We’re not even into February yet, and the Dungeons & Dragons fanbase has received more emotional whiplash than anyone could possibly deserve. As Wizards of the Coast continues to double down on its new approach to the Open Game License, single-handedly throwing the entire tabletop role-playing game community and hierarchy into disarray, one plucky band of voice actors have taken it upon themselves to be the saving grace that the community needed.
Indeed, fresh off the heels of the long-awaited release of The Legend of Vox Machina‘s second season, Critical Role Productions, the multimedia company founded by the original cast of the original Critical Role web series, have penned a television and film deal with Amazon Studios. And their first order of business was rolling out an announcement on a Mighty Nein animated series, based on the web series’ second campaign of the same name.
The deal is a big win for fans of fantasy, animation, Critical Role, and Dungeons & Dragons in particular. Not only does Mighty Nein look to be the first of the many new projects set to come out of this deal, but we mustn’t forget that all of Critical Role‘s adventures take place in the fictional world of Exandria. This, of course, means that Mighty Nein takes place in the same universe as The Legend of Vox Machina, and if you’ve been keeping up with pop culture over the last several years, you may realize that shared universes are all the rage; a rage that Amazon Studios looks primed and ready to cash in on.
As if on cue, the internet began daydreaming of the adaptations that we could be getting in the near future, such as a miniseries based on the web series’ anthology show Exandria Unlimited: Calamity.
It’s a remarkable story for Matt Mercer and co., who have successfully turned their wildly entertaining hobby into a fast-growing media empire.
For those of you still hurting over Wizards of the Coasts’ dastardly shenanigans, do not despair; through the combined efforts of Critical Role Productions, Amazon Prime Video, and the hilariously timed Chris Pine film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, we’re confident that 2023 will be a net win for the Dungeons & Dragons fandom.
In the meantime, the first three episodes of season two of The Legend of Vox Machina are available to stream on Prime Video, with three new episodes releasing every Friday until the season’s conclusion on March 10.
