around the players, as well as voicing all ancillary characters. He will obviously not be voicing all the characters in a similar manner for the animated series, he is lending his voice talents as well as being a consultant for the writing team. He is known for roles such as Mr Freeze in 'Telltale’s Batman: Enemy Within,' McCree in 'Overwatch,' and the Witch-King of Angmar in 'Shadow of War'
Marisha Ray
Creative Director for 'Critical Role,' Marisha Ray voices Keyleth, a half-elf druid, on a pilgrimage that will train her to take up a leadership position amongst the elven tribe of the Ashari. Marisha Ray has worked as a voice actor in video games, voicing Maia Rua in 'Pillars of Eternity: Deadfire,' 'Jeanne Labreigh in 'Final Fantasy XV: Comrades' and AJ Mason in 'Friday the 13th: The Game.'
Laura Bailey
Laura Bailey is a prolific voice actor who has done everything from anime to animation and video games. She is best known for voicing Rayne on 'Bloodrayne,' Catwoman on Telltale's Batman video game series, and Nadine Ross on 'Uncharted: The Lost Legacy' She voices Vex'ahlia, a composed and dangerous half-elf ranger, accompanied by her war bear, Trinket.
Ashley Johnson
Ashley Johnson voices Pike Trickfoot, a gnome cleric of Sarenrae; a healer, and Vox Machina's moral compass. Ashley Johnson is an actor, voice actor and singer, who has won multiple video game awards for her performance as Ellie in 'The Last of Us.' She's also known for her role as 'Patterson' on 'Blindspot' and Gwen Tennyson in various 'Ben10' animated series.
Travis Willingham
Travis Willingham voices Grog Strongjaw, a barbarian half-orc who loves "two things": money, ale, and women. Yes, he is also very bad at counting. Travis Willingham has voiced characters such as Two-Face/Harvey Dent on 'Telltale's Batman,' Thor multiple times, including the upcoming 'Marvel's Avengers' video game and Superman on 'Lego DC Super-Villains.'
The show also stars Taliesin Jaffe as Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III of Whitestone, Sam Riegel as Scanlan Shorthalt and Liam O'Brian as Vax'ildan.
Creators
The setting of Tal'Dorei was created by Matthew Mercer and 'Critical Role: The Legend of Vox Machina' was created by the 'Critical Role' cast of Laura Bailey, Taliesin Jaffe, Ashley Johnson, Liam O’Brien, Matthew Mercer, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel and Travis Willingham, who will serve as executive producers in addition to reprising their roles. Brandon Auman and Titmouse’s Chris Prynoskiare also executive producers on the show.
News
On March 4, 2019, 'Critical Role' launched its Kickstarter to get the show made into an animated series. It surpassed its goal within the hour, and went on to become the highest funded Kickstart project ever for TV & film.
On April 1, 2019, they released an animated sneak peek for the series.
On November 5, 2019, Amazon announced it would be picking up 24 episodes across two seasons of 'Critical Role: The Legend of Vox Machina,' as well as signing an exclusive first-look deal with the animation studio, Titmouse.
On February 21, 2020, 'Critical Role' announced its writing team in a video where the new writers talk about the challenge of adapting a live, unscripted RPG show into an animated series.
Trailers
There are no trailers released yet for the series, but there is a first look animated title sequence that was released along with the Kickstarter campaign.
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